150 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
nure for root or corn crops, rather than grain crops, and 
allowing clover to alternate with these, is denied by few ; 
and the consequence has been, that the quantity of manure 
lias increased with the skill of the cultivation and the per¬ 
fection of the rotation. Instead of the manure being spread 
on permanent grass lands, it is now given to the tilled ones, 
and covered after its application, with as little delay as pos¬ 
sible. In one of the yards of Mr. Gaylord, we observed se¬ 
veral long mounds made of alternate layers of earth and 
manure, intended for compost. With the exception of one, 
they were thickly covered on the surface with luxuriant 
weeds, and on inquiring the cause of the exemption, were 
told that none was known, unless it was a quantity of lime 
which was thrown in with the earth of that pile, and this 
was doubtless the true solution Did the caustic action of 
the lime destroy the vitality of the seeds of weeds in the 
soil ? Or, did the greater heat and more active fermenta¬ 
tion induced by the lime, produce the same result ? 
In any place where agriculture is found in as advanced 
a state as at Skaneatcles, it is reasonable to infer that the 
population avail themselves liberally of the best sources of 
information on the subject which constitutes their great 
employment; and such we have the best reason to know, 
is the fact. There is scarce an agricultural publication of 
note in the country, which is not read here, and the habits 
of social intercourse which exist among the most influen¬ 
tial farmers, have a direct tendency to render any such 
useful knowledge generally available. There is probably 
not a town in the state with the same population, which 
receives a greater number of farming journals than this; 
and the condition of their agriculture speaks volumes in 
favor of the practice. Such examples show that with a 
good soil, an industrious population, and labor directed by 
intelligence, much of our country may be converted into a 
garden, and the profits as well as the productiveness dou¬ 
bled. 
COWS AND MILK. 
Every farmer or dairyman is aware that there is a 
vast difference in the quantity and the quality of milk 
given by different cows, yet this variation is made by 
very few the basis of any calculation as to the actual 
profit or loss in keeping such animals. As a general 
rule, it must be admitted that cows that yield a large 
quantity of milk, require more and better feed than 
those which yield less, in order to maintain the same 
flesh; but this is a point much depending on the breed, 
and its constitutional qualities. The average of the 
best common dairy cows, will net for six months, ex¬ 
ceed ten quarts per day, while numerous instances are 
on record, of cows which have averaged more than dou¬ 
ble this quantity for the same period. We very much 
question whether a majorily of our cows produce half a 
pound of butter a day for the same period of time; 
while the instances are not few, in which cows have 
yielded from ten to twelve pounds per week, and some 
have much exceeded this, as the examples we shall give 
will show. We think if the vast difference in profit be¬ 
tween a good and a poor cow was duly considered, much 
more pains would be taken to produce and rear such 
animals and breeds as would best serve the purposes of 
the dairy or the farmer. There is no propriety in the 
farmer’s keeping some half a dozen inferior cows to de¬ 
vour his pasture in the summer, and empty his barns in 
winter, to make butter for his family, when half the 
number of good animals will do it much better, and 
enable him to dispose of the extra fodder the others 
would consume, or add to his other stock in the same 
proportion. 
Very few instances have been given where the quan¬ 
tity of milk from a number of cows has been determin¬ 
ed with accuracy. Mr. Aiton, from the record of seve¬ 
ral years with a herd of the best Kyloes or North of 
England cows, gives the following result, in which con¬ 
fidence may be placed: 
“ First 
50 days, 24 quarts per day, 
1.200. 
Second 
u 
20 
U 
1,000. 
Third 
u 
14 
It 
700. 
Fourth 
u 
8 
it 
400. 
Fifth 
u 
8 
it 
400. 
Sixth 
it 
4 
a 
300.” 
4,000 quarts to 
each 
cow, or an average of 13 
quarts for 300 days. 
