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CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY 
 
PROCEEDINGS 
 
 Opening of the Board of Trade Rooms, 
 
 At Little ITalls, July lO, 1871, 
 
 AND OF THE 
 
 FIRST ANNUAL CONVENTION 
 
 IN'ew Yoek State Daieyme^'s Association^. 
 
 Janiaary S and 3, 187^. 
 
 ALBANY : 
 
 THE ARGUS COMPANY, PRINTER! 
 
 1873. 
 
OFFICERS 
 
 PRESIDENT, 
 
 X. A. WILLARD, Little Falls. 
 
 SECKBTAET, TREASURER, 
 
 WATTS T. LOOMIS. DAVID H. BURRELL. 
 
 CORRESPONDING SECRETARY, 
 
 JOSIAH SHULL, Ilion. ' 
 
NEW YORK STATE DAIRYMEN'S" ASSOCIATION AND 
 BOARD OF TRADE. 
 
 Meeting at Opening of Board of Trade Eooms, at Little Falls, 
 
 July 10, 1871. 
 
 In accordance with previons announcement, the members of the 
 New York State Dairymen's Association, with their many friends in 
 the county, assembled at their new rooms in Little Falls for the pm-- 
 pose of a formal opening of the same, at two o'clock, p. m., July 
 10, 1871. 
 
 Not one of the large number in attendance, who had not seen the 
 work that had been done there, had any idea of the very extensive and 
 convenient arrangements that had been made for the Board of Trade, 
 and all present were enthusiastic in praise of the good taste and excel- 
 lent judgment wliich the managing agent, J. W. Cronkhite, Esq., had 
 shown in the preparation and adornment of the rooms. Those most 
 conversant with such matters best appreciate his labors in this respect, 
 and accord him the most unqualified praise. 
 
 The meeting was opened with an appropriate prayer by Rev. Mr, 
 Hibbard. 
 
 The president of the association, X. A. Willard, Esq., then deliv- 
 ered the following address : 
 
 Gentlemen of the Board of Trade and Fellow-Citizens. — "We meet 
 here to-day to inaugurate, practically, a State Dairymen's Board of 
 Trade. A board of trade does not presume that any better or any 
 poorer sales of cheese shall be made at this market. It is simply a 
 mutual agreement, on the part of producer and buyer, to remove 
 business transactions from the dust and sun and rain and mud of the 
 open street to roomy, well-ventilated and convenient quarters, which 
 afford some comfort to buyer and seller. It is simply making busi- 
 ness attractive, bringing order out of disorder, making it a pleasure 
 for both buyer and seller to carry forward transactions in a business- 
 like nianner, instead of jumbling everything up in a kind of coramer- 
 
cial hash, as unsavory and as uncertain as that peculiar compound of 
 the boarding-house. 
 
 A board of trade abridges no liberty of action consistent with 
 decerfcy and a proper respect for the usages of trade. Wo man will 
 be forced to sell or forced-to buy, but after a transaction is completed 
 in these rooms it is expected that the contract will be rigidly adhered 
 to by both parties, except that the parties mutually agree upon a dif- 
 ferent course of action. 
 
 The officers and managers of the Board will not approve of a fac- 
 toryman or a dairyman, after selling his goods to one man, disregard- 
 ing his contract and selling to another who may offer a little better 
 price. Neither will they approve of buyers flying back on their don- 
 tract without reason. 
 
 Our constitution provides that matters of this kind be referred to a 
 reference committee of fair and honorable men, whose decision in the 
 case must be final ; and the executive board will sustain each decision, 
 exercising such power as may lie within its province. 
 
 No man's legitimate business is interfered with, and every member 
 of the association has a right to feel that this room belongs to him as 
 much as any other. He is to come and go as he sees fit, and enjoy all 
 the privileges that any other member enjoys under the constitution to 
 which each has duly subscribed. 
 
 It is the duty of the ofiicers of the association to preserve order 
 and decency in the room., and that no one may sufier from" the wanton 
 abuse of persons who overstep the rules which they agree to respect 
 on becoming members of the association. 
 
 It is not proposed to make this Board of Trade purely a local 
 institution. It embraces the whole State in its range of operations, 
 and we welcome every dairyman or dealer in the State to come here 
 and do business in this room on a perfect equality with those of this 
 immediate locality ; the only requirement being that such person 
 or persons pay the annual fee of membership and sign our constitution. 
 
 This society should have no sectional feeling. It should afford 
 ample facilities for reporters who may wish to transmit intelligence 
 to their respective journals or to other boards of trade, and it should 
 be distinctly understood tliat this association will extend every facility 
 in its power to factorymen in other parts of the State who may wish 
 to transact business at this place. 
 
 There was abundant reason and it seems eminently appropriate that 
 this movement should have originated in Herkimer county, and that 
 a central State board of trade should be. established at Little Falls. 
 
Herkimer county has a record and history iu connectiou with the 
 dairy, of some prominence, to say the least. It was upon these 
 black slate hills that American dairying iirst took its rise. It was 
 here the problem was sol\'ed that the dairy could be catiducted 
 successfully as a specialtj^, and that as a specialty it could cope in its 
 pecuniary results with any of the other agricultural interests of the 
 State. Herkimer is the oldest dair^'ing district in America. I knew 
 the man in his old age who first began dairying in Herkimer. He is 
 said to have come into the country on foot from New England, nearly 
 eighty years ago. He was rich in health and strength. He is said to 
 have had but eight silver shillings in his pocket, an axe upon his 
 shoulder, and two strong arms to swing it. Nearly the whole country 
 was then a dense forest. Brant and his Mohawks had been gone 
 several years, but traces of their pillage and murders were fresh 
 among the early settlers in the valley and along the river. The old 
 Dutch heroine, Mrs. Shell, was then living in the county. She was a 
 noted character when the Indians besieged her log house. She 
 fought side by side with her husband all day and all night, battering 
 the guns of the Indians with her axe as they thrust them through the 
 logs, and firing at the assailants until help came from the fort. The 
 house stood in the great black slate hills rising near the Mohawk, to 
 tlie north. Beyond was a valley and a still higher elevation. Ilci-e 
 the sturdy young New Englander picked his land. His stout arms 
 felled the timber over many acres. He built his log house and 
 established a herd upon the soil. From such beginnings sprang the 
 mighty giant that is now stalking over the continent, dotting the 
 land with countless herds. 
 
 Perhaps the strength of this interest can best be given in figures. 
 American dairying represents a capital of more than $1,000,000,000. 
 The cheese product last year sold for $30,000,000, and the butter 
 product for at least $200,000,000. In 1864 the butter product of 
 New York alone was nearly 85,000,000 pounds, and the cheese 
 72,000,000 pounds. The value of these products, at a very moderate 
 estimate, was more than $50,000,000. U. S. Commissioner Wells, 
 in 1869, estimated the annual value of dairy products of the country 
 at $400,000,000. 
 
 If you cut Herkimer county in two, and separate the northern half 
 as a wilderness by reason of its forests, you will find the area of cul- 
 tivated land in Herkimer to be the smallest of any county in the 
 State, and yet with less land and less cows it produces double the 
 Jairy products of any county in the State. I know of no region. 
 
whether in this country or in Europe, where the average make of 
 cheese per cow has been so large. Tlie largest quantity of cheese 
 recorded, amounting to nearly 900 pounds per cow, was made in 
 Herkimer by a well-known Herkimer county dairyman. 
 
 The first transactions in cheese and the first sliipments abroad were 
 made by Herkimer connty men. There was established here, at 
 Little Falls, thirteen years ago, the first organized system of county 
 marketing in the United States, and tliis organization establish- 
 ing a dairjnnen's board of trade was the first movement of the 
 kind on the continent. The proceedings of this society from 
 its first inception have been watched with more than ordi- 
 nary interest by dairymen in all parts of the State. Immediately 
 after the adoption and publication of our constitution, the peo-' 
 pie of Erie connty and western New York met at Buffalo, and, 
 adopting substantially our plan, oi-ganlzed a dairymen's board of 
 trade at Bufi'alo. Such men as Hon. Lewis F. Alien, E. W. Stewart 
 and George A. Moore, who have a national reputation, were leaders in 
 the movement. -Followiug tliis, a dairymen's board of trade, adopt- 
 ing substantially our constitution, was inaugurated at Sinclairville, 
 Chautauqua county. I was present at the meeting of organization and 
 found 500 people assembled, from all parts of Chautauqua county, 
 eager and enthusiastic for the success of the movement. The dairy- 
 men of St. Lawrence county are also moving to establish a board of 
 trade at Potsdam, and of Lewis county at Lowville. 
 
