MARSH 41 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
407 
cost more to fatten than she would be worth 
wheu fattened, Is a mystery to me that I should 
like to have explained if any person can do it 
satisfactorily. 
In the course of my breeding I had a very 
fine dairy cow, as I thought, a high-grade 
Short-horn that was farrow, as I supposed. 
She was milked during the season and dried up, 
expecting to calve in the spring. She did not, 
neither did she ever have a turn of heat. She 
was sold in May, 1857, for $100, to the butcher, 
Which I thought then paid me remarkably 
well, as she was not fed for the purpose of 
seeing what could be done with heifc nei¬ 
ther was it a time of inflation in prices. In 
the letter of Dr. Hoskins, mentioned above, 
where he alluded to my herd, he said well, that 
I was no speculator in Short-horns. That I 
begau with them to raise cows for the dairy, is 
true; that I have succeeded as well as most 
farmers uuder like circumstances, I buve no 
doubt. Had I had a better knowledge of the 
business, and more funds at my command, I 
think I would have doue much better. My 
prices Lave always been so moderate as to 
place it within the reach of commou farmers 
to purchase of me. if they desired to do so. I 
have never kept a record of any cow for the 
entire year. I have, however, tested them 
singly aud have made from 10 to 14 pounds of 
butter per week, from various cows that! Lave 
bred. For two years our milk was sent to 
the cheese factory and our dairy was fully 
equal to any other in the factory where the 
milk of 000 cows was manufactured iuto 
cheese. Oue of the palrous of the factory, a 
neighbor, had a cow sired by a Short-horn bull 
owned by the writer, that would put more milk 
daily iuto the factory thau uuy other cow 
whose milk was sent there. It has beeu au 
established fact that those dairies that were 
well graded by the use of Short-horn bulls, 
have been the most productive iu milk for fac¬ 
tory purposes. We have had numerous cows 
that would give 40 to 50 pounds of milk per 
day on grass in the best of the season, aud one 
we sold, that went into a better pasture thau 
she was wont tu have on our farm, ami the 
purchaser wrote me that sheaveruged 30 quarts 
of milk a day, measured tree of lrotb, during 
the month of June, on grass alone. I thought 
then and still think she was a good dairy cow. 
Her purchaser wrote me that she was worth 
two cows for the dairy, and he w as u breeder 
of Jerseys, hut bought a Short-horn of the 
writer to test them together, aud was highly 
pleased with the result. 
In conclusion, there is room for all, and if 
one dairyman prefers one breed, aud another 
a different breed, let it be so, aud let each try 
to improve his favorite breed aud not condemn 
those of his neighbor. In so doiug be will be 
of greater benefit to the community thau all the 
tournaments of “ Free Lances ” that can be 
gotten together, especially if the kuights are 
to betaken from those “who owu no cows,” 
aud. so far as we know, have never bred any, 
so as to test the different breeds whose merits 
they propose to discuss. Iu order to state the 
merits of the different dairy breeds correctly, 
they should be raised uml fed by those persons 
who propose to give instruction, to others, aud 
the differences carefully noted iu each breed, 
as well as their advantage* and disadvantages. 
In that way some correct information could 
be gaiued of value to the eommuuity at large, 
that would be worth the publication. 
Home, N. Y. 
--- 
STOCK NOTES. 
Exports of Sheep.— The shipment of 4,000 
sheep In two flocks, iu one week, by a Cana¬ 
dian railroad for transport to England for a 
market, is a significant fact. These sheep 
were raised iu Western Canada aud were 
chiefly grade Cotswolds. There is uo more 
profitable farm auimal than a sheep, if the 
right kind is in the right place. These Cana¬ 
dian sheep are raised iu small flocks, geuer- 
erally of less thau 50, aud rarely greuter than 
100. The average value at the farmer’s door, 
is $6 per head. There is abuudaut room iu 
the United States for keeping flocks of this 
kind, aud fortunately there is sufficient profit 
in it to make it reuumorativo and desirable. 
Jottings.— An order of the British Privy 
Council has lately prohibited the importation 
of cattle from Belgium or Germany_Austra¬ 
lia aud New Zealaud are close competitors of 
this country iu the canned meat trade of En¬ 
gland. The colonial trade in goods of this 
kiud has vast ly Increased within the lust de¬ 
cade, aud the prejudice of the British work¬ 
man against such meats is fast disappearing. 