In Dickson’s Survey of Lancashire, the quantity of 
milk produced by five short horned cows of the ordina¬ 
ry, not improved breed, in the summer at pasture, and 
winter at hay and turneps, is stated as follows: 
“ One which did not go dry at all,- 4,857 quarts. 
One dry eight weeks,. 3,985 “ 
One dry six weeks,. 3,987 “ 
One dry “ 3,695 “ 
One dry eighteen weeks,. 3,383 “ 
A large dairy on the late Mr. Curwen’s farm, gave on 
an average of four years, 3,700 quarts to each cow, but 
the average in Lancashire generally, is stated at between 
8 and 9 quarts. Some of the county reports, in Trans¬ 
actions of the Agricultural Society, average the quanti¬ 
ty as below : 
Devonshire, 121 
Cheshire, 8 > quarts per day. 
Lancashire, 8 to 9 ) 
Mr. Wm. Crams, in Sussex, had a cow that in four 
years from 1805 to 1809, gave 23,549 quarts of milk, 
producing 2,132 pounds of butter; probably the greatest 
instance of continued productiveness on record. Since 
the improved Short Horns have become so well known, 
occasional examples of still greater amounts of butter or 
milk for a short time, have been furnished. Thus the 
Rev. Mr. Hacket, near Newark, Eng. had a cow which 
produced 19 pounds of butter in a week, though the ave¬ 
rage of the cows in that vicinity did not exceed six 
pounds per week. A cow of Mr. Calvert produced 373 
pounds of butter in 32 weeks; and for 20 weeks ave¬ 
raged 20 quarts of milk a day. The Yorkshire cows 
harm in many instances been remarkable for the quan¬ 
tity of milk produced by them; many, durfing the 
height of the season, yielding 30 quarts a day, and in¬ 
stances have occurred of reaching 36 quarts. 
The instances of uncommon productiveness both in 
milk and butter, among the cows of this country, are 
very numerous. These instances of great yields are 
more common among the improved breeds of imported 
stock, or such as have been derived from them, by 
crosses with the native stock of cattle, than among the 
old stock alone. Thus Col. Jacques’ Cream Pot breed, 
the result of a cross between the Durham bull and a na¬ 
tive cow, has produced butter at the rate of seventeen 
pounds in a week. We noticed not long since in the 
Pennsylvania Inquirer, a statement of Mr. Gowens’ 
Short Horn cow “ Dairy Maid,” which yielded 33| 
quarts of milk per day for a week; but the most re¬ 
markable instance of productiveness in a cow, all things 
considered, we have ever noticed, is found in the follow¬ 
ing statement of Mr. S. Canby, of Woodside, Delaware, 
furnished for the Delaware Journal. Mr- Canby’s cow 
is called Blossom, and is from the excellent, stock of C. 
H. Hall, Esq. of New-York. 
After mentioning Dairy Maid, Mr. C. adds :— 
“ I concluded to try my cow Blossom, a statement of whose 
milking for one week you will find below, and by which you 
will perceive she averaged for the week over 35 quarts per 
day, and yielded 13f pounds of well worked butter. * * My 
dairy maid is firm in the belief that at a cooler season of the 
year, or with a spring house, the cream she had from Blossom 
would have yielded 15 or 16 pounds of butter. 
“ Uncommon as this produce may be, I do not consider it 
more so than the fact of her never having been dry since she 
had her first calf, more than two years ago, and in the space 
of 25 months, has produced five living calves, viz—on the 5th 
of April, 1838, she had her first calf ( Delaware ,-) on the 4th 
of July, 1839, she had twins, {Liberty and Independence;) and 
on the 16th of May, 1810, she had twins again, (Romeo and 
Juliet;) and I think I can safely say, that during the whole 
of that time she has averaged full 20 quarts of milk per day, 
she gave 25 quarts per day with her first calf, and made near¬ 
ly 12 pounds of butter per week.” 