 The Oneida county people have inaugurated a board of trade at 
 Utica. The time is not distant, in my opinion, when every daiiw 
 county in the State will have a similar institution. 
 
 Thus it will be seen that our lead has not been without its results, 
 and will doubtless ^vork into a system of marketing of the utmost 
 benefit to the people of the State. At the inception of any movement 
 in the direction of true })rogress, we are imable to measure, with anv 
 degree of exactness, the vast range of benefits which are likely to 
 follow. 
 
 The fundamental principles of progress in any department, simple 
 though they may be, are very slow of discovery, but, when once dis- 
 covered, the march of iini)rovonient is sure and often astounding in 
 its results. 
 
 There was no place abroad that I looked upon with more interest 
 than the little island in the Thames, opposite Eunnymede and just 
 below the royal castle of Windsor. It was here the barons in olden 
 times forced from King John the Magna Charta, that grand old com- 
 
pact that gave birth to the freedom of the Anglo Saxon race. The 
 stone is still preserved there upon which the king, more than 600 
 years ago, signed the document, and, as I looked npon it, I thought 
 how diiierent might have l»een the destiny of the Anglo Saxon race 
 had the great charter not been given, and how great its influence in 
 moulding and educatingthc people in the rights of manhood, and in 
 establishing onr civil and religious liberties. 
 
 I have said that original principles of practical utility are of very 
 slow growth ; we are constantly elaborating and copying from what 
 has gone before ns, and it sometimes takes ages to find out how fool- 
 ish men were in remote times. I sometimes think that o\;r educated 
 men are not so ^-ery learned after all, because that which is called 
 science, to-day, may be nothing more than a tissue of errors built up 
 into a semblance of truth. 
 
 Take, for instance, the theoiy that the earth was a plane, and see 
 how many ages passed before it was overturned and the spherical form 
 of the earth established. For many years, and nearly up to the pres- 
 ent day, we had a theory in regard to the elaboration and circulation 
 of sap in trees; and another theory in regard to the origin of heat 
 from the sun. 
 
 Kecent investigations have shown that there was no foundation for 
 these theories, and they have been abandoned by scientists. The 
 recent researches of the chemists, and the wiinderfnl dihcoveries made 
 by the use of the microscope, have uprooted and annihilated many 
 things that were once considered pusitive knowledge, well grounded 
 in science. It is now held by scientifie men that those dreadful 
 scourges, the cholera, the yellow fever, the l)lack tdiigue, and the vast 
 range of epidemics whicli afliict people, and the origin of which has 
 been a puzzle to the medical profession, are due to a species of fungi, 
 living organisms which pervade the atmosphere, from time to time in 
 countless numbers, and are inhaled with the iireath, when they enter 
 into the circulation, feed upon the tissues and poison the I'lood. The 
 microscope reveals these disgusting organisms ; and recent experiments 
 in bottling air, and transporting it from the infected districts, leave no 
 doubt that these organisms can be carried from one place to another, 
 and thus commence at once to multiply and spread disease among 
 those who breathe the air where they have been introduced. Even 
 in the common Vvdiooping-cough the mucus accuraiUating in the throat 
 has been found to be alive v/itli organisms peculiar to that disease, 
 and that they carry the infection to healthy subjects. The microscope 
 
8 
 
 is revealing many curious things, and is overturning theories that 
 were once supposed to be settled beyond question. 
 
 1 do not speak of these matters out of any disrespect to science, 
 for I hold science and scientific men in high estimation ; but the point 
 which I wish to illustrate is this : that the discovery of new princi- 
 ples and the originality of really sound practical knowledge are of 
 slower growth than many people imagine. The last half century, it 
 is true, has been more fruitful in the practical application of princi- 
 ples for the betterment of the race than any previous fifty years of 
 which we have any record. 
 
 The application of steam to ocean and land travel, the transmission 
 of intelligence by telegraph, the adaptation of machinery for manu 
 facturing purposes, and for farm work, the utilization of various earthy 
 deposits, all .have been of infinite advantage in ameliorating the con 
 dition of men. Prof. Wilson has well remarked that our science 
 ministers only to the physical necessities of men. It does not acknow- 
 ledge his imagination, or directly concern itself with his ascription 
 of beauty to some things and of ugliness to others. It does not 
 acknowledge his heart, or take heed of his loves or his hates, 
 his exaltation or despairs. It does not acknowledge his con- 
 science, or care about right or wrong, or affect any interest in his 
 moral welfare. It does not even pay court to his intellect, or profess 
 sympathy with his cravings after knowledge for its own sake, his 
 impatience of ignorance and longings for perfection. It knows him 
 only as the paragon of animals, the most helpless though most gifted 
 of them all ; it seeks only to meet his fleshly wants, to enlarge the 
 practical empire of his senses; to make his arms stronger, his fingers 
 nimbler, his feet swifter, and, with help from hygienics, his form 
 more stalwart — himself a more smoothly i-unning, well-ordered living 
 machine. Putting aside, then, all questions of beautj'', morality or 
 philosophy, we are to consider where man can acquire the knowledge 
 which will give his body the victory in the daily battle of life. 
 
 To solve this problem, he must fall back upon the sciences which 
 reveal the properties of matter and the modes of altering it. Thus, 
 to take a complex but striking example: Through observational 
 science we may discover a soil more or less fertile all tlie world over ; 
 but transformational science must show us how to fence and till it, 
 how to drain, or irrigate, or manure it, before it can be made a fruitfid 
 field. Geology, striving ever to reach nearer to the centre of the 
 earth, finds coal for us ; chemistry teaches us how to coke — i. e., liter- 
 ally to cook — this raw material, and how to distill it into naphtha and 
 
9 
 
 gas. Mineralogy selects iron ores for us ; chemistry converts them 
 into steel, and mechanics forge that into bars. 
 
 Descriptive botany plucks a wild currant, physiological botany 
 changes it into a sweet grape, chemistry ferments it into wine and 
 transforms that into ether. Descriptive zoology lays its hand on a 
 caterpillar, physiological zoology nui-ses it into a strong silk-woi-m, 
 chemistry bleaches and dyes the silk which it spins, and mechanics 
 weave it into velvet. 
 
 But if man has any reason to feel proud of any one of his achieve- 
 ments, it is of his science of astronomy, and the limitations which 
 restrict its study justify his pride the more. 
 
 Those limitations are great. Ages before the existence of scien- 
 tific astronomy, the question was put to the patriarch Job, " Canst 
 thou bind the sweet influences of the Pleiades, or loose the bands of 
 Orion ? canst thou bring forth Mazaroth in his season ? or canst 
 thou guide Arcturus with his suns?" And when Job, in his heart 
 "if not with his lips, answered the Almighty, "No," he answered for 
 his successors as well as for himself 
 
 Astronomical problems accumulate unsoh^ed on our hands, because 
 we cannot, as mechanicians, chemists or physiologists, experiment upon 
 the stars. Are they built of tiie same material as our planets ? Are 
 they inhabited? Are Saturn's rings solid or liquid ? Has the moon 
 an atmosphere ? Are the atmospheres of the planets like ours ? Are 
 the heat and light of the sun begotten of combustion ; and what is 
 the fuel which feeds his unquenchable fires ? 
 
 These are but a fev/ of the questions which we ask and variously 
 answer, but leave in reality unanswered after all. A war of words 
 regarding the revolution of the moon aroiind her axis may go on to 
 the end of time, because we cannot throw our satellite out of gearing 
 or bring her .to a momentary stand-still, and the probability of the 
 liabitability of the stars awaits in vain an experimcntum crucis. 
 There is perhaps no more familiar natural phenomenon than that the 
 sun leaves in shadow that side of a body which is turned from him, 
 and that this shadow changes its place in obedience to the apparent 
 motion of the sun. And with no more than this fact of nature made 
 over to him, even the barbaric mechanician constructs his useful sun- 
 dial, and the sun measures itself into hours. So also the bar of steel 
 which the experimenter has rubbed with a natural loadstone becomes 
 a compass needle and deserves its name by threading the mariner's 
 way through all the labyrinths of the sea. People of this age have 
 the means of enjoying more comforts than they did iifty years ago, 
 
10 
 
 but that they do not, in many instances, is because they fail to see 
 what is practical. and how to adapt it. ' If we take for instance this 
 single question of marketing farm produce, we shall see that the 
 generality of farmers in this country have had little conception of the 
 advantages resulting from an organized system of selling the products 
 of their labor. 
 