Just now Australia boasts of having invented 
machinery which packs 24 tins in Melbourne 
as quickly as one tin is filled by hand iu Chi¬ 
cago. .. .England has frequently accused Ire- 
luud of having been the source from which has 
come a great deal of the contagious diseases 
that have thinned her herds, and uow, although 
all Irish cattle for the English market arc 
closely inspected at the port of shipment, En¬ 
glish farmers are insisting that they should he 
again examined on landing, on the ground 
that the first inspection is not sufficiently 
trustworthy_The Dublin Farmers’Gazette 
protests against a common prejudice against 
all-white Short-horns, aud says that out of a 
lot of fairly-bred cattle tied up for stall-feed- 
iug, those that are white will, every time, he 
first ready for the butcher_The Euglish Ag¬ 
ricultural papers say that the Coutagious Dis¬ 
eases Act was almost the only boon which agri¬ 
culture iu that country received from legisla¬ 
tion in 1878; but they complain that the bill, 
as originally introduced iuto the House of 
Lords, was greatly modified. They claim that 
by it both foot-and-mouth disease aud pleuro- 
pueumouia have been steadily isolated and 
stamped out, while the precautions taken at 
the various ports against the introduction of 
foreign contagious diseases, are giving native 
stock-owners a fair show_The Victoria (Aus¬ 
tralia) Governmeut has issued orders that <J0 
days’ notice must be giveu of all intended im¬ 
portations, of live-stock iuto that colony, and 
all animals are subjected to a rigid quarantine 
of 90 days after their arrival, while, if any dis¬ 
ease has appeared among the shipment, the 
entire lot must be slaughtered on lauding. En¬ 
glish stock-owners are loud in their complaints 
at the severity of these regulations.... Since 
Germany lately prohibited the importation of 
cattle from Russia, the latter country has been 
glutting the German markets with dressed 
beef. Asiatic Russia is considered the source 
of cattle plagues. 
tiaiijj Ijusbantirii. 
FEEDING FOR BUTTER. 
T. n. HOSKINS, M. D. 
There is so little positive knowledge of 
auj thing iu relation to agriculture, that it be¬ 
comes no one to treat agricultural topics dog¬ 
matically. Yet uo oue who has observed the 
matter closely, can have failed to notice that 
positive treatment of a question is most ac¬ 
ceptable to readers of agricultural literature. 
“Men.” says a shrewd writer, “ Men, in gen¬ 
eral, dislike uncertain and qualified state¬ 
ments.” They prefer decisive opinions, distinct 
formulas. It is this manifest preference among 
readers, coupled with that limited comprehen¬ 
sion which indices mauy minds so “cock sure" 
of everything, which gives us so much dogma¬ 
tism, aud leads to so much quackery iu every 
branch of applied science. 
1 think the large majority of men interested 
in dairying believe that it is possible to feed for 
butter with success—that is, to increase the 
proportion of batter iu the milk of a cow, by 
a special ration designed for that purpose. It 
is my belief that this is a mistaken idea, and I 
w ish in this article to give the reason why. 
But to clear the ground and properly cir¬ 
cumscribe the question, I will first explain 
that I by no means doubt that good feeding may 
increase a cow’s yield of butter. Nor do I doubt 
that when a cow is being actually starved, the 
proportion of butter to the other constituents 
of her milk maybe somewhat lessened. What 
I mean to put forward is that by higher feed¬ 
ing we ouly increase the butter in proportion 
us we increase the other solids ol the milk ; 
and that when, by improved feeding, we have 
driven a cow to her best iu milk, we cannot, 
by any ebauge or modification of her feed, 
cause an increase in the butter element. I 
state this as an experimental fact, and I be¬ 
lieve that there are physiological reasons why 
it should be so. 
What is butter I - 1 It is simply fat, obtained 
from the food aud secreted with the other con¬ 
stituents of the milk iu ike cow’s udder. We 
all know that under the same feed the propor- 
liuu of butter to milk varies greatly iu differ¬ 
ent cows. This is the same whether the herd 
is fed ou grass or hay alone, or whether they 
receive extra feed, with the view r of pushing 
their yield of milk to the highest profitable 
poiut. Under this point of view it is quite 
customary to divide cows into tw'o classes— 
butter cows aud cheese cows, the latter being 
large yielders of milk not rich in fat. Now, 
the question uuder discussion may be simpli¬ 
fied to the practical mind by putting it in tLis 
form : “ Can a cheese cow be made a butter 
cow by any special uiuuuer of feeding ?” 
That it has beeu proposed and attempted to 
do this is testified to by much past and current 
writing iu the agricultural journals ; aud great 
coufusion exists, so that writers do not distin¬ 
guish between increasing the butter with in¬ 
crease of milk, and increasing the butter ic it fl¬ 
out increasing the milk. Each individual cow 
comes into the world as a calf with a special 
Constitution of her own, inherited from ances¬ 
try on both sides iu varying degrees, hut fixed 
from the start, so that the ability to take ou 
fat or to secrete fat in the udder, cannot iu 
that individual be increased. 
