150 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
tury, anil were a cross of the old short-horns, or Teeswater, -with the 
Norman or Alderney bulls. The cross was a fortunate one. “ Never 
was there a more fortunate cross. In no other country does exist so 
excellent a breed of cattle, as those of Holderness,- including all the 
useful properties. In one, perhaps the most important respect, great 
milking, they are superior, and even without rivals. Their beef is 
liner than that of the old short-horned breed, and they fatten much 
earlier and quicker, carrying still a vast depth of natural flesh, and tal¬ 
lowing within in the first degree. They have both speed and strength 
enough for labor, and their shoulders are well formed and well posited 
for draught.”" They are beautifully variegated in colour, spotted, 
striped, sometimes shutted red and white, or blaek or brown, or white. 
They rival the best long-horns in the cheese and butter dairies, and for 
suckling are unrivalled. These are well known as- the stock generally 
kept by the London cow-keepers. They are great consumers-; but, 
says Lawrence, " it matters not how much cattle eat, if they pay for 
it.” The Holderness differs from the “improved short-horns.” 
The Alderney and Norman cattle, are of diminutive size, and not dis¬ 
tinguished for beauty, being thin, hard and small-boned, and often 
very awkwardly shaped. This description refers particularly to the 
cows. They are however among the best milkers in the world, as to 
quality, and in that respect are either before or immediately next to 
the long horns; but weight of butter for inches, they are far superior 
to all. The Norman cattle make fat quick, and their beef is of the first 
class, fine grained, high colour and savory.— Lawrence. We saw, in 
1835, three fine Alderney cows, just imported, in the neighborhood of 
Boston. 
The Tree-fold is recommended in the New Farmers' Calendar. It 
is a circular enclosure of thickly planted trees, suppose of eight acres 
extent, the central acre remaining unplanted, as a sheltered fold for 
cattle, with sheds or out houses; the access to be made by a ser¬ 
pentine road, for the purpose of preventing a current of wind upon the 
fold. The beech and white oak, Or an intermixture of evergreens, are 
preferable, on account of their retaining their foliage during winter. 
This suggestion merits consideration, particularly of large sheep far¬ 
mers, and upon new farms a suitable reservation may be made of the 
younger growth of forest timber. In the prairie districts of the far 
west, where the winter blasts sweep over a vast expanse of level, and 
often naked country, the tree-fold will be particularly beneficial; and 
where they cannot be preserved, they should be planted, without delay, 
by the new settler. 
Dairy statistics. —In Cheshire, stock is esteemed only as it profits 
the dairy, cheese being the great staple—and cows for the dairy being 
the prime object. Their favorite points, “ large, thin-skinned udder, 
and full milk-veins; hide not material, shallow and light fore quarters, 
capacious behind, wide loin, thin thigh, white horns, long thin head, 
brisk, lively eye, clean chops and throat, general symmetry and beauty 
no object. Cows held to be in their prime from four to ten. Calves 
run with the cows three weeks, and are then fed on whey, with a little 
meal or lintseed. One quart of meal, mixed with forty quarts of whey, 
is the daily allowance for ten calves. Hay the first winter, straw the 
next. Cows housed at night in the winter, and turned to grass in good 
condition. Hours of milking, in summer, six, morning and evening. 
The farmer attends milking, to see that the work is effectually done, 
as “ each succeeding drop, which a cow gives at a milking, excels the 
preceding one in richness.” A northern aspect preferred for the milk- 
house, sheltered by buildings or trees, where a uniform temperature of 
air can be preserved, with the aid of a stove in winter. The product 
of a cow is 300 to 500 pounds and upwards of cheese. One gallon of 
milk makes one pound of cheese; and the dairy-men are better satis¬ 
fied with one that gives eight quarts per day through the season, than 
one that gives more, as in the latter case the milk is generally thinner, 
and the cow becomes sooner dry. The best winter food for cows is 
good hay, assisted by root crops. The hay being mixed with straw, 
will, in exact proportion to the quantity of straw, deteriorate the pro¬ 
duce of the cow. They find here, as elsewhere, that great milking 
and great proof in beef are incompatible,— Law. Well saved corn¬ 
stalks, if cut and moistened, are thought equal to hay. 
MINERAL POISONS 
Are sometimes taken with our food, by reason of the decomposition 
of the lead and copper, of which many kitchen utensils are either com¬ 
posed, or constituted in part, without our apprehending the cause of the 
maladies they produce. Although the deleterious effects of these mine¬ 
rals are often slow and imperceptible, yet medical science has pro¬ 
nounced them almost certain, and the decision has been confirmed by 
experience. In whatever form lead may be introduced into the human 
body,—whether its vapors are inhaled through the pores of the skin, or 
whether it be introduced with our food or drink,—it is equally injurious 
and fatal. Copper, or the verdegris which it affords on decomposilion, 
although not so deleterious, is nevertheless poisonous. Lead produces 
a spasmodic cholic, or dry belly-ache; and copper produces vomiting. 