 The knowledge and practice of a good system of dai^y farming is 
 very essential to success. To know how to manufacture good butter 
 and good cheese is also of prime importance. But there is something 
 beyond all this which not unfrequently depresses and paralyzes all our 
 best endeavors in dairy management : 1 refer to a loose and unskillful 
 manner of marketing dairy produce. 
 
 It is quite needless for me to say to you that no farmer, no produce 
 dealer, no business man can conduct operations with success when his 
 necessary expenditures are greater than the receipts. Well directed 
 labor, in any department of industry, should have an adequate reward, 
 and that it fails to accomplish this end is the result often of some lack 
 of foresight and consequent mismanagement on the part of the 
 operator. 
 
 We have seen what wonderful results have been accomplished by 
 association and by a combination of interests. The laying of the 
 Atlantic cable, the building of the Pacific railroad, the tunneling of 
 the Alps, and other gigantic entei-prises, results of association, are not 
 only astounding in their magnitude, but are producing a revolution in 
 the business operations of the world. 
 
 We have seen what wonderful results have been accomplished by 
 the associated system of dairying, and it is coming to be understood 
 that association and unity of action are the great principles of power 
 and progress in the world. The farmers of America have not appre- 
 ciated this principle in marketing their products ; they have proceeded 
 upon the idea of individual action, operating, for the most part, at 
 random, without any well-digested data, and trusting to luck and 
 chance in the well or ill disposal of the fruits of their labor. 
 
 It has been abundantly proved, wherever the expej-iment has been 
 tried, that an organized system of marketing is not only a benefit to 
 the producer but to the produce dealer. When goods are scattered 
 over the country, it requires immense labor on the part of dealers to 
 hunt up and get supplies together. It is also quite expensive, not 
 only taking time which is valuable, but necessitating an outlay for 
 horse hire and other traveling expenses, which in the aggregate, during 
 a season, amount to a very large sum, all of which the dealer must either 
 
11 
 
 lose from his legitimate profits, or take out of the farmers' earnings 
 by pnrcliasing at so much below the actual market \'alue of tlie 
 article for sale. Suppose a farmer has live tubs of butter, or a few 
 hundred pounds of cheese, ready for market. The dealer makes a 
 journey to the premises and buys the goods. His time is very mucli 
 more valuable than that of the farmer, and the actual expense of 
 the journey (say ten dollars, and perhaps more) nmst be met some- 
 \vhere. JSTeither the farmer uor the dealer can afford to lose this sum. 
 It is a waste of time and a useless expenditm-e of money, resulting 
 from a wrong system of marketing; for, if the producer and dealer 
 agree to meet on a certain day at some convenient market point, a 
 large amount of goods can be examined in a brief time and at mini- 
 mum expense. But this is not the onlj^ advantage. There is a cun- 
 stant change going on in the great markets of the world ; the price 
 may bo up this week and down the iiext. When goods are scattered 
 over the country in separate lots, it takes too much time to gather 
 them together, and hence the dealer must run larger risks, or must 
 make a liberal margin on his prices to cover any prospective loss on 
 account of the delay in getting to the city to meet present demands 
 and present prices. If the dealer can meet the producer at the rail- 
 road depot and purchase his goods and ship them at once, he knows 
 to a certainty when they will arrive at their destination, and thus he 
 reduces his risks. And it is very important to the farmer that these risks 
 be reduced to the lowest possible point, for heavy losses on the part 
 of the dealer always react upon the producer, making dull njarkets and 
 depression in business. It is right and proper tliat dealers be paid 
 liberally for their services, for the risk of their capital, and for their 
 skill in handling produce, and what we seek by a central market is 
 not to deprive them of their just compensation, but to cut otf useless 
 expenses, and make business more safe and profitable to both parties. 
 Again, a central market stimulates to better production and more 
 permanent improvement. There is many a farmer and factoryman 
 who has no adec[uate idea of the relative quality of his goods until 
 they are set side by side with those that are better, and where they 
 can be fully tested and compared. At a central market you meet 
 with numerous experts, and the judgment of different persons gives 
 more satisfaction, and gives greater weight than that of one person, 
 whose opinion is often suspected of being warped or biased, perhaps 
 for private ends. Then at a regular central market there is always a 
 community of interests, a spread of intelligence, not only as to market 
 
12 
 
 values, but as to production and manufacture, which are of very great 
 importance to the producer's interest. 
 
 I have endeavored to shadow forth some of the more salient advan- 
 tages that result from the establishment of country markets, markets 
 which ought to be inaugurated at least in every dairy county in the 
 State. The plan has long existed in England, and I was very forcibly 
 impressed with its great practical benefits, during my visit to Gre*t 
 Britain, in 1866. In England, convenient buildings and grounds are 
 provided, where all kinds of farm products are collected for sale on 
 market days. Earmers find these markets of the utmost advantage, 
 whether they be sellers or buyers. If one wants to buy a horse, a 
 cow, a pig or any other farm product, he goes to the nearest market 
 where are collected a variety of these animals, which are offered 
 at different prices. Hence, farmers themselves who are purchasers 
 find the markets economical, because the expense of traveling over 
 the country to look up the article desired is saved, while, at the same 
 time, those who have goods to sell have an opportunity of meeting 
 persons who desire to purchase, and thus they readily dispose of stock 
 or goods that would perhaps depreciate on their hands awaiting a 
 customer. 
 
 Nothing strikes an American in England with more force than the 
 fact that an English farmer can pay such enormous rents for land and 
 yet save something by farming. The English consumer pays, for the 
 'most part, but little more than the consumer here. Indeed, the cost 
 of living is cheaper in England than in America, and yet the farmers 
 on an average get more for their produce than the farmers of America. 
 How is this to be accounted for, except it be that they have a better 
 system of marketing, by which the consumer is brought nearer the 
 producer, and a great many useless expenditures and risks to the 
 dealer are cut off than by our system, which is more expensive and 
 speculative in its character. 
 
 At the English cheese markets, the cheese from the surrounding 
 neighborhood is brought into the market, placed and piled in parcels 
 under an open, shed-like building, and here the cheesemongers from 
 all parts of the kingdom (or their agents) assemble and purchase such 
 goods as are most desirable, while the different interests of dealers 
 and the strong competition of the trade regulate the price and pre- 
 vent any of those losses that follow from selling below market rates 
 on account of lack of intelligence or a healthy competition. 
 
 The advantage of a healthy competition among buyers who know 
 just where to place their goods has a very marked influence upon 
 
13 
 
 sales and prices. I have known goods to sell at this market late in 
 the day, after the leading dealers had left the market, at full one cent 
 per pound below the earlier sales. Why ? Not because the goods 
 were worth less money, but because the dealers present had made up 
 their supplies and were not certain wliere to place a surplus. This 
 is a natural law of trade ; the risks are increased and consequently a 
 hirger margin must be exacted. 
 
 It has been proposed that the State organization hold weekly ses- 
 sions on market days at Little Falls for the discussion of topics relating 
 to the manufacture of dairy products, the management of dairy farms 
 and other kindred subjects, these sessions to occupy perhaps an hour 
 or so during the day, while the remainder of the time will be devoted 
 to business transactions. 
 
 Our constitution provides for one winter meeting in convention, 
 when it is hoped all the factories in the State will be represented and 
 take such action as shall be deemed desirable for the better promotion 
 of the dairy interest of the State, and the marketing of daily pro- 
 duce. I am firmly of the opinion that the establishment of market 
 days and market places, in all our leading villages, for the disposal of 
 all kinds of farm produce would vastly subserve the farmers' interest. 
 But to the dairyman and factory manager, who has his product to 
 dispose of from week to week, 'these institutions become of absolute 
 necessity in every community that desires to keep pace with modern 
 improvements. 
 