Mr. Canby in both years tried to dry Blossom before 
calving, but found it impossible. If Mr. Canby is right 
in liis estimate of the average daily quantity of Blos¬ 
som’s milk, she greatly exceeds any other cow on record 
inaproduct. The average of Mr. Cram’s cow, which has 
been considered at the head, was 5,837 quarts per an¬ 
num, while Blossom’s is 7,300. The average yearly 
product in butter of Mr. Cram’s cow was 533 pounds, 
and that of Blossom, as estimated by Mr. Canby, 624 
pounds. 
It is not to be expected that the average of the cows 
in any country can be made to equal these extraordina¬ 
ry yields of milk and butter; yet when we see what 
has been done by Col. Jacques, and to what perfection 
care and judicious selection has brought other breeds 
of domestic animals, we can conceive no good reason 
why our dairies should not have their profits vastly in¬ 
creased by improvements in the milking qualities of the 
animals composing them. 
PROSPECTS OF THE SILK CULTURE. 
From every part of the country we are receiving the 
most gratifying intelligence respecting the success of 
the experiments instituted by such numbers the present 
season in feeding worms. The multicaulis fever ran its 
course last y r ear, and though multitudes must rue the 
result of their speculations, yet the excitement spread 
the tree far and wide, and directed the attention of thou¬ 
sands to the silk business, that would otherwise perhaps 
never have taken any interest in it. The experiments 
made last year showed there was nothing mysterious in 
the production of silk; that in our fine climate the dif¬ 
ficulties encountered in other countries are unknown; 
and that where the mulberry can be grown or had, and 
room for feeding obtained, the formation of the cocoon 
and silk of the best quality for manufacturing, is as 
certain as the growth of grass or corn. In this, as in 
every other business, there will be some disappoint¬ 
ments. Those w'ho expect to make themselves rich the 
first year; those who enter largely' upon feeding worms 
without experience; those who hatch thousands or mil¬ 
lions of w'orms, and undertake to feed them, while they 
have foliage for not more than one-fourth the number, 
will belong to this class. 
One of the most serious obstacles in the way, has 
been the retardation of the hatching of the worm from 
the egg, until the foliage would be sufficiently abundant 
for their use; and this has been particularly the case 
where the tender varieties of the mulberry have been 
relied upon, as it was necessary for the shoots to spring 
and the foliage to grow, before feeding could commence. 
At the south, where the Chinese mulberries do not re¬ 
quire protection, and the foliage is ready for the worm 
at the earliest season, this difficulty of course is not ap¬ 
parent ; but at the north, it has proved a serious one. 
We are pleased to learn from the Farmer’s Register, 
that Mr. Pleasants has been making such experiments 
in preventing their hatching, as will enable him to have 
complete control over his worms, and regulate the num¬ 
ber by the foliage at command. He does this by means 
of his ice house, which in other hands, has hitherto been 
found a very ineffectual and uncertain method of retar¬ 
dation. Where the multicaulis has been mainly relied 
upon for feeding, (and this, the Canton, and Broussa 
appear the greatest favorites,) it has been found advi¬ 
sable to have some of the common white mulberry to 
commence the feeding with, to be followed by the easier 
gathered Chinese, when the quantity of food required 
is increased by the greater age of the worms. This 
method was adopted by Miss Rapp, of Harmony, who 
made the beautiful silks exhibited last year at Wash¬ 
ington. We venture to predict that the amount of raw 
silk grown this year in the United States, will greatly 
exceed the expectations of the firmest firiends of the 
culture in the country; and we should not be surprised 
if such specimens of raw silk and manufactured arti¬ 
cles should be exhibited at the Fair of the American 
Institute, as to convince the most incredulous of the 
deep root the silk culture has taken among us, and our 
ability to render ourselves independent of other coun¬ 
tries for this important article. 
IRRIGATION. 
