THE CULTIVATOR. 
177 
foresight, will not spread fertility like a mantle, all over 
these rocky hills and these mossy meadows. Beside 
there are attractions here—there are warm hill-sides in 
winter, and cool, rustling breezes in summer, «md glori¬ 
ous old oak woods, and a hundred brawling brooks, that 
(you may laugh, if you have a mind to,) if the memory 
of their noisy prattle run's back to boyhood, call louder 
on a man, than the yellowest mint drops. 
“ At any rate, I will try what can be done to make my 
farm worthy of a history. If the resources which such men 
as Mr. Jas. Johnston have opened to view, be not hum- 
hug, if the system of changing crops, of multiplying ma¬ 
nures, of more effectual tillage, of adequate protection 
to cattle, if careful feeding be not wholly impracticable, 
if the history of your most successful croppings be not 
fairy tales, and the locum in quo a fairy land, why, some¬ 
thing shall be done here. The progress of my trial, I shall 
open in scattered continuations of this history, neither 
exaggerating or concealing, in the hope that it may pos¬ 
sibly be useful.” 
Agriculture of Michigan.— Our correspondent “P.” 
of Buffalo, says:— ; Tn a recent trip through several coun¬ 
ties in Michigan, I was agreeably surprised to find so 
great improvement in agriculture. Many farms in the 
older settled counties will compare favorably with the 
best improved farms on the line of the Erie canal; and 
the large surplus products they are sending off^ particu¬ 
larly of wheat and flour, are a sure and very gratifying 
mark of great agricultural prosperity in the State The 
rail road from Pontiac, the county seat of Oakland, 
though but 26 miles in length and carrying only the pro¬ 
ducts of that county, brought to Detroit the last fall over 
40,000 bbls. of flour, besides large quantities of other 
produce. The Central Rail Road running west from De¬ 
troit, was also crowded with freight cars the most of the 
season. Agricultural societies have sprung up in several 
places, and are producing a visible and happy effect 
among the farmers; and I observed a notice of a fair to 
be held in the spring, I think in Lenawee county, for the 
purpose of buying and selling stock and hiring help. 
Would not such fairs be specially useful in New England 
and New York? The soil in large portions of Michigan 
is admirably adapted to the culture of wheat, and 35 
bushels per acre is not an uncommon crop among the 
farmers. There is, however, but little appearance of 
system, or of a proper rotation of crops, and the skinning 
practice prevails. The course pursued by many is to 
crop the land constantly for a few years, and then sell 
out and take up the line of march westward. Still Mich¬ 
igan, possessing generally a very rich soil, and water 
communication around it and through it equal to any 
State in the Union, and streams for an abundance of 
mill-sites in almost every connty, is destined to attain a 
high rank in agriculture. The tide of immigration, ar¬ 
rested somewhat in past years by reason of an injudicious 
system of taxation, which is now in a measure aban¬ 
doned, is beginning to roll in upon the State as formerly; 
large fruit-bearing orchards and thrifty nurseries appear 
here and there even in the newer counties, and a bold 
enterprise marks the general movements of the people. 
Success to thee, Michigan, in all that pertains to the cul¬ 
ture of the soil and the mind; let your poultry-yards be 
graced with poland chickens, your piggeries with Berk- 
shires and Woburns, and your fields with many more 
Durhams and Herefords, and you cannot but prosper.” 
Plaster on Potatoes? —Those who plowed green 
sward last fall for the purpose of planting potatoes this 
spring, will find that a spoonful of plaster, applied as 
soon as the potatoe comes up, will increase the harvest. 
Plaster seems to aid the potatoe on all kinds of land, 
though not equally. We have seen soils where a com¬ 
mon spoonful of plaster proved as useful as a shovelful of 
manure. 
If the land is in good order and the soil sufficiently 
mellow, the potato vines will need but very little hilling. 
The potatoes will make a bed for themselves in the rot¬ 
ting sod. We have raised at the rate of 400 bushels to 
the acre without hilling up enough to hide the plaster; 
it could be seen through the summer.— Bost. Cult. 
COWS. 
We make the following extract from an old volume of 
the Mass. Ag. Reports, both because an extended obser¬ 
vation has convinced us that the quantities staled are is 
the main correct; and because it appears to furnish mat¬ 
ter for some useful reflections: 
“ A milch cow of medium quality in this State, (Mass.) 
will give, it is supposed, 12 quarts of milk per day for 
2 months after calving, and about 7 quarts per day on 
grass feed for the next four months, 4 quarts per day for 
the next two months, and perhaps 2 quarts per day for 
one month longer. Altogether, 1,500 quarts in a year. 
It takes 9 quarts of milk to give a lb. of butter, and 4 
quarts to yield a lb. of cheese. The skim milk and dairy- 
whey of a cow, may be valued at $3 per annum. 
Now a cow that gives 1,500 quarts of milk in a year 
will produce 
166 lbs. of butter, worth at 16 cts. per lb. $26,56 
Skim milk,. . 3,44 
$30,00 
Or 1,500 quarts of milk will give at 4 quarts to the lb. 
of choose^ 
375 lbs. which at 8 cts. per lb. will be,.. $30,00 
Whey,. 3,00 
$33,00 
Nothing is said of the worth of the calf, as all the milk 
the cow gives is credited. A milch cow’s keeping in the 
interior cannot be much short of $25.” 
That a majority of cows kept by our farmers for milk, 
do not give a greater quantity than that here named, will 
it is believed, be readily admitted. The prices, both of 
produce and keeping are higher than at present; but as 
they will neutralize each other, there is no necessity of 
taking them into the account. It must also be admitted, 
that there are many cows that greatly exceed the quanti¬ 
ty of milk here stated, and some that yield more than 
double that amount. 
That by attention to the breed of animals; to the rear¬ 
ing and selection of the stock from which the cows are to 
be chosen, to the choice of bulls from breeds of known 
milking qualities, and attention to the milking of the 
heifers, and proper feeding of them, cows in general 
could be brought up to standards in which the milk 
should be nearly or quite double the present ordinary- 
quantity, we think there can be little doubt. It is because 
farmers have been contented with so low a standard, be¬ 
cause with them cc a cow is a cow,” no matter what may¬ 
be her milking properties, that the average amount of 
milk produced by them is so small. 
It is not a very extraordinary cow that holds her milk 
for 10 months, that will give 8 quarts at a milking for two 
months, 6 quarts at a milking for the next four months, 3 
quarts at a milking for the next 3 months, and 2 quarts 
per day for another month. Yet such a cow would yield 
3,000 quarts of milk in a year, and of course the products 
of butter and cheese would be doubled. Admit that it was 
necessary to expend five dollars to procure materials for 
extra feed for this cow, bran, shorts, or grains, to be fed 
in mashes, (for it may be considered a fixed rule, that to 
keep cows in equally good condition, the greatest milker 
must receive the most food,) and with the exception of 
this expense, the profit of such a cow would be double 
that of an ordinary one. 
The keeping of cows is much like the cultivation of 
land. If the crop does not reach a certain amount, there 
is a loss to the farmer, or the crop may precisely equal 
his expenses, the year leaving him as it found him; but 
all above this is a profit, and the more he can increase 
this balance, the greater his gain. So with a cow; if she 
does not give a certain quantity, she does not pay for her 
keeping, and the more such cows a man has, the worse 
off' he is. On the contrary, all above a given yield js clear 
profit, and the farmer, or the dairyman, has every induce¬ 
ment to increase this amount as high as possible. This 
matter is one that commends itself, to the consideratios 
of every owner of stock, and particularly to the milk anj 
dairvman. 