 Innovations upon established customs are always more or less diffi- 
 cult and cannot be made without steady and persistent effort. I am 
 in favor of extending the benefits of this board of trade to farmers 
 beyond transactions in the dairy. I think a bulletin board should 
 be introduced especially devoted to recording any article which far- 
 mers may have for sale. A weekly record upon this board of all farm 
 products, of grain, of animals and the like for sale, will be of mutual 
 benefit to all. 
 
 In conclusion, it will be proper for me, in behalf of the officers of 
 this association, to acknowledge with thanks the very liberal dona- 
 tions of citizens of this village, by which our managing officer, Mr. 
 Cronkhite, has been enabled to furnish and fit up this beautiful room. 
 I am sure every member of the association will duly appreciate this 
 liberality on the part of the citizens of Little Falls, for without 
 their substantial help, amounting, I am told, to upwards of $800, we 
 should not have been able to carry this movement through. We are 
 all much indebted to Mr. Cronkhite for his good taste in making 
 
14 
 
 this room what it is. He has given to the mattei' much time and 
 an earnestness of purpose which cannot be too highly commended. 
 I trust the Association will make a suitable acknowledgment of its 
 heavy obligation by giving him a hearty vote of thanks at least. 
 
 In view of my inexperience as a presiding officer, I ask your indul- 
 gence and kind co-operation in maintaining order and decorum while 
 I may preside over your deliberations. 
 
 At the conclusion of President Willard's address, he introduced 
 J. W. Cronkhite, ' Esq., managing agent, who briefly spoke as 
 follows : 
 
 Mr. Preside7it and Gentlemen of the Board of Trade : In the 
 discharge of the duties assigned me as your managing agent, I have 
 endeavored to make the best possible use of the means placed at my 
 disposal. Though to some extent tedious and perplexing, yet a plea- 
 sure has been mingled with the labor in the progress of the improve- 
 ments, bringing this room and its approach from the chaos in which 
 we found it, to the completeness and pleasant aspect it now presents, 
 and thus gratifying in myself a long cherished desire. 
 
 I remember a suggestion made to you, Mr. President, long ago, in 
 regard to the positive necessity of an organized system and greater 
 convenience at this point, for the transaction of this important and 
 growing branch of business, and of such an organization as would 
 conduce to the combined interest of both buyer and seller. That 
 thought has grown by time until it has produced what .we see before 
 us to-day. 
 
 Here is offered a resting place to the weary dair3-mau, coming from 
 week to week with his product, from the routine of his daily toil. 
 And alike to the dealer, coming, in' his feverish excitement, from the 
 busy marts of the city traffic, mentally, and physically exhausted, 
 broken from rest and jolted by steamer and cars, to this quiet retreat. 
 There is offered a home-office where he may reciiperate his exhausted 
 energies in comfortable quarters, with ample conveniences for pleasant 
 intercourse, with members of this Board of Trade. 
 
 For the generosity of our business men who contributed the means 
 for the accomplishment of this cherished object, they are entitled to 
 your thanks. May we not predict that this channel of interchange 
 between producer and consumer shall grow and prosper, and that 
 here shall be built up, on a substantial basis, a mutually profitable 
 business for the future. 
 
 Here, as an important auxiliary to active business, telegraphic 
 wires shall feel the pulse of the market, for we are in communication 
 
15 
 
 with tlie world, and European cities as well as tiur own coninicrcial 
 seaports, shall feel interested in yonr transactions on this floor, and 
 seller and bnyer will stand side by side reaping a mntnal advantage. 
 
 The man of enlarged business ideas recognizes the important laws 
 of commerce; he counts upon production and consumption, upon sup- 
 ply and demand, and upon all the various details in trade that aiu 
 known to influence values. Thus the general diffusion of intelligence 
 and impi)rtauce of direct exchange between producer and dealer by 
 increased facilities, tend to expedite transactions, the advantages of 
 which will be apparent to all. 
 
 But I must close. Others that are to follow me will treat these 
 topics with greater ability. If those for whom this room is completed 
 and furnished shall feel a proper appreciation and avail theuir-elves 
 of the comforts and advantages it is designed to aft'ord, then thiise 
 who have interested themselves in this undertaking will feel that they 
 have not labored in vain. And may they long enjoy it in ])oaccful 
 intercourse and abundant prosperitj', and then shall I feel amply 
 paid for wdiatever service I may have rendered, as your humble ser- 
 vant, in the accomplishment of this object. 
 
 Addkess of Hon. Akphaxad Looms. 
 
 Hon. A. Loomis was called upon, and gave the following brief 
 abstract of thoughts which the occasion had inspired : 
 
 Certain causes combined to make cheese dairying a specialty in 
 this county ; certain other causes have combined to make the market- 
 ing of cheese specially adapted to Little Falls, and to attract buyers 
 and sellers together at stated periods, say once a week, to transact 
 their business. 
 
 These circumstances are, no doidjt. in part, the result of the volun- 
 tary agency of men of sagacity in business, of those individuals by 
 whose action they have been promoted or matured. 
 
 The business of producing cheese, as the chief farming product, 
 commenced in this county, in the towns of Ncirway and Faii'field, as 
 early as al>out 1810. Cheese was made, as a partial product, some 
 years earlier, but 1810 was about the time when entire farms were 
 given up to that purpose by a few individuals. Mr. Ferris, ]*.Ir. 
 Thayer, Mr. Salisbury, of Norway, and Kathan x\rnold, of Fairfield, 
 wei'e the first, or among the first, to embark in the business. From 
 these it extended from neighbor to neighbor and town to town, mitil, 
 in 1825, it had principally carried the county, and large areas in other 
 counties adjoining. The business has continued progressive, and 
 
16 
 
 cheese now constitutes the staple product of a very large area in this 
 State, in the New England States, in northern Ohio, northern Penn- 
 sylvania and in Michigan. 
 
 The marketing was for many years done by local merchants and 
 others, going about in the latter part of the season and purchasing by 
 contract the entire crops of cheese of the farmers, to be delivered at 
 the close of the season, and to be paid for usually on the first of 
 January. 
 
 It was always packed in casks made for the purpose, usually of 
 thin sawed staves of basswood. At a later period, when they 
 began to buy and send off cheese during the summer, the present 
 form of box packages was adopted. About 1860 the practice com- 
 menced of bringing cheese forward by rail, on Mondays and Tuesdays. 
 This was for convenience of shipment, and led to the establishment 
 of the system of having Monday the regular market day. Cheese being 
 expected and brought in on that day, buyers assembled to meet it. This 
 practice was extended to other places of shipment, but required other 
 days in the week to accommodate the same buyers who attended here on 
 Monday. The market here, very naturally and appropriately, was 
 held in the open air by the side of the wagons. On some Mondays, 
 before the general establishment of cheese factories, several hundred 
 farmers have been in the streets near the railway depot, each with his 
 wagon laden with cheese, boxed and marked with his name, while 
 some twenty or more buyers scattered among them, and passing from 
 wagon to wagon, some from New York, Philadelphia, Boston, Balti- 
 more, and occasionally a dealer from England, were examining, 
 boring, tasting, smelling and making bids for the load. And now, 
 since the largest part of the cheese is manufactured in factories, 
 representing some ten to twenty farms each, the sales of these are 
 made by samples exhibited, or by previous inspection by the buyer 
 at the factory itself, reserving the question of price to be settled on 
 market day. This last step in the progress has rendered more neces- 
 sary the conveniencies of a public room at hand, where business may 
 be transacted, and has led to the establishment of the hall just now 
 first opened to the public. This has been provided and furnished by 
 the citizens of the village, and placed at the disposal of the New 
 York Dairymen's Association and Board of Trade. 
 
 Little Falls, in Herkimer county, is the location where the cheese 
 dairying market started, and has been regarded as head-quarters. 
 Recently, however, a little place some twenty miles west of here, 
 known as Utica, has set itself up to be somebody in this line, and not 
 
17 
 
 content to take its place in the line by adopting for its da}- one of the 
 days of the week not appropriated by other neighboring markets, it 
 assumes precedence and rank above the oldest, and has appropriated 
 to itself our Monday as its market day, seeking to draw away from 
 us the buyers and sellers who have heretofore made Little Falls their 
 market. I. am not sure but they have even followed our example in 
 getting up a board of trade, and providing a room devoted to the 
 business. 
 
