Vol. XXXIX. No. 
Whole No. 1592. 
31. 
NEW YORK, JULY 31 , 1880 . 
^ Price Five Cents. 
) $'2.00 Per Ykab. 
[Entered according to Act of (Jouktqbb, in the year It®), by the Rural New-Yorker, in the office of the Librarian of Coiurress at Wauhlnirton. 
Itairij Hjuskirtrj). 
THE DAIRY COW.-No. 3. 
HENRY STEWART. 
How to Choose n Cow. 
Some peraons have a sort of intuitive dis¬ 
crimination in judging of a cow. This is the 
result of experience as well as of a peculiar in¬ 
describable sense of fitness; for the general 
appearauce of a good cow carries with it to 
the mind a very complete Bense of “ the fitness 
of things-" The chief points about a cow arc 
the udder and the teats; for the former 
secretes the milk and the latter convey it to 
the pail. The udder should, then, be capacious 
and the teats of convenient and pleasant size, 
well shaped and well placed for the use of the 
milker. The most capacious udder is oue that 
has largo extent at the junction with the cow’s 
body; it should be broad and extend far back 
behind, and should be broad aud come well 
forward in the front. It should not liuug down 
and come to a point, but Hbould tie squarely 
formed and of a flattisb, spheroid shape on the 
under part. Herewith is given a portrait from a 
phoLograph of my cross-bred Jersey and Ayr¬ 
shire cow Nellie 2d, which I consider a model 
cow for the family or for a dairyman; for, as I 
have said, what Is good for one is good for the 
other; although the family cow may very just¬ 
ly have more beauty than the matter-of-fact, 
business cow of a dairy. But the points of a 
good eow by which a judgment in choosing 
her can be accurately formed are as valuable 
to the dairyman as to the head of a family. The 
udder of ibis cow, which is not yet three years 
old, Is large enough to hold eight quarts of 
milk atouee, and the teats are placed bo far 
apart, and arc of such convenient size lor the 
baud aud the milk tiowB from them so freeiy 
that the eight quarts of milk can be drawn in 
six or seven minutes, easily and without any 
fatigue to the hands or the wrists. The teat 
should be loug enough and large enough to 
fill the hand completely to make the milkiug 
easy. 
The udder of an animal is supplied with the 
blood from which the milk is secreted by the 
bmuelios of the posterior, abdominal or mam¬ 
mary artery, which emerges from the external 
pudic trunk, one of the most important arte¬ 
ries of llic system The veins which complete 
the very highly developed circulatory system 
of the udder pass on to the abdominal subcu¬ 
taneous vein which is prolonged forward on 
the wall of the abdomen and lias an euormotis 
volume in the eow. This vein is known as “the 
milk vein," aud its volume ia one of the com¬ 
mon tests by which a good cow is judged. It 
passes from the front of the udder to near the 
chest or brisket, where it passes through to 
join the internal thoracic vein. The import¬ 
ance of the circulatory arrangement of the ud¬ 
der justly cutitles the development of the milk 
vein lo he considered as a test of great value in 
selecting a good cow. 
As the blood from which the milk is formed 
is supplied by the digestive apparatus, the 
next point to consider is the form and capacity 
of the abdomen. A capacious stomach is con¬ 
sistent with the habit of a generous feeder, aud 
the development of the abdomen, with the re¬ 
sulting wedge-like form of the body, is the 
third point of promise in a good cow. At the 
same time the food consumed should he well 
digested aud thoroughly assimilated, and the 
other digestive orgaus should be equally well 
developed as the stomach, otherwise a paunchy 
appearauefi would be given which would indi¬ 
cate a gross feeder rather than a hearty, healthy 
aud profitable oue. Therefore the whole form 
should be well balanced; the chest wide 
between the ribs behind the shoulders, to give 
ample room for the lungs and heart, and the 
back broad and straight. As the whole force 
of the system should have been educated to ex¬ 
pend itself in the production of milk and but¬ 
ter, the carcass should bo finely built, the bones 
fine, the muscular poi lions—as the legs, head 
and neck—should be fine and thin and no waste 
materia] in bone, flesh aud fat should be found 
in the carcass. 
