THE CULTIVATOR. 
79 
returns that some cows have made, it may be stated, with entire 
confidence, that the fair average of the annual returns of milk, given 
by thousands of the best of the Ayrshire dairy cows, when they 
are in good condition and well fed, and when they drop their calves 
about the end of the month of April, will be nearly as under. 
First 50 days, 12 Scots pints per day 600 
Second 50 days, 10 pints or 20 quarts 500 
Third do 7 pints per day 350 
Fourth do 4 do do 300 
Fifth do 4 do do 200 
Sixth do 4 do do 150 
2,000 
Some of these cows give still greater returns, and very many that 
are of inferior sizes, or worse fed, do not give nearly so much milk 
as stated above. But the society may depend upon the fact, that 
all the proper dairy cows, when in good p ight, and well supplied 
with proper food, will, in general, yield 2,000 Scots pints, or 4,000 
quarts of milk every year. And it is equally certain, that 14 or 15 
quarts of that milk will generally yield 22 or 23 ounces of butter ; 
and that from 55 to 60 pints (110 or 120 quarts,) of that milk, with 
its cream, will yield twenty-four pounds avoirdupois of full milk 
cheese. 
Query 3.—What would be the price of a cow of such a breed from 
two to three years old, and in calf! 
Answer.—The prices of milch cows vary so much from diversity 
of circumstances that it is not easy to fix the price for any length 
of time. The scarcity of fodder from a very dry summer—the fai¬ 
lure of pasture herbage from the same cause, or from the weather 
being cold and stormy in the months of May and June, which fre¬ 
quently happens in the changable climate of Scotland, will some¬ 
times lower the price of milch cows, ten, twenty, or ihirty per cent 
while a more favorable season will raise prices considerable. These 
cattle are twenty or thirty per cent cheaper in harvest than they 
are in May or June. The crops having been abundant, and the 
summers fine for three years past, the prices of milch cows are con¬ 
siderably higher than they have been for several years before.—• 
Some milch cows of the best sort and in good condition, have been 
sold as high as £25: but young cows, from two to three years old 
and in calf, may be procured of the best sort, at from £10 to £12 
each, or still cheaper. 
Query 4.—What would be the price of a bull of the same breed, 
from eighteen months to two years old 1 
Answer.—Bulls also vary much in price. Some of the best dairy 
bulls have been sold as high as from £150 to £200 : while one of 
an ordinary description may frequently be procured for £9 or £12. 
It would be proper to select a bull for Canada about two years old, 
as the best looking calves frequently alter so much in their shapes 
and character before they come to maturity, as to render it unsafe 
to trust to what they may turn out, until they are two years old. 
The dairy bulls, that have most of a feminine aspect, are preferred 
to those that are more masculine. A dairy bull of good shape and 
qualities may be procured for about £14 or 16. 
Query 5.—What is the most celebrated breed of cows in Great 
Britain or elsewhere, for the production of butter 1 
Answer.—The quantity of butter yielded by cows, depends more 
on the food given them, than on any peculiarity of the breed of cat¬ 
tle ; and the quality of the butter is greatly influenced by the mode 
of feeding, and still more by the manner in which the butter is ma¬ 
nufactured. Cows that browze on natural pasture, or what is call¬ 
ed old turf, do not yield so much milk as the same cows would give 
when fed on clover, turnips, cabbages, and new herbage, but the 
milk of the former is of better quality, and yields more and richer 
butter, from any given quantity of milk, than that of cows fed on 
clover, &c. Some individual cows of every breed give richer milk, 
and of course more butter in proportion to their milk, than other 
cows of the same breed, and when reared and fed in the same man¬ 
ner. Milk, as it comes from the cows, consists of oily matter, from 
which butter is made, lactic matter, which forms cheese, and serium 
or whey: and the milk of particular cows of every breed differs 
considerably in the proportions it contains of these respective sub¬ 
stances. But it is doubtful if any particular breed can be pointed 
out, which uniformly yield more butter than any of the other breeds 
except in so far as they yield more milk, or are influenced by cli¬ 
mate, the mode of feeding, &c. Much butter, and that of a superior 
quality, is made in Holland, and particularly in the Province of 
Freiseland. This seems to proceed from the cattle being fed on 
meadows where the herbage is of natural growth, and very rich.— 
The cows in Holland give less milk in proportion to their size, than 
the generality of the Scots dairy cows; but the milk of the Dutch 
cows is richer than the other. In Holland the milk is not allowed to 
stand more than from 18 to 24 hours, to cast up cream, while in 
Scotland it stands double those periods. The consequence is, that 
nothing but the richest and best cream, which always rises first, is 
made into butter in Holland ; while in Scotland, the inferior cream, 
which makes inferior butter, is collected and churned with the other. 