The antidotes reccommended for the first are antimonial emetics, and I 
afterwards liver of sulphur and vegetable oils. And for the latter 
poison, Cooper prescribes liver of sulphur, (sulphuret of potash.) 
■These metals are decomposed by the acids, sometimes by saline com¬ 
pounds, and by exposure to air and moisture. 
Lead is used, though less now than formerly, and less here than in 
Europe, for cisterns, pumps, water-pipes, milk-pans, and as a compo¬ 
nent in the glazing of red and cream coloured earthen-ware, which last 
are used for milk, pickles, preserved fruits, jellies, &c. Water, in a 
pure running state, has no sensible action upon these metals, but it 
may, from adventitious causes, acquire this power, as from vegetable 
matters mingling with it, which afford carbonic acid; and, when at 
rest, and accessible to air, water corrodes or oxydizes them. Nume¬ 
rous cases are cited by Accum, of sickness and death, caused by the 
use of lead and copper vessels. The best and only security against the 
deleterious effects of lead, is wholly to abandon the use of all culinary 
utensils, made in whole or in part, of that metal; and to carefully avoid 
using for pickles, preserves, meats, liquors, or other substances contain¬ 
ing acids or saline matters, glazed earthen ware, in which lead forms 
a component part. 
There are many utensils in use fabricated of copper, though the pre¬ 
caution is adopted of coating their insides with tin, to prevent the con¬ 
tact of acids with the copper. It is contended by Willich, that the tin¬ 
ning of copper vessels is not sufficient to defend them from the action 
of the air, moisture and saline substances; even when strongly coated 
they are liable to rust. So dangerous were copper utensils considered 
in Sweden, for culinary uses, that in 1756 the Senate prohibited their 
use in the army and navy. At best, the tin will get off, by accident or 
wear; and then they should not be further used till they are again tin¬ 
ned. Nor is this all—the most scrupulous attention should be paid to 
cleanliness, when copper vessels are used—to leave no liquid in them 
longer than is necessary for the purpose of cooking—for the metal is 
more readily decomposed by liquids, when cold, than in a heated state. 
Accum eautions parents against purchasing toys, in the colouring of 
which verdigris and lead are often employed, and which children are 
apt to put into their mouths. 
LABOR BENEFICIAL TO STUDY. 
We find in one of our exchange papers, an extract from Weld's re¬ 
port on manual labor—a report which we have not seen, but which we 
should be pleased to possess—going to show, conclusively, that labor 
does not retard, but promotes, the intellectual progress of students, when 
they alternate it with their studies. We consider the general recogni¬ 
tion of this principle so important to physical health, so consonant to 
republican habits, and so salutary in its influence upon agricultural 
and mechanical labor, that we cannot refrain from presenting, in a con¬ 
densed form, the opinions, in this matter, of some of the most eminent 
scholars and teachers of our land. The question seems to have been 
put to these gentlemen, whether three hours labor in a day would re¬ 
tard or promote the intellectual improvement of young men engaged in 
acquiring a literary education. The answers of the undernamed, are 
indicated as follows: 
Rev. Dr. Greene, Philadelphia. —It would promote the acquisition of 
knowledge in a very important degree.. 
Prof. Keith, Alexandria. —It will not retard progress in study. 
Prof. Ripley, Newton. —It will greatly promote progress in study. 
Rev. Dr. Ware, Cambridge. —It would promote the intellectual pro¬ 
gress of students more than sufficient to compensate for the loss of time. 
Pres. Griffin, Williamstown. —It would accelerate their progress in 
learning. 
Pres. Chapin, Washington. —It would rather accelerate than retard 
progress in study. 
Pres. Fisk, Middletown.— It would not retard progress in study. 
Pres. Humphreys, Annapolis. —The remaining time will acquire an 
increased value, enough to make up for the loss. 
Hon. T. S. Grimke, Charleston. —Three hours exercise and nine hours 
of study, will accomplish far more in a series of years, than fourteen 
hours study and no exercise. 
Pres. Cassett, Ky. —I have never witnessed such rapid progress in 
study as that which has been made by the manual labor students of 
this college. 
Prof. Woods, Andover —expresses a like opinion, in regard to the 
beneficial effects of labor upon literary students at Andover. 
If one-fourth of a literary student’s time can be usefully appropriated 
to labor, to promote health, and impart new vigor to the mind, how 
much greater would be the advantages to students intended for agri¬ 
culture and the mechanic arts, if, in the time allotted to study, they 
could acquire a practical knowledge in their future business. Now, if 
we vary the proportions, and give to students who are destined to live 
by agriculture or the mechanic arts, an equal portion of time for study 
and for labor, their progress in their studies would not be likely to be 
seriously retarded, while they will have made good progress in acquir¬ 
ing a profession. 