Irrigation or watering lands is practiced for two pur¬ 
poses ; the first for supplying the roots of plants with 
moisture, when suffering from drouth; and the second 
to supply the soil with various matters, animal, vegeta¬ 
ble and mineral, which abound in most waters that have 
passed over any considerable space of the earth’s sur¬ 
face. There is a very wide difference,, however, in the 
value of water for performing the latter kind of irriga¬ 
tion ; some containing much greater quantities of ferti¬ 
lizing matter than others. Thus streams flowing 
through alluvial sections, always contain more matter 
that will be deposited by rest, than those running through 
primitive sections; and it is owing to this cause, that 
some streams are so much more effective in irrigation 
than others. Some streams, indeed, are unfit for irri¬ 
gation in any form, they containing some of the mine 
rals in one form or another, that render them fatal to 
plants. Ponds that have no outlets for the streams 
they receive, but depend on evaporation or absorption 
for the disposal of their waters, always abound in salts 
or other fertilizing matters, and experience shows that 
such are the most active on lands. This will appear 
probable when it is recollected that such bodies of wa¬ 
ter, by the gradual accumulation of such ingredients, 
usually become salt, of which there are multitudes of 
examples on the globe. Slow moving streams are also 
richer in their deposites than rapid ones; thus the Nile, 
the Po, and the Mississippi, contain more than the Elbe, 
the Susquehannah, or the St. Lawrence. 
We have known no instances of an analysis of river 
water in this country to test its properties in this re¬ 
spect ; but that many of our streams abound in the qua 
lities most valuable for irrigation, is proved by the 
abundant deposite from their waters, and the fertilizing 
results of an annual or even occasional overflow. Ma^ 
ny of the waters of Europe have been analyzed, anu 
from them we may in some measure form an estimate 
of the substances most effective in irrigation. It must 
be remembered, however, that the quantity of organic, 
and even mineral substances suspended in river water, 
differs greatly in different seasons of the year. 
Dr. Thomson found in the waters of the Clyde: 
“ Common salt,.. 0.369 
Muriate of magnesia,. 0.305 
Sulphate of soda, (Glauber salt,) .0-114 
Carbonate of lime,. 0.394 
Silica, (flint earth,). 0.118” 
or a little more than 1| part. 
Dr. Bastock found in the Thames water: 
“ Organic matters,. 0.07 
Carbonate of lime,. 1.53 
Sulphate of lime,. 0.15 
Muriate of soda,. 0.02” 
or about one and three-fourth parts. 
The Itchen, in Hampshire in England, has long been 
celebrated for the fertilizing power of its waters, and 
on its banks are some of the finest water meadow's of 
the kingdom. Mr. Johnson made an analysis of its wa¬ 
ters, and after all the mechanically suspended particles 
had subsided, the result of the analysis was as fol¬ 
low's :— 
“ Organic matters,. 0.02 
Carbonate of lime,. 1.89 
Sulphate of lime, (Gypsum,). 0.72 
Muriate of soda, (Common salt,) .... 0.01” 
A knowledge of the substances contained in water, 
will materially aid in showfing us why they should ope¬ 
rate advantageously when applied in irrigation. A 
large proportion of all our waters are hard, that is, they 
contain some of the salts of lime, and always one of 
these is gypsum. Every farmer knows the value of this 
substance spread on his grasses, into which it enters as 
a component part, particularly in the case of clover. 
According to Prof. Davy, “ calculating that one part of 
sulphate of lime, (gypsum,) is contained in every 2.000 
parts of water, [and the streams of Western New-York 
far exceed this,] and that every square yard of meadow 
dry land absorb eight gallons of w'ater, then it will be 
found that by every flooding, more than one hundred 
and a half of gypsum per acre is diffused through the 
soil in the water, a quantity equal to that generally 
adopted by those who spread gypsum on their clover, 
lucerne, sainfoin or other crops as manure, in the state 
of powder.” 
Every soaking of meadow lands by water containing 
only 25 parts in a thousand (a very low estimate) will 
give, according to the same authority, two tons of ani¬ 
mal and vegetable remains to the acre, substances of 