And, above all things, the great attention paid to cleanliness in 
Holland has a powerful effect on the quality of their butter. 
Query 6.—VVliat quantity of butter would a cow of such breed pro¬ 
duce per week 1 
Answer.—From what has been already stated as to the diversity of 
the quality and quantity of milk, the society will readily perceive 
that it is not easy to answer this query on general principles: A 
cow, kept by Wihiam Cramp, of Lewis, in the county of Sussex, is 
mentioned in the fifth and sixth volumes of the communications to 
the Board of Agriculture, as having yielded, in tlie year 1805, 540 
pounds advoirdupois of butter. In 1806, this cow gave 450 pounds 
of butter, in 1807, she gave 675 pounds, and in 1808, the same cow 
! gave 466 pounds, avoirdupois of butter. The Secretary to the 
Board of Agriculture mentioned a cow kept by the Reverend Mr. 
Heckett, of Beckingham, near Newark, that yielded nineteen pounds, 
avoirdupois, of butter in one week. But lie added, that six se¬ 
ven, or eight pounds per week, were the common returns of the 
cows in that part of England. Mr. Vancouver states, in his report 
of Hampshire, that a cow of an inferior size, kept by Anthony 
Grave, Symington, yielded from fifteen to sixteen pounds, avoirdu¬ 
pois, of butter, per week, for some part of the season. A cow 
of the Ayrshire dairy breed, kept by Mr. White, on land in La¬ 
narkshire, situated in 800 feet of altitude above the level of the sea, 
yielded, for several weeks in summer, 1833, sixteen pounds, avoirdu¬ 
pois, of butter per week. And the Rev. Mr. Alpin, of Skarling, 
obtained at the rate of thirteen pounds of butter from one of his 
cows that year per week. 
But although many such instances of produce could be pointed 
out, they are far above the ordinary or medium returns of dairy 
cows. It is certain, however, that thousands of the Scots dairy cows 
yield 4,000 quarts of milk in the course of one year, as has been 
mentioned ; and it is equally certain that sixteen quarts of that milk 
uniformly yield, on an average, 24 ounces of butter so that the 
average return of these cows, when of good quality, in right con¬ 
dition and properly fed, is 375 pounds, avoirdupois of butter, per 
cow, per annum. 
Science of Agriculture. 
OF THE DIFFERENT SPECIES OF MINERAL MANURES. 
Alkaline earths, or alkalis, and their combinations, which are found 
unmixed with the remains of any organized beings, are the only 
substances which can with propriety be called fossil manures. The 
only alkaline earths which have hitherto been applied in this way, 
are lime and magnesia; though potassa and soda, the two fixed al¬ 
kalis, are both used to a limited extent in certain of their chemical 
compounds. 
The most common form in which lime is found, on the surface of 
the earth, is in a state of combination with carbonic acid or fixed 
air. If a piece of limestone or chalk be thrown into a fluid acid, 
there will be an effervescence. This is owing to the escape of the 
carbonic acid gas. The lime becomes dissolved in the liquor.— 
When limestone is strongly heated, the carbonic acid gas is expel¬ 
led, and then nothing remains but the pure alkaline earth ; in this 
case there is a loss of weight; and if the fire has been very high, 
it approaches to one half the weight of the stone ; but in common 
cases, limestones, if well dried before burning, do not lose much 
more than 35 or 40 per cent, or from seven to eight parts out of 
twenty. 
When burnt lime is exposed to the atmosphere, in a certain time it 
becomes mild, and is the same substance as that preceptitated from 
lime water; it is combined with carbonic acid gas. Quick-lime, 
when first made, is caustic and burning to the tongue, renders ve¬ 
getable blues green, and is soluble, [i. e. dissolves,] in water; but 
when combined with carbonic acid, it loses all these properties, its 
solubility, and its taste ; it regains its power of effervescing, and 