How then can we produce an improved race 
of hotter cows? How have our existing but¬ 
ter cows come into existence, being the pro¬ 
geny of inferior animals in this respect ? The 
correct explanation of this problem seems to 
be that while we cannot Improve the indiyidal 
capacity of a cow as a butter yielder, wc can, 
by proper care and feeding, cause her to bear 
progeny productive of richer milk. This pro¬ 
geny will not be uniform. Some will be better 
than the mother, some uo better, and, pos¬ 
sibly, with all care iu feeding and teudiug, 
some may not even be so good. Much de¬ 
pends upon the male parent, and at this poiut 
we introduce skill in mating or breeding as an 
important element of progress. If we use the 
sou of a rich milker as sire upon a cow whose 
progeny we desire to he butter cows, we have 
increased the probability of success by haviug 
the law of inheritance iu our favor. And as 
soon as we have thus made a start on the path 
of improvement, we can, by judicious selec¬ 
tion and careful in-breeding to fix valuable 
qualities (still keeping up the care In feeding, 
housing and handling), gain more and more 
completely and uniformly, with eaeh succeed¬ 
ing generation, the quality, or qualities, iu our 
herd which we desire. 
As far as America is concerned, we may take 
advantage of the progress already made iu 
other countries. In this specialty of butter- 
production, for instance, we have the Jersey 
aud Guernsey cattle, to begin with. But I be¬ 
lieve we make a great mistake in thinking 
that our best results with these breeds are to 
come from breeding them pure. It is the using 
of them as aids in improving the native stock 
of each particular dairy district, for the pur¬ 
poses of that district and its market, that we 
have need of. and we may gain advantage 
in the use of foreign strains of blood. The 
Jerseys are what they are iu consequence 
of the way in which they have been bred 
and managed for many generations. By 
like management an equally useful breed may 
be in time produced in any region of country 
naturally fit for dairying. The use of imported 
Jerseys ib to shorten the time of effecting this 
desirable object. But without that proper 
management aud care, the importation of for¬ 
eign stock, however good, will produce only 
slight aud temporary advantage. The skill 
and care that made the Jerseys, must go with 
them wherever they go, or in a little time 
they will sink to the level of their “ environ¬ 
ment.” 
When skill aud care become general in any 
district, there will spring up there a uew breed 
of dairy cattle, for cheese or butter as the de¬ 
mand and purpose may be. They will uot be 
Jerseys, Guernseys, Ayrshires, Short-horns or 
Dutch cattle. They will be local in their char¬ 
acter us iu their origin. As Great Britain, 
hardly larger than New York, has some twenty 
different breeds of “ thoroughbred ” cattle, so 
New York. New England, Pennsylvania, Ohio, 
will eaeh have, perhaps, its tweuiy breeds or 
more. With the knowledge aud skill at hand 
aud in full exercise, the production of useful 
“ breeds” will become- but a slight and lessen¬ 
ing difficulty. Good cattle for eaeh required 
purpose will he the rale instead of, as now, 
the exception. Fifty years hence we may be¬ 
lieve America will possess better breeds for 
every purpose than any which now exist, at 
home or abroad. 
Meantime, we ought all to understand what 
can and what cannot he done—ia what direc¬ 
tion and through what itteaus iujprovemeut 
must be sought, aud what are the conditions 
of development in any required direction. Our 
cattle aud other live stock, will become better 
as eur farmers and breeders become more and 
more masters of their business. Money to buy 
with, is uot the sole condition of possessing a 
good herd of cattle. The wretched condition 
aud rapid deterioration of many oostly thor¬ 
oughbred herds, are standing proofs of this 
fact. Good cattle are the coucOmi touts of 
skill iu the business. That produces them, and 
that alone will perpetuate them. 
ABORTION IN COWS. 
R. GOODMAN. 
This scourge, the cause of which has so far 
eluded the prying endeavors of dairymen aud 
scientists, has elicited au apparently new the¬ 
ory which, perhaps, is sounder than those 
heretofore broached. An Illinois correspond¬ 
ent of a contemporary paper some time siuce 
advanced the idea that abortion iu milch cows 
was owing to deficient nutrition—poverty of 
the pastures or the grain and hay feed, one or 
the other, or both, in some of the elements 
which are esseutial to health and strength. 
This opinion is now supported by the decision 
of U. S. District Judge Blodgett, of Chicago, 
himself a breeder- lie has taken the testimony 
of experts—of the dairy farmers of the vicinity, 
where abortion is sometimes an epidemic, aud 
the information obtained from the agricultural 
press—and comes to the same conclusion. And 
y«t this theory can hardly be called uew except 
iu this latitude, for nearly half a century ago 
Mr. Liudsay.au English authority, said: “That 
improper or too little food is a prominent 
cause of abortion is strongly indicated by 
facts,” and he instances cases where, the sum¬ 
mer being unfavorable, the pasture aud hay 
crop were poor aud the cattle were fed ou poor 
hay of the preceding year’s growth, aud the 
consequence was that half of the cows aborted. 
