274 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
Sept. 
excellent absorbents for the precious fluids so abundant 
in the stable and barn-yard, yet so often suffered to float 
off and evaporate. Or if left to decay where they fall, 
leaves make a valuable muck, especially when mixed 
with lime or ashes. 
In Great Britain, where land commands a much 
higher price than with us, the principles of economy 
which I am aiming to recommend, have long since been 
faithfully tested, and are now generally observed in the 
management of soils. I have somewhere seen mention 
made of an English Cottage, whose garden was made 
to manure itself , and at the end of twenty years, with¬ 
out having made the acquaintance of a single forkful 
of barn-yard dung, the tilth was deeper, mellower, 
richer,- the yield more abundant and of better quality 
than ever before. The manuring of the garden was 
managed somewhat after this fashion: All the refuse of 
the garden, such as leaves, vines, grass, haulm and 
■weeds, was carefully saved and thrown into a pile. 
Every fragment of rubbish was gathered up and no¬ 
thing wasted. To this were added scrapings from the 
road, drainings from the kitchen sink, and soot from 
the chimney. The liquid from the chambers was daily 
emptied upon this heap, and the whole was repeatedly 
turned over and intimately mixed, until the vegetable 
ingredients were decomposed. Once a year the gar¬ 
den received a good dressing of this manure, and with 
thorough cultivation the result was what I have indica¬ 
ted. 
Before bringing these suggestions to a close, I must 
be allowed again to refer to the contents of the privy. 
On account of the repugnance which they inspire, fecal 
substances are often wholly discarded as an auxiliary of 
production, or else are so improperly managed as to oc¬ 
casion great waste. 
It has been settled by experiment, that the sulphate 
of iron or copperas, is both efficient and inexpensive as 
an agent for disinfecting fecal matters, by changing the 
ammonia into a fixed salt. A hundred pounds of cop¬ 
peras may be had at the shops for about eleven shillings, 
and if a solution of this be occasionally applied to the 
privy, it will cause the noisome effluvia to disappear. 
A two-fold purpose will thus be accomplished. By 
fixing the volatile ammonia, in which resides a fertiliz¬ 
ing energy, the value of excremental manures is great¬ 
ly enhanced, while the imprisonment of all offensive 
odors, renders them capable of being transported, dilu¬ 
ted and applied, without any inconvenience or disgust. 
It is a point worthy of investigation, whether the ap¬ 
plication of sulphate of iron in solution, would not be 
of good service in the barn-yard. If each new layer 
added to the manure heap were sprinkled with copper¬ 
as water, much of that most important element, the 
ammonia, (which is otherwise lost by reason of its vo¬ 
latility,) would be changed into a fixed salt, and thus 
saved. 
For th© facts which I have here submitted in regard 
to the employment of copperas as a disinfecting agent, 
I am indebted to the Report of the Commissioner of 
Patents, for the year 1844. 
TISI2 PSOPS.E POINTS OF MI1LCM €OW§„ 
I agree with the remark of u A Dairyman,” in the 
August Cultivator, that we should not be satisfied with 
dairy qualities only, in milch cows. I am convinced, 
from several years’ experience in keeping cows, that 
the best dairy qualities may be united with neat forms, 
good constitutions, good quality of flesh, and a tendency 
to thrive ; and that cows combining these qualities are 
far more profitable than others. 
This section has long been somewhat noted for good 
working oxen ; the team work of our farms is performed 
by them, and they are always in demand, at from $125 
to $175 per pair,—prices which render it an object to 
produce the best. Many of our farmers, therefore, in 
selecting or breeding their cows, attend not only to 
their points for the dairy, but to those also which de¬ 
note their capacity to produce valuable oxen. They 
obtain strong, well proportioned, clean-limbed, hardy 
cows ; and it has been found that such frequently pro¬ 
duce as much butter, though they may not give the 
greatest quantity of milk, as any cows we have. They 
are easily kept, are long-lived, and free from disease; 
and their progeny, where proper regard is paid to the 
character of the sire, are valuable either for cows or 
oxen. 
Some valuable ideas, in regard to milch cows, are 
given in an able article on the Jersey or Alderney cow, 
by Le Couteur, published in the fifth volume of the 
Royal Agricultural Society’s Transactions. The cows 
of this breed have for many years been held in high es¬ 
timation for the dairy, or more especially for butter¬ 
making. Formerly, little or no attention was paid to 
the shape of the animal; the Jersey farmer sought only 
for such as were good for the production of rich milk ; 
(C he was content,” says Le Couteur, “to possess an 
ugly, ill-formed cow with flat sides, wide between the 
ribs and hips, cat-hammed, narrow and high hips, with 
a hollow back.” 
“ Of the ancient race, it was stated, perhaps with 
truth, that it had no tendency to fatten ; indeed, some 
of the old breed were so ungainly high-boned, and 
ragged in form, Meg Merrilies of cows, that no at¬ 
tempt to fatten them might succeed.” 
But careful attention in breeding has, we are told, 
greatly remedied this defect. u By having studied the 
habits of a good cow with a little more tendency to 
fatten than others, and crossing her with a fleshy, well- 
conditioned bull of a stock that was also known to pro¬ 
duce quality and quantity of butter, the next genera¬ 
tion has proved of a rounder form, with a tendency to 
make fat, without having lost the butyraceous nature.” 
The society above alluded to have a “ scale of 
points” for bulls, and another for cows, which are as 
follows — 
Seale of Points for Bulls. P’ts. 
Art. I. Purity of breed on male and female sides, 
reputed for having produced rich and yel¬ 
low butter, ..... 4 
II. Head fine and tapering, cheek small, muzzle 
fine and encircled with white, nostrils nigh 
and open, horns polished, crumpled, not 
too thick at the base, and tapering, tipped 
with black ^ ears small, of an orange color 
within, eye full and lively, ............. 8 
III. Neck fine and lightly placed on the shoul¬ 
ders ; chest broad, barrel hooped and deep, 
well ribbed home to the hips,. .......... 3 
IY. Back straight from the withers to the set. 
ting of the tail, at right angles to the tail. 
Tail fine, hanging tvro inches below the 
hock, . ... 3 
V. Hide thin and moveable, mellow, well co¬ 
vered with soft and fine hair, .... ...... 3 
VI. Fore-arm large and powerful, legs short and 
straight, swelling and full above the kne,e s 