 "We wish all possible prosperity to that thriving place, but cannot 
 forbear advising them that in the cheese business Little Falls intends 
 to maintain its position and to appropriate Monday for its own 
 marketing, leaving them undisturbed by us, to use, if they please, all 
 the other days of the week, or such as they may prefer, so far as we are 
 concerned ; or if they think it best, they may continue to call in their 
 customers on Monday. They \\'ill have to call pretty loud to draw 
 ours away. Our facilities are good both by rail and canal. We are 
 central in the dairy districts, we have a reputation in the eastern 
 markets, and we intend to maintain it. Utica can do a respectable 
 business in cotton and woolen goods and in savings banks, but cheese 
 is not her specialty. 
 
 FIRST ANNUAL CONVENTION OF THE NEW YORK 
 STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION. 
 
 The first annual convention of the Dairymen's Association and 
 State Board of Trade was held at their rooms, in Little Falls, on the 
 second and third days of January, 1872. The attendance was good, 
 and was made up of some of the most prominent dairymen of the 
 State. 
 
 The President, X. A. Willard, Esq., called the convention to order 
 and introduced Rev. N. R. Everts, who appropriately and eloqi;ently 
 invoked the Divine blessing upon the assemblage. 
 
 Opening Address by the President, Me. X. A. Willaed. 
 
 Mr. Willard then addressed the convention as follows : 
 Gentlemen. — The constitution of the New York State Dairymen's 
 Association and Board of Trade declares that a winter convention of 
 the Society shall be held, commencing on the first Tuesday of January 
 in each year, at such place as shall be selected by the executive com- 
 mittee. We convene, therefore, to-day, in accordance with our articles 
 of association, and I trust the meeting will be made of interest and 
 2 
 
18 
 
 usefulness. It should be remembered that the value of all such conven- 
 tions must depend very much upon the manner in which those in 
 attendance are interested, and signify a willingness and earnestness to 
 make them of most practical account. It must not be supposed that 
 this meeting is inaugurated merely as a matter of entertainment, 
 where people may come simply to pass an idle hour. It is expected 
 to be a farmers' and a dairymen's meeting, where every person present 
 will have liberty to speak — to give the result of experience or experi- 
 ment, and compai-e his own practice with that of others. The execu- 
 tive committee have selected a number of speakers of eminent ability 
 who are to present you their views on special topics, concerning which 
 they are familiar, and upon which they have given much thought. It 
 cannot be expected among persons following diverse practices that 
 any one is at the moment ready to change his views. We need dis- 
 cussion and a comparison of views, one with the other, that we may 
 be able to get at the best practice, and thus make progress and improve- 
 ment. It is hoped that whatever views may be presented at any ses- 
 sion of this convention they may receive full attention and discussion, 
 and I ask that whenever an error be promulgated you arrest it and 
 pail it down. Do not sit here silent and give it countenance. 
 
 The history of organizations for the discussion of topics relating to 
 the dairy goes back no further than January 6, 1864:. The first con- 
 vention, occurring at Rome, N. Y., was most remarkable in its result. 
 The call was made by about forty leading cheese manufacturers and 
 dairymen, among whom, Jesse Williams, the originator of the factory 
 system, was prominent. There was an immense gathering, crowding 
 the largest hall in the place, and people in all parts of the State were 
 anxious to get newspapers reporting the meeting. Since that time 
 there has been a large number of dairy organizations formed — State 
 and local — and the knowledge diifused on this subject is extensive, and 
 its value can scarcely be estimated. I think I may safely say that there 
 is no branch of agriculture that has made such rapid strides as that 
 relating to the dairy. I think there is none in which you will find 
 minds more intelligent or more ripe for investigation. I know it is 
 sometimes said that this factory system, and these dairy conventions, 
 have been an injury to the dairy business in old dairy districts. 
 
 There are men who hold that were it not for the factory system and 
 the spread of intelligence on this subject of cheese making, the busi- 
 ness would have been confined to a few counties in this State and in 
 Ohio, and the dairymen here would have had things all their own 
 way. There is nothing more illogical or illusory. Had it not been 
 
19 
 
 for the factory system and the spread of iiiteHigence which has exerted 
 such a power in the education of manufacturing, the dairymen of tlie 
 State would long since have heen ruined. Contrast the general pro 
 duct of cheese to-day with what it was so late back as 1860. In 1859, 
 you remember, Samuel Periy contracted the great bulk of chee^^o 
 made in this county and in other parts of the State at ton cents per 
 pound. Much of this cheese was so poor, so utterly worthless as an 
 article of food, that it had to be thrown into the docks. We had no 
 name abroad, and our cheese in England was only considered fit for 
 paupers or people of the lowest class. Even this class took it only as a 
 necessity, and because it could be had for a mere triile. There were 
 immense losses, every now and then, among persons who handled cheese, 
 on account of its inferior quality and the difficulty of keeping it. Do yon 
 suppose that without this flood of intelligence that has been poured in 
 upon us, the cheese of to-day would have been any better tlian the 
 cheese of 1859 ? Why, my friends, we have revolutionized the feel- 
 ing in England, and forced that nation to admit that American cheese 
 is quite equal to the best English manufacture, while the bulk of our 
 exports is regarded as superior to the bulk of English make. The 
 English people find it more and more difficult to compete with us in 
 quality, and are now turning their attention to the factory system as 
 a means of solving this difficulty. But by the better character of 
 our cheese we have created an immense home market, which could 
 not have been secured on the old quality of cheese. 
 
 Do you suppose the great bulk of Herkimer county cheese, as it 
 was made fifteen years ago, soft, slushy, liable to fall in pieces, easily 
 tainted and not imfrequently alive with skippers, could make such a 
 way in the home market as the " fancy cheese " of to-day ? Could 
 you or I be induced to buy and eat fi-eely a poor and imperfect cheese 
 at any cost ? No, no ; the people want a good thing ; something that 
 is attractive in flavor, and which gives pleasure in the eating. 
 
 I question whether intelligence or progress ever injured any people. 
 I have heard how certain people of the State, in old times, condemned 
 the Erie canal when it was building. They jeered and hooted at Clin- 
 ton's ditch, and predicted all sorts of failure and disaster. Later, and 
 even in the remembrance of persons in this convention, the railroad 
 that passes through the rocky ciits of this village was stigmatized and 
 denounced as a great curse, which would bring ruin to, our farming 
 population. They declared that there would be no demand for horses, 
 none for grain, or for hay ; while, with the stage lines ruined, we 
 should have no market. The hotels, too, would all go under, and 
 
20 
 
 fanners would be unable to sell their vegetables, their butter and 
 eggs, and other products supplying the traveling public with eatables. 
 I fancy in those days there would have been few people in this village 
 and in the immediate vicinity who would have advocated bonding 
 this town for $200,000 to have a railroad touch the village. Why, 
 the bare mention of such a project must have stamped the man as 
 insane, and his friends would have had him chained and locked up 
 without delay. 
 
 Would 3'ou have our women go back to carding and spinning wool 
 and weaving cloth, when the work can be done at a quarter the cost 
 by tlie iron arms and sinews of yonder mills, made animate with 
 the pale blood of the Mohawk ? Is not human flesh and blood and 
 muscle of more account than the blood and muscle of inanimate 
 nature, which by our cunning devices we make subservient" to our 
 will ? Yes, my friends, the world moves, and progress has been 
 vouchsafed us by a beneficent Creator. In proportion as we become 
 more fully acquainted with the laws and operations of nature, so shall 
 we be more competent to combine our opinions and form correct 
 tlieories. 
 
 If by the fan of knowledge you can winnow away the chaff of error, 
 you may thus separate the kernel of truth in a purer form ; but we 
 must be guarded lest in our selfishness we lose the precious corn of 
 truth. It has been done before. God honors those who give. " Hide 
 not your light under a bushel " is a divine command. It is not from 
 knowledge that we need have cause of fear, but rather from 
 ignorance. 
 