"The most commou cause of abortion in cows,” 
says White, another English authority, “is 
improper feeding during winter and spring be¬ 
fore they are turned to pasture. The filthy 
pond water they are compelled to drink, 
and feeding on the rank fog grass of Oc¬ 
tober and November, especially wheu cov¬ 
ered with hoar Irost, are likewise frequent 
causes of miscarriage.” Any one who re¬ 
members the description in Charles Reade’s 
last novel, “The Woman nater,” of the pond 
iu the English town owned by a noble lord, 
whence all the people obtained their drinking 
and washing fluid, and of the boneless condi¬ 
tion of the children of the place, can easily re¬ 
alize ho w the use of such water by cows would 
produce abortion aud other disorders. On 
English farms where wells have beeu sunk, 
aud the cattle supplied with good food and 
pure water from such wells, instead of the 
filthy mixture they had been compelled to 
drink, tbe effect was almost iustaucous—the 
cattle begau to thrive, became healthy, the 
quality ol the butter and cheese improved, and 
abortion ceased. 
Nearly a century ago all the cows of a farm 
iu Frauce miscarried about the fourth or fifth 
month. The accident was attributed to the 
excessive heat of the preceding summer, but as 
the water they were iu the habit of drinking 
was extremely bad, aud they had been kept 
upon oat, wheat and rye straw, it has been sur¬ 
mised that the great quantity of straw they 
had to eat in order to obtain sufficient nourish¬ 
ment, and the injury sustained by the third 
stomach in expressing the fluid parts of the 
masticated mass, together with the large 
quantity of Impure water they drank while 
kept upon this dry food, formed the real cause 
of their miscarrying. In several other cases iu 
France, where cows had beeu pastured upon 
land which had beeu flooded aud the grass had 
become sour and rank, a majority of the ani¬ 
mals prematurely slipped tlveir calves. 
At the present time, when we are tracing, 
with almost mathematical precision, the causes 
of mauy human disorders—such, for instauce, 
as diphtheria, typhus fever aud malaria of 
various kinds—to impure water and improper 
diet, like pork in excess, we cannot overlook 
the fact that our four-footed friends are sub¬ 
ject to correlative diseases and other ailments 
from similar causes, and the reasoning is natu¬ 
rally sound, which ascribes the “ accident af 
warping" to a vitiated state of the digestive 
organs, occasioned by bad food and impure 
water. Let the cows, then, bo regulaily fed on 
good food and proper quantities; let them have 
pure water as ofteu as they need it; avoid ex¬ 
posing them to sudden changes; let the cow¬ 
houses be well ventilated ; prohibit all manner 
of rough usage, aud watch particular animals 
which may need an iucrease or reduction of 
food, aud then, if disease occurs, the farmer 
will he able to have a clear conscience. But 
the probabilities are ten to one that cows thus 
tended will be free from disease of every kind, 
and pass a long aud profitable life iu the be¬ 
stowal of bountiful gifts to their owners. 
Iu England, where goats are favorites iu the 
stable, it is said that their presence, or strong 
odor, has a favorable effect upon cows, and I 
read recently, iu some agricultural paper, a 
eommuuicatiou from a farmer in this country, 
whose cows aborted several seasons, uutil at 
last he placed a “strong" goat among them, 
wheu they began to calf properly aud he got 
out of the trouble—for he fed aud watered welL 
besides. As abortion does take place occa¬ 
sionally, even among animals fed on good hay 
and supplied with pure water, there is prob¬ 
ably, in such eases, some deficiency—perhaps a 
lack of phosphates, which can he furnished 
by addiug wheat bran to the feed or dress¬ 
ing the pastures with bone-dust, which last 
course will aid the land in produetiou aud 
supply to the grass aud hay the element they 
lack. I fiud seeding to grass with bone-dust 
produces a great growth, and ascribe the health 
of my herd of Jersey cows to that aud the con¬ 
stant mixture of wheat feed with their other 
provender—early cut hay, corn stalks, a little 
Indian meal—and to their easy access to good, 
clean water. 
Lenox Co., Mass. 
JOTTINGS AT KIRBY HOMESTEAD. 
COL. F. D. CURTIS. 
Hot Water for Hens. 
Mr. L. D. Sherwood seems to have struck 
the key-uote in the care of hens. His experi¬ 
ence coincides with Esquire Davidson’s, that 
poultry require water in winter—eating snow 
does not answer the purpose to make them lay 
well. Mr. Sherwood has partitioned off the 
second story of his pig-house for a hennery- It 
