88 
ted at $40 per acre; in Western New-York at $25 to $35, 
and on the Western Reserve, Ohio, at $20 per acre. The 
wholesale value of cheese compares very nearly in value 
at those several points, with the difference in the value 
of the land, which is occasioned mainly from the diffe¬ 
rence in the quality of the article, and not through local 
influences or demand. The best cheese in the Union is 
manufactured in Herkimer and the adjoining counties; 
that which rates next in quality is produced in Western 
New-York, bordering those streams that flow into Lake 
Erie; and the next is manufactured in the north-eastern 
comities of Ohio. Celebrated brands in the two latter 
dairy regions, will favorably compare with the finest spe¬ 
cimens produced in Herkimer; but in the main, the po¬ 
sition here taken in regard to the relative comparative 
quality of the products of those districts, hold strictly 
good. We have on former occasions taken much pains to 
investigate the causes which produced the vast difference 
in quality of cheese and butter, indifferent districts; and 
although soil, character of herbage, and water for stock 
have much to do in the production of a good or bad qua¬ 
lity of dairy produce, yet the management of the busi¬ 
ness itself, in nine cases out of ten, stamps upon the cha¬ 
racter of the article, either its bad or good qualities. 
So far as the natural adaptation of the western prai¬ 
ries are concerned, it is safe to conclude that a superior 
article of cheese and butter could be produced, which 
would in every particular compare with the most celebra¬ 
ted dairy products of the Union. Occasional instances 
may be met with in travelling through Illinois and Iowa, 
where the articles of butter and cheese are decidedly su¬ 
perior in quality, but these are exceptions to the general 
rule, and indeed, it rarely happens that a traveller can 
meet with a sample of either at the public hotels and 
boarding houses, that would pass inspection in any of the 
leading markets in the country. It is idle to expect that 
the present population of the west will do much towards 
establishing a high character for the dairy; and to our 
mind, the best chance to effect that object, would be to 
fairly bring the claims of the country, for the business, 
before the attention of eastern dairymen. Much pains 
will be taken to effect that object in future numbers of 
the Cultivator, so that the readers may correctly judge 
of the adaptation of a prairie country for the profitable 
prosecution of the dairy business. 
There are many features connected with this important 
subject, that should be known by all who may have any 
desire to transfer their operations from high priced lands 
to those of a nominal value, and without fully enlarging 
upon the details at this time, a synopsis merely, will be 
given, and an early opportunity will be embraced for the 
more full development of the matter. 
Prairie grass will produce as good a quality of milk 
and cream, as the cultivated grasses, though not quite so 
abundant. Cows are exceedingly partial to it, so much 
so that they prefer it to all other description of pastur¬ 
age, and for at least four months in the year it is quite as 
reliable as either timothy or clover. Cows, as well as 
all other description of horned cattle, and horses, may 
be tolerably well wintered on prairie hay, at a merely 
nominal cost; but it is obvious that the main cause of the 
deficiency of milk in summer, may be attributed to the 
Feb. 
almost exclusive use of this description of winter pro- 
vender, and the absence of esculent food; and not to the. 
deficiency of nutritive properties in prairie grass for sum¬ 
mer pasturage. Summer ranges for cattle, for a very 
long period to come, will be so abundant, that the stock 
will not have to travel to an inconvenient distance from 
the farm buildings, if they be judiciously located. At the 
head of all the streams, both in Illinois and Iowa, the 
prairie and timbered land are about equally distributed, 
and neither, in those regions are found in large bodies 
lying contiguously together. The country at those points 
presents a beautiful and undulating appearance, so equal¬ 
ly diversified in hill and vale, with an abundance of 
never failing springs, and comparatively no swamps or 
Avaste lands, that at no distant day it must become 
occupied by an industrious and intelligent class of 
eastern farmers, who will introduce not only a superior 
system of dairying, but will also engraft upon wesfern 
agriculture the most approved systems of management 
included within the entire scope of a mixed system of 
husbandry. The price of butter and cheese is fully 80 
per cent higher in the western markets than in the eas¬ 
tern, and can be produced at one half the cost. With 
these, and other powerful reasons, we shall at some fu¬ 
ture occasion bring this important subject more promi¬ 
nently before the American public. 
--•-©-*--- 
The Canadian or Wild Goose. 
This interesting bird, though easily domesticated to 
such a degree that it will breed in its captive state, yet 
always, or at least for many generations, possesses some¬ 
thing of the migrating instinct inherent in the species. 
They are frequently restless, and disposed to fly at those 
seasons Avhen the wild geese make their semi-annual 
journeys. They call to their brethren which happen to 
pass within sight or hearing; and if the tame ones are 
disabled from flight, (as is done by amputating one wing 
at the outer joint,) the wild ones not unfrequently alight 
to reconnoitre. If a wild flock is bewildered by having 
lost their leader, as is sometimes the case, they have 
been knoAvn to be so attracted by domesticated ones of 
the same species, that they have been easily shot, or 
even taken alive. Col. Jaques, who keeps this bird in 
his collection, near Boston, states that flocks of wild 
geese have several times alighted near his poultry-yard, 
and although near a highway which is constantly tra¬ 
veled, they have sometimes remained for a Avhole day, 
no molestation of'them being permitted. 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