 The world is full of error. It travels fast and far ; it is at war 
 with progress ; it seeks to insinute itself under the garb of truth iu 
 every experiment and into all our operations. It is the great arch- 
 enemy which must be met at every step and overcome. 
 
 The exports of cheese during the past year have been the largest 
 ever made. According to the official returns of the custom-house, 
 we exported from January 1st to December 24th, 1871, 67,530,000 
 pounds, and for the same time in 1870, 61,451,500 pounds, showing 
 an increase in 1871 over 1870 of 6,078,500 pounds. In 1870, we 
 exported only 1,394,2P0 pounds of butter ; last year, 1871, our exports 
 were 8,519,700 pounds, an increase for the past year of 6,125,505 
 pounds. 
 
 You need not be told that the average price of cheese has been 
 low. The fact, doubtless, has been forcibly impressed upon your 
 minds at every sale of cheese during the past season, and under the 
 
21 
 
 present aystem of marketing I caa see no prospect of better prices in 
 the future. There are several circumstances that have conspired to 
 bring about a weak state of the market, such as the general decline in 
 the price of all farm products, especially the low rates of bacon and 
 pork ; bttt the chief cause of low prices is the stupid manner in which 
 our cheese is brought forward in hot weather and forced upon the 
 market. 
 
 There is scarcely a factory within my knowledge that is provided 
 with room sufficient to keep the hot- weather cheese. The factories 
 push forward immense quantities of cheese in July and August, not 
 only from the fear that it will lose flavor at the factory, but because 
 there is no room to hold it. The local dealer who buys is in a hurry 
 to be rid of it, for fear of losses in hot weather. The shipper is also 
 afraid of it for the same reason, and every one who handles cheese in 
 hot weather is in hot haste to shift i-esponsibility and risk upon some 
 other shoulders than his own. 
 
 I cannot see how it is possible to sustain prices under such a condi- 
 tion of things. It is a forced sale from beginning to end, and the 
 law of forced sales is that real values cannot be realized. The remedy, 
 it is obvious, lies in additional curing-houses at the factory, so con- 
 structed that cheese may be held from time to time as desired. 
 
 It is believed by many that the dairymen of the east are to get 
 relief by the abandonment of dairjnng in the west, thereby reducing 
 the general make of cheese. I do not think that we can look for any 
 permanent benefit in this direction. The business will be developed 
 from year to year in new localities, where lands are adapted to the 
 dairy. You cannot convince tlie west that more money is to be made 
 in pork or grain-raising than in dairying, even at the present prices, 
 because the facts are against any such assumption. 
 
 The cost of transportation eats out the profit on grain-raising at the 
 west. The cheese makers of Illinois are altogether better off this 
 year than the grain raisers of that State, and so of Wisconsin and 
 other States. We are not over-producing in dairy goods ; that is not 
 the matter ; but we lack enterprise in opening up the home market, 
 and in supplying the kinds and qualities of cheese desired by our 
 people. And then, again, we persist in tliat miserable stupidity of 
 forcing forward our goods when there is most risk in handling, and 
 when they cannot be taken except at a heavy margin to cover pro- 
 spective losses. The fact has become notorious that America furnishes 
 no old cheese. There is a demand for good old cheese at high prices, 
 but it cannot be had at any price. I do not propose to discuss the 
 
22 
 
 question of markets. There are gentlemen here who have given the 
 subject attention, and who, I hope, will present suggestions to help ua 
 solve that difficult problem of " how to manage the cheese crop to 
 the best advantage," and, more, "how to make a pound of cheese pay 
 the cost of its production." 
 
 Dairymen, this year, have been in a state of mind very much like 
 that experienced by Mr. Micawber, " waiting for something to turn 
 up ;" but it has not turned up. Micawber's distinguished formula, 
 you will remember, is a pertinent one, applicable alike to all classes, 
 whether they be of the Micawber family or — New York dairymen. 
 It reads, " annual income, twenty pounds, annual expenditure, nine- 
 teen, nineteen, six, result — happiness. Annual income, twenty pounds, 
 annual expenditure, twenty pounds, ought and six, result — misery. 
 The blossom is blighted, the leaf is withered, the god of day goes 
 down upon the dreary scene, and — and, in short, you are forever 
 floored." 
 
 Some people argue that because cheese was once made at a profit 
 for seven cents per pound, it can be made at the same figure again. 
 
 If that be so, I am sure dairymen ought to feel happier and moi-e 
 encouraged in their worldly prospects than some other classes. I only 
 hope, however, that this convention will show how it can be done, 
 that those who have dairy farms may begin the new year on this basis. 
 
 But notwithstanding the comparative low rates at yhich cheese 
 has sold the past season, our dairymen have abundant cause for thanks 
 to a beneficent Creator. The season throughout the State has been 
 one of general health. There have been no malignant diseases sweep- 
 ing off the herds. The foot and mouth disease, which a year ago 
 threatened to break out among our cattle and destroy their usefulness 
 for the season, was kindly stayed by a merciful Providence. The 
 crops, both of grass and hay, have, on the whole, been much better 
 than was anticipated. We have been touched witli no dire disasters 
 like those affecting other parts of the country and the world. The 
 year has been one of terrible calamity to the human race, but we 
 have been allowed to pass unscathed. In Europe, what untold suffer- 
 ings have grown out of the Franco-Prussian war! Going further 
 east we may catalogue the famine in Persia, the floods in Cliina which 
 overwhelmed and destroyed a population of 200,000. Then there 
 have been innumerable shipwrecks, the destruction of the whaling 
 fleet ; and touching still nearer our hearts and sympathies, that terrible 
 calamity of Chicago, and the fiery whirlwind devastating so many homes 
 in^the north-west. The sad and painful history of the year marks it 
 
23 
 
 as the most disastrous that has occurred in a long period, and I think 
 when we look about us there has been no class more blessed with gen- 
 eral prosperity than the dairymen. Whatever causes have conspired 
 to reduce the profits of our business below the average of former 
 years, can in no way be attributed to Providence, but may be traced 
 directly to our own weakness and want of forethought. Our calami- 
 ties, if there be any, have been of our own making. 
 
 Mr. Leander Wetherill then addressed the convention on the sub- 
 ject of 
 
 Daiky Stock and Foeage therefoe. 
 
 Mr. President and Gentlemen : To be invited to deliver the 
 annual address before the New York Dairymen's Association and 
 Board of Trade, here at Little Falls, was an honor of which any 
 Massachusetts farmer might well feel proud, however much he might 
 fear his want of ability to contribute anything to add to your rich 
 stores of knowledge and wisdom, garnered from the gradual accumu- 
 lation of long years of experience and observation, amid the most 
 celebrated dairy section of the United States, as of the Empire State. 
 Having, after much deliberation, decided to accept your invitation, 
 the next topic for consideration was, what shall be my subject ? 
 After considerable reflection I decided on this, to wit : " Dairy Stock 
 and Forage therefor," hoping that I might occupy your time by such 
 a discussion as whould not be wholly unproiitable, even though there 
 should be nothing specially new advanced. 
 
 Much is said and written at the present day, of science as applied 
 to breeding and feeding farm stock, whether bred for tlie dairy or the 
 shambles, with how much of truth, judge ye ? Science is defined as 
 knowledge ; in the words of Sir William Hamilton, it is a complement 
 of cognitions, having in point of form the character of logical percep- 
 tion, and, in point of matter, the character of real truth. 
 
 Science, then, is or may be regarded as the methodical arrangement 
 or the classification of knowledge or facts, or, in other words, the 
 known, as distinguished frofa the unknown. Facts are the direct 
 registration of direct observation ; and indirect inferences, congeries of 
 particulars partly sensational, partly ideal. The scientific value 
 of facts depends on the validity of the inferences bound up with them ; 
 and hence the profound truth of CuUen's paradox, that there are 
 more false facts than false theories current, reminding one of 
 what the Frenchman said, who had built up, as he thought, a conclu- 
 sive hypothesis, when a savant said, " the facts are against you." 
 
24 
 
 " Then," quickly replied the ardent Frenchman, " so much the worse 
 for the facts." 
 
 True science carries with it the power of prevision, which is fore- 
 sight, foreknowledge, a kind of prescience — i. e., knowledge of events 
 before they take place — the divine element, as it were, in man ; and 
 nowhere more manifest than in true or real science, which is, accord- 
 ing to Hamilton's definition, " real truth." 
 