The extremities should be delicately formed, 
the tail loug and thin except at its root, 
which should be large and strong; the 
muzzle should be fine; the head long, fiat 
and thin, but broad across the eyes to give 
room for a large brain, which is the fonntla- 
tlou for a highly developed arid active nervous 
system; the horns fine, thin and neatly curved; 
the eye bright aud active, agreeing with the 
active brain, but calm, quiet and mild iu ex¬ 
pression, significant of a quiet, contented dis¬ 
position. aud oue not readily disturbed or wor- 
lied. As the secretions of the body all come 
from the blood, and as a rich, yellow color Is 
desired in the butter, so the skin should be 
filled with a yellow pigment, and the inside 
ot the ears and Die thighs, and other places 
where the hair is light and the skin plainly 
visible, should be of a rich orauge color; so the 
scales of ear wax should be of the eame color. 
The hair should be fine, smooth and silky, and, 
in short, the whole appearance should be satis¬ 
fying to the eye and consistent one part with 
another aud well balanced. 
Some persons lay great stress upon the es¬ 
cutcheon as a distinguishing feature of a good 
cow. This is the growth of hair upou the rear 
part of the udder and thighs upward. The 
hair is reversed in position aud grows upward 
instead of downward, with various curls here 
and there. Upon the peculiar shape and ex¬ 
tent of this varied growth of hair and the posi¬ 
tion of the curls, the advocates of this test base 
their opinions of the character of the eow. A 
well-formed escutcheon, broad, well defined at 
the edges, wi th distinct curves on the lower part 
of the rear of the hams, is supposed to denote a 
large capacity for milk and a persistent habit of 
milkiug up to the next calving. An Ill-formed 
or delective escutcheon is held to denote the 
reverse. It may be that this test ic a good one. 
I do not believe In it further than this, viz: 
that a calf with a 'well-formed escutcheon, in¬ 
herited with other favorable characteristics 
from a similarly well marked and good cow, 
will in all probability inherit the .good qualities 
of its dam, as it inherits all her marks. But if 
the dam is a poor cow, I dou’t believe an es¬ 
cutcheon, however perfect it may be, will 
make a good calf. I have had poor cows, and 
have seen poor cows, that have had most ex¬ 
cellent escutcheons, and have had good cows 
that have produced calves as good as or better 
than themselves, that have had noescuteheous 
worthy of notice except for their inferiority. 
The cow Nellie 2d is three years old. Her 
mother made 14 pounds of butter in a week. 
With her first calf, Nellie 2d has made 81 pounds 
of butter weekly, and after six mouths’ milk¬ 
ing and being two monthsiu calf, has not failed 
the least in her milking. She is solid fawn 
with light-grey fawn legs; she possesses all 
the black points of the Jerseys, black nose, 
tODgue, eyes, hoofs and switch ; lias a remark¬ 
ably deep yellow colored skin, and if she were 
pure-bred, with a pedigree as good as herBclf, 
might possibly sell to a fancy breeder fur 
$1,000. Her Jersey blood is of tlie very best, 
but her lineage is blotted, for she lias one- 
eighth part of pure Ayrshire in her blood, and 
I think as a family eow she is all the better for 
that. For a cow for family use, or for profit 
in the dairy, is none the better although she 
have a noted pedigree; and is none the worse 
wanting it if she produces the requisite 
quantity of milk and cream, is possessed of all 
the cow virtues, "is gentle und is kind" and 
sufficiently good-looking to please her owuer. 
But the family eow may be of high or low de¬ 
gree She may he a scrub of the commonest 
breeding, homely and modest in her appear¬ 
ance, and limy cost but 4(25, and yet her milk 
will taste as well and her butter may be as 
good as that of a more highly bred und hand¬ 
somer cow for which her more wealthy own¬ 
ers may give *50 or $100. The poor man’s 
cow. however, must lie judged by the same 
test,- as the more costly cow and if a would- 
be owner of a cow has but *25 or *30 to 
spend for the acquisition, he should be very 
choice la selecting ihe best he can get. As to 
color, a good cow may he of auy color 1 have 
had one remarkably good cow that was black 
and without horns, but iu form and figure she 
was otherwise without 'a fault and was a 
model; hut usually black cows do not turn out 
well, neither do while ones. Color depends 
somewhat on the breed, for color is a distin¬ 
guishing part of some breeds, aud this point 
will be explained further on. But a cow of do 
particular breed, and that has a desirable form 
and other good points, may be chosen us re¬ 
gal ds color according to the following scale, 
viz: first, ortndlu (yellowish-brown ground with 
black stripes intermingled and gradually 
shaded down), then yellowish brown; light 
red aud white patched; light red ; and darker 
red last. It is rarely that a dark red, solid- 
colored cow holds on to her milk for a long 
time, for she has the general failing of the 
Devon race from which she inherits her color. 
