1852 
THE CULTIVATOR 
151 
states, we shall have a little more respect for his autho¬ 
rity. 
The Herefords and Ayrshires come next under review, 
in which he quotes Youatt, the English author, and but 
two or three pages are given to them. He notices very 
favorably, Mr. Prentice’s fine Ayrshires, with a portrait 
or two from the “ Transactions . 57 With Mr. Corning, 
however, our author must have an account to settle, as 
the Herefords are given the cut direct, in the omission of 
any portrait of that distingushed race. 
“ Breeding for the daily , 77 is considered in Chapter Y., 
in which some sad mis-prints, as elsewhere, occur in 
the names of animals—our author either does not write 
plain, or his proof-reading has been neglected. Here is 
an attempt to re-laud Col. Jaques 5 famous herd of 
“ Cream-pot 77 cows, bred on his “Ten-hills farm , 55 
near Boston, as a “distinct breed 77 of American dairy 
cows. To the uninitiated, this may appear a new dis¬ 
covery, and achievement. It is simply an evidence to 
those who understand the subject, of what boasting 
and assurance can do, in palming off a very common 
thing upon such as know no better. Col. Jacques’ cream- 
pots are good animals, no doubt. We have seen both the 
cows and their “ cream , 77 together with the milk which 
produced it; and it was all excellent of its kind. But 
Col. Jaques 7 cows are nothing more than the produce of 
Short-horn bulls, and good, native milking cows, and 
such as every breeder of such cattle can produce, and 
has produced, by the score, although they may not have 
made quite so much fuss about it. If American dairy¬ 
men wish to produce the best “ cream-pot 77 cows in exis¬ 
tence, they have but to get a first quality, thorough-bred 
Short-horn bull, of a good milking tribe, and breed him 
to the best milking cows they can find, and after a gene¬ 
ration or two, they will be in possession of a race of cows 
meeting their just expectations in all that constitutes ex¬ 
cellence in the dairy cow. The author can, neither from 
his own observation, or by printed extracts from others, 
give ns any better practical truth than this. 
The next two chapters, VI and VII, are taken from 
Prof. Johnston, Sprengel,and other foreign and domestic 
authorities, hurried over with much less care and atten¬ 
tion than their subjects are entitled to,mainly, we imagine, 
from the inability of our book-maker to understand their 
importance. In this latter chapter, the everlasting 
“ Oaks 77 cow—he leaves out her cousin, the equally fa¬ 
mous “ Nourse” cow, neither of which ought to be men¬ 
tioned without the other-—“ of the old breed, bought out 
of a drove , 77 to prove their superiority, by this single 
specimen, out of millions of inferior ones, to any thing 
among the improved races. What a convenient thing it 
is that we have the chronicles of two such famous cows, 
with which every non-improver can at once sledge-ham¬ 
mer down his antagonist who advocates any thing of a 
better kind, and prove the superior excellence of the 
“ old sort of cattle ! 77 It is quite as edifying as the re¬ 
mark of an old crone that we knew in our boyhood, who, 
whenever great manual strength was in question, always 
squeaked out, that “ after all their big stories, no man 
was half so strong as Sampson ; and as for fox-hunting, 
the best pack of hounds, and all the shooters in the neigh¬ 
borhood couldn’t hold a candle to him . 77 
Chapter VIII, gives us a very good plan of a dairy 
barn, and cheese house, taken from one built by the So¬ 
ciety of Shakers, at New Lebanon; and observations on 
dairy cows, and their keeping; all very well, winding up 
with the perpetually quoted doggrel lines, from the Eng¬ 
lish Farmer’s Magazine, describing the qualities of a good 
dairy cow: 
“ She’s long in her face,” &c. 
The next two chapters, comprising some 73 pages, con¬ 
tain directions for the cheese and butter dairies, made up 
of extracts chiefly from the Transactions of the N. Y. 
State Agricultural Society. These, so far as they go, 
are well enough, but are not, in completeness, what should 
be expected from one who assumes to write, or even get 
up a book on a subject of this importance. The subjects 
in hand are neither experimentally, nor philosophically 
handled; and although a considerable amount of detach¬ 
ed information is given, it is not of a kind to instruct the 
dairyman in the detail, or in the successful prosecution 
of his business. Such isolated facts, drawn from the re¬ 
corded operations of others, without the attendant cir¬ 
cumstances to their success or their failure, owing to cli¬ 
mate, soil, or position, can scarcely be a safe guide to the 
beginner in the prosecution of his labors; and certainly 
of very little account to the established dairyman in deve¬ 
loping new ideas for his guidance. 
The subject is a broad one,requiring mature experience, 
great observation, and an enlarged capacity, to instruct 
the dairyman of our country in what jiarticularly apper¬ 
tains to their calling; and we fear it will be a long day 
before we shall find a work which will combine the ex¬ 
perience, thought, Observation, and ability which its im¬ 
portance demands. Mere compilations of miscellaneous 
matter may be got up by the score; the fledglings of the 
school-house, or the chemical lecture room, may essay in 
a thousand efforts to enlighten the public, or what is pro¬ 
bably of more immediate consequence to them, to put a 
few extra dollars into their pockets, by the sale to a cre¬ 
dulous public of their crude scissor work; but we may 
look in vain for a competent authority on the subject un¬ 
til some man of mind shall address himself to the task, 
and devote the time and talent to its prosecution, neces¬ 
sary to its full understanding, and for which he will hard¬ 
ly, as yet, get an adequate compensation. Such a work 
I should hail with heartfelt pleasure, and would do my 
best to advance, and to circulate. 
The remaining eight chapters of the book are devoted 
to diseases of cattle, and their cures, taken from Youatt, 
and just enough of them to make it of very little value 
to any one who needs a work of the kind. Better to ap¬ 
ply to Youatt at once, than to resort to the emasculated 
text of a competent authority at the hands of one who 
confessedly does not understand the subject which he is 
attempting to handle. We confess, in all candor, that 
the book is little, if any better, with this medical addi¬ 
tion to its pages. 
It may be thought that I am unnecessarily curt with 
the pages of my young friend, who with laudable mo¬ 
tives, no doubt, has got up his book for the instruction 
of our farmers and dairymen. I would do nothing to 
wound his feelings, or to cut down his ardent aspirations 
for either fame or fortune. Public attention is fast 
turning its eye to our extended agriculture. It is more 
rapidly enlisting the talent, the thought, and the capital 
of our country, into its interest, than formerly, and it is 
important that the young inquirer be not led astray by 
the crudities of those who write without a knowledge 
of the length and breadth of the subject before them. 
Platan us. 
Foot-rot in Sheep. —An intelligent correspondent of 
Moore’s New-Yorker, considers this disease as not con¬ 
tagious, except in its most virulent state. His own flock, 
of three or four hundred, had been perfectly healthy for 
a long period,—no disease had ever prevailed among them 
—they were on high land, well watered,—not a rod of 
wet, stagnant, or swampy ground—remote from all other 
sheep,—not a hoof from any other flock had been among 
them—yet the disease came, slightly on a dozen at once, 
and during the season some 80 or 100 were attacked. 
Choked Cattle. —A correspondent of the Mass. 
Ploughman says—“ Warm a small quantity of lard, and 
mix with it a small quantity of gun-powder, and pour 
into the throat. I once prepared a second dose, but had 
no occasion to use it.” 
Food for Sick Animals.— The American Vet. Jour¬ 
nal states that an excellent diet for sick animals, is simply 
scalded shorts. When a horse has taken cold, with dis¬ 
charge from the nostrils, the mash may be put into the 
manger while hot, with a view of steaming the nasal 
passages. 