 " The various breeds among domesticated animals," says Prof. 
 Agassiz, " are the work of man ; species were created by God." 
 -Bos taurus, from which species came the upwards of forty varieties 
 now enumerated and described, may be traced back, some of them, 
 to man's earliest existence — these varieties being the results of 
 domesticity, where the mind of man has been at work changing or 
 influencing the organization to some degree or extent in order the 
 better to fit them for special purposes or given ends. " Yarieties," 
 says Prichards, the former president of the Ethnological Society in 
 London and the author of the Natural History of Man, " in natural 
 history are such diversities in individuals and their progeny as are 
 observed to tcike place within the limits of species." He continues: 
 
 " Pe7'7nanent varieties are those which, having once taken place, 
 continue to be propagated in the beeed in perpetuity. The fact ot 
 their origination must he Jcnown iy observation or influence, since, 
 the proof of this fact being defective, it is more philosophical to con- 
 sider characters which are perpetually inherited as specific or original. 
 The terra permanent variety would otherwise express the meaning 
 lohich properly belongs to sjjecies. The properties of species are two, 
 namely, original difference of characters and the perpetuity of their 
 transmission, of which only the latter can belong to permanent 
 varieties. The instances are so many in which it is doubtful whether 
 a particular tribe is to be considered as a distinct species or only a 
 variety of some other tribe, that it has been found, by naturalists, 
 convenient to have a designation applicable to either." 
 
 The Devons, the Herefords, the Jerseys, are regarded by some as 
 "permanent varieties" of the cattle kind, and are called by others, 
 for this reason, races — thus, as claimed, differing from improved 
 Sliorthorns, Ayrshires, and, perhaps, other varieties of cattle, race 
 being tlms used as the synonyma of fixed or "permanent variety." 
 Kace is, however, more generally used to denote the " permanent 
 varieties " of the human family, as the Caucasian, Mongolian, Ethi- 
 opian, American, etc. 
 
 Of the breeds comprised in the scores of varieties described by the 
 
25 
 
 various works on domesticated stock, I would say to every breeder 
 and farmer, select that breed or those breeds deemed the best cal- 
 culated to compass the end you have in view. Breed or breeds must 
 vary as you would make beef, butter or cheese ; and, again, must 
 vary according to the soil upon which and from which cattle are to 
 be fed, or upon wliicli they are to subsist. 
 
 Some dairymen select the Ayrshire, some the Devon, some the 
 Holstein, some the Jersey, some the Shorthorn, while others prefer 
 the grades produced by crossing bulls of these different breeds on 
 what they call good native cows, while others still prefer, as they 
 phrase it, " the old natives" or " scrubs " — meaning animals without 
 any traceable pedigree beyond the fact that " it or they descended 
 from a cow that my wife's father gave her as part of her dower when 
 she married me." According to my observation over the eastern and 
 middle States, the Shorthorn blood has done more to improve the 
 dairy and beef stock bj' tlio introduction of Ijulls of this blood, than 
 all other breeds or varieties imited, whether more or less fixed or per- 
 manent. The best milch cows in the dairy sections of both New 
 England and the middle States, especially in Massachusetts, Vermont 
 and New York, for more than a generation, have been acknowledged 
 to be grade Shorthorns, descended from the best native cows, 
 so-called, from time immemorial, served by Shorthorn bubs, thorough- 
 bred, so-called, and high grades, both having been used. 
 
 Thomas Bates said of his branch of the improved Shorthorn family, 
 " wherever they are fairly tried, their merits will shine forth in j9to- 
 duoing a greater return for the food consumed than amj other irecd of 
 cattle that tvas ever hwton. Charles Colling, of whom I got them, 
 repeatedly assured me that the first cow he bought of the Duchess 
 breed ' was the best covj he ever had or ever saxo^ and ' that this first 
 cow was better than any he could produce from her, though put to his 
 best bulls which improved all other cattle.' These cattle were in pos- 
 session of Sir Hugh Smithson's family for two centuries, and their 
 celebrity was kept up by paying attention to their breeding. 
 Charles Colling," adds Mr. Bates, " bought this tribe in 1784, 
 and in 1804, I (Mr. Bates) purchased my first Duchess cow of 
 Charles Colling, my bull Ketton, by Favorite, then in her womb. 
 This cow calved June 7, 1807, and was kept on grass only, in a pas- 
 tui'e with nineteen other cows, and made,'in butter and milk, for some 
 months, above two gidneas per week, or forty-two shillings English 
 money [$10 in gold and more]. Duchess 34th (the dam of the four 
 Duhes of Northumberland bulls) consumed one-third less feed than 
 
26 
 
 my first Duchess (piircliased in 1804), and her milk yielded one-third 
 more butter for every quart of milk ; and while the consumption of 
 feed was one-third less, and the milk yielded one-third more butter, 
 there was also a greater growth of carcass, with an increased aptitude 
 to fatten. This cow in her thirteenth year had had ten calves. If 
 these be not proofs of excellence, then let Shorthorn breeders say 
 what are, and where the like can be found." 
 
 These quotations are cited to demonstrate the reason why dairy 
 cows in the sections stated above have been so much improved by 
 crossing with the Duchess branch of the improved Shorthorn family. 
 It is, and ever has been, famous for great milkers, and when too 
 old to keep longer as milch cows, then, from their aptitude to fatten, 
 when dry, make good beef and a large quantity of it, ay, and of - 
 very superior quality. 
 
 Of grades descended from the blood of a Northumberland bull 
 and of Roan Duke, both of the Duchess family, bred by the Anderson 
 Brothers, of Shelburne, Mass., I give below the weight of some young 
 stock they had on exhibition at the Franklin county fall fair at 
 Greenfield in 1871 : 
 
 Pounds. 
 
 A pair of three-year old steers weighed 4,310 
 
 A pair of two-year old steers weighed ; 3,000 
 
 A pair of one-year old steers weighed 2,350 
 
 Another pair of one-year old steers weighed 2,250 
 
 One three-year old heifer weighed 1,700 
 
 One two-year old heifer weighed ; 1,400 
 
 Another two-year old heifer weighed 1,250 
 
 Two yearling jieifers weighed, each 1,000 
 
 One steer calf, eleven months old, weighed '. 900 
 
 One steer calf, seven months old, weighed 604 
 
 One heifer calf, eleven months old, weighed 828 
 
 Two others, the same age, weighed 764 and 640 
 
 One, nine months old, weighed 644 
 
 One grade bull weighed 2,400 
 
 One three-year old bull weighed 2,100 
 
 The Holstein breed of cattle, called by some " Dutch," seems to be 
 coming into favor with dairymen in the United States for cheese- 
 making, and not without strong claims, if the statements published 
 be trustworthy. The following comparison between the Holstein 
 and Ayrshire breeds was ftirnished to the Country Gentleman by 
 Gerrit Smith Miller, of Peterborough, Madison county, IST. T., and 
 the Sturtevant Brothers, of Framingham, Mass. The statements 
 are as follows : 
 

 Imported Dutch 
 
 [Holstein] 
 
 Cows. 
 
 
 
 NAME. 
 
 03 
 
 
 
 s 
 
 ^R 
 s 
 
 Dowager 
 
 1870 
 1871 
 1870 
 1871 
 1870 
 1871 
 1870 
 1871 
 
 (i 
 7 
 6 
 6 
 4 
 5 
 5 
 6 
 
 1,275 
 1,315 
 1,-270 
 1, 270 
 1,225 
 l,2:i5 
 1,256 
 1,240 
 1,248 
 
 365 
 214 
 2!l3 
 258 
 327 
 245 
 328 
 230 
 283 
 
 12 681 
 
 
 8. 305 
 
 Cr. Priucess 
 
 9 379 
 
 
 10, 691 
 
 Fraulein 
 
 6 980 
 
 Fraulein 
 
 7, 893 
 9 680 
 
 Average for 
 
 
 8. 903 
 
 Average for the two 
 
 
 
 9, 388 
 
 
 
 
 
 Imported Ayrshire Coavs^- 
 
 Queen of Ayrshire 
 
 Queen of Ayrshire 
 
 Ozora 
 
 Ozora 
 
 Ops 
 
 Ops 
 
 Average for 
 
 Average for 
 
 Average for the two years.. 
 