JERSEY MILK AS AN ARTICLE OF DIET. 
If writers would quote and readers would 
understaud the statements in regard to Jersey 
milk which we made several years since, which 
Dr. Hoskins, iu a recent article in the Rural, 
misquotes, there would be no grounds for so 
much display of rhetoric. We stated that, 
from the experience in our own family, the 
milk from our Jersey cows was too rich for 
babies; they could not digest it. When it was 
diluted witli water there were no bad effects. 
this is not arguing “the pernicious nature 
of Jersey milk as an article of diet” For child¬ 
ren oilier Ilian babies aud for grown people, 
especially for those who rely upon milk as the 
principal article of food, we would recom¬ 
mend Jersey milk. It is for the delicate 
stomachs of infants that our warning was in¬ 
tended, when given to them without dilution. 
This is simply a question of fact, sustained by 
Dr. Slurtevant aud myself. No doubt many 
others have observed it. We recently sold a 
Jersey cow giving exceedingly rich milk to a 
gentleman who lives almost exclusively upon 
milk, and he fouud that this milk agrees with 
him perfectly, as he is not obliged to burdeu 
his stomach with a large quantity of fluid in 
order to obtain a proper amount of substance 
for physical support. 
Jersey milk is emphatically concentrated 
food, and a small quantity, either U 3 food or 
iu the dairy, goes a good ways. 
F. D. Curtis. 
Jaun topics. 
COUNTRY LIFE. 
Observations Among Rural Subscribers. 
COL. F. D. CURTIS. 
Frederic Curtis is one of our model far¬ 
mers. He practices a mixed husbandry and 
follows the old-fashioned rotation of crops 
which he believes is the best suited to his farm. 
He turns over a field of green-sward for corn, 
which is followed with oats, which, iu turn, is 
re seeded with wheat or rye. He applies man¬ 
ure to the sod, spreading it upou the surface 
and plowing it in. He always raises an extra¬ 
good crop of corn because he cuiivates it well 
in the Spring, which gives it a good start, and 
then wbeu earing time comes, it has the decay¬ 
ing manure and sod to feed upon, which in¬ 
sures loug cars and plenty of them. Mr. Cui tis 
has the met it of fixed ideas, and one of them 
is, thithe has the best kind of corn. He al¬ 
ways clinches liis argument about hismetbed 
of raisiug corn aud its superiority by pointing 
to his coru crib. He says that so long as he 
can crow such cribs of corn, “what sense 
would there lie in his changing his system, or 
his seed.” This is all true with Mr. Curtis; his 
soil is warm, a gravelly loam, quick to germi¬ 
nate. and his land strong—natural corn land. 
With other soil, not so favorable. Mr. Curtis 
might make changes adapted to circumstances. 
His corn is a sort of family pet, which lie has 
brought up himself lo perfection. 
He has made it “ thoroughbred ’’ by growing 
good crops and selecting the best ears. It is 
at homo on his farm aud has become adapted 
by years of continuous culture to the climate 
aud soil. This Is the way to make good seed 
aud good crops. Botli go together. Hence, 
Mr. Curtis by holding to hisopinion, also holds 
the key to success. He bus the finest crop of 
wheut hereabouts and this is not the first year 
that he has excelled. He draws all the manure 
remaining iu his barnyard, however coarse, 
after the corn has received its share, into the 
oat field while the oats are growing, and 
throws it into laige piles, where uuder the 
influence of the rain aud sun it rapidly decays 
aud becomes fitted to spread upou the surface 
When the ground is plowed for wheat, it is 
harrowed iu with the seed. Clawson and 
Michigan White wheat are both grown, the 
former being relied upon as the sutost crop. 
Mr. Curtis has practiced for several years a de¬ 
parture from his former rale—to wit—sowing 
his clover as well as Timothy seed with his 
wheat in the Autumn instead of the Spring. 
NELLIE 2l>.—DRAWN AND ENGRAVED FROM A PHOTOGRAPH.—FIG. 241. 