 1870 
 
 4 
 
 940 
 
 353 
 
 1871 
 
 5 
 
 905 
 
 363 
 
 1870 
 
 5 
 
 900 
 
 325 
 
 1871 
 
 6 
 
 885 
 
 315 
 
 1870 
 
 5 
 
 800 
 
 326 
 
 1871 
 
 6 
 
 830 
 
 365 
 
 1870 
 
 5 
 
 900 
 
 334 
 
 1871 
 
 6 
 
 873 
 
 347 
 
 
 5 
 
 886 
 
 340 
 
 9,014 
 
 7, ;isi 
 
 7, 532 
 6,753 
 6, 583 
 6,548 
 7,706 
 6, 894 
 7,300 
 
 In 1870, tke Dutch [Holstein] cows gave nearly seven and three- 
 fourth times their own weight in milk ; in 1871, about seven and 
 one-fifth times. Average of the two years, about seven and one-half 
 times. 
 
 In 1870, the Ayrshire cows gave over eight and one-half times 
 their own weight in milk ; in 1871, about seven and nine-tenth times. 
 Average of the two years, about eight and two-tenth times. 
 
 In both cases, it is seen that the yield for 1871 fell below that of 
 1870 — 717 pounds less in the case of the Dutch, and 812 pounds in 
 case of the Ayrshires. Each lot lost weight in September of the 
 second year, sixteen pounds and twenty-seven pounds, respectively. 
 This can be accounted for by the exceptional drought of the past 
 season. It will also be noticed how uniform the dift'erence in the 
 yield of each year is between these representatives of two breeds. 
 
 Mr. Miller adds : I tried an experiment in feeding for one week 
 with a Holstein and a native cow. The cows were of the same age. 
 The Holstein had been milked for four weeks and the native two, 
 previous to the experiment, and the feed was of the same quality for 
 
 * The average of milk of four native premium cows per year as collated from the Agriculture of 
 Massachusetts, hy Dr. Sturtevant of the " Waushalinm Farm," in South Pramingham, Mass., was 
 3,189 [quarts; ditto, three Aj'rshircs, cross.es, 4,673 quarts; the extremes among the Natives, 2.693 
 quarts aud 3,836 quarts ; among the Ayrshire grades, 3,700 quarts and 6,048 quarts. The average of 
 the hest Native or grade herd of six cows, selected, for one year, was 2,463 quarts. The averate of six 
 cows, selected, at " Wauskakum Farm," for one year, was 3,123 quarts. This gives 700 quarts as the 
 herd difl'erence between the Ayrshires and Natives. 
 
each. The Holstein cow gave about twelve pounds of milk more 
 per day, and produced a poand of milk for one-fifth less feed consumed 
 than the native. I am sure my Holsteins will produce a given quan- 
 tity of milk from less feed than any of my natives*. 
 
 Further tests, made on the continent of Eui-ope, as to breeds, size, 
 rnanner of feeding, relative to the production of milk, are deemed of 
 great interest, and are condensed from Mr. Klippart's report, secre- 
 tary of the Ohio State Board of Agriculture, and are presented for 
 the consideration of dairymen. 
 
 Professor Rhodes of the Royal Agricultural Academy, in Eldena, 
 Pomerania, in feeding, fattening and milching cows ; also in making 
 butter and cheese ; and a precise account was kept with every cow, 
 with results as follows : 
 
 1st. Four Tondern cows yielded on an average, of 2,917 quarts per 
 cow — highest yield, 2,931 quarts ; lowest 2,525 quarts. 2d. Two 
 Breitenburger cows yielded on an average, 3,580 quarts — highest yield, 
 3,682 quarts ; lowest 3,525 quarts per cow. 3d. Ayrshire cows aver- 
 aged 2,2-17 quarts per cow — highest 2,811 quarts; lowest 1,769 quarts, 
 ith. Twenty-two Holland cows yielded on an average 4,437 quarts 
 per cow — highest 5,677 quarts ; lowest 3,157 quarts. 
 
 These cows were fed during the winter ten pounds of cut straw, 
 two and a half pounds of wheat and oat chaff, twenty-five pounds of 
 turnips, ten pounds of hay, eight pounds of refuse from the brewery, 
 three pounds of rye bran, containing, said the chemist, three and 
 28-lOOtb pounds of nitrogeneous matter, and fourteen and 30-lOOtlis 
 of non-nitrogeneous compounds, equivalent to forty-two and 90-lOOth 
 pounds of good hay. During the summer they were fed green clover 
 and vetches .three times a day, each ration containing eight pounds 
 of hay ; so each cow received 135 pounds of green feed and eight 
 pounds of hay, equivalent in nutritive value to five and 70-100 pounds 
 of nitrogeneous, and fourteen and 91-lOOth pounds of non-nitro- 
 geneous compounds, equivalent to forty-five pounds of hay. 
 
 Professor Rhode was asked if the Holland cows, severally, did not 
 eat much more feed than the smaller Tondern cows, and he said, 
 there are nine Holland cows on the right, and ten of the smaller 
 breed on the left. The same weight of feed is put into every trough 
 
 * The Hoi stein cow, Texelaav, imported by W. W. Cliencry, of Belmont, when six years old, dropped 
 a calf on the 15th of May ; and from the 26th of May to the 27th of July, nine weeks, produced 
 (a careful record being kept), 4,018 pounds and fourteen ounces of milk. Her largest yield on any 
 day, meanwhile, was seventy-six pounds and Ave ounces (thirty-flve and one-eighth quarts) ; and in 
 ten days she gave 744 pounds and twelve ounces— an average of seventy-four pounds and forty-seveo 
 ono-hundredths per day. 
 
29 
 
 or manger, and that before tlie smaller cows' feed is first consumed, 
 the proportion being as nine to ten ; i. e., the smaller breed consume 
 forty-fiva pounds per cow, and the larger fifty pounds. If desirable 
 to tnow whether it require more feed to make a quart of milk in the 
 Holland cows than in the other breeds, all the elements for the com- 
 putation being at hand, show the following results : 
 
 1st. The Hollander eats five pounds of hay for every cjuart of 
 milk produced. 
 
 2d. The Breitenburger eats six and one-quarter pounds of hay for 
 a quart of milk. 
 
 3d. The Tondern seven pounds of hay for a quart of milk. 
 
 4th. The Ayrshire nine pounds of hay for a quart of milk. 
 
 Baron Ockel, in Frankenfelde, experimented with Ayrshires and 
 Hollanders with the following result : The average weight of the 
 Ayrshires was 806 pounds, and of the Hollanders 1016 pounds. The 
 experiment showed that the Ayrshires eat three and three-tenth 
 pounds of hay for every 100 pounds of live weight, while the Hollanders 
 consumed two and eight-tenths. Of the amount of feed consumed, 
 one-sixtieth of their live weight only was required to keep the Hol- 
 landers in their normal condition, while it required one-fiftieth of the 
 live weight to keep the Ayrshires in their normal condition. He 
 then took four Holland cows, the two heaviest of which weighed 
 2,112 pounds on June 14th, and the lighter two weighed 1,537 
 pounds. He put them in two groups, the heavier in one and the 
 lighter in the other, and continued the experiment sixteen days, tlie 
 feed being weighed as fed to each group, and if not all eaten, what 
 was left was weighed and deducted from which it formed a part — 
 their live weight remaining unchanged during the time, with the 
 following result : 
 
 Lucern eaten Milk yielded Milk for 100 lbs. Lucern eaten per 100 
 
 by cows. by cows. lucern lbs. of live weight. 
 
 Heavy cows, 4,921 pounds, 340 quarts ; 7.4 quarts, 14.6 poimds. 
 Light cows, 3,859 pounds, 240 quarts ; 5.5 quarts, 16.0 pounds. 
 
 This experiment shows that the heavier cows, of the same breed, 
 with the same treatment, consume, relatively, less feed than the 
 lighter, and at the same time yield a greater relative return of milk 
 from it. 
 
 Baron Weckerlin, for many years the leading " cattle man " in the 
 Hohenheim Agricultural University, after having made many experi- 
 ments with a great variety of breeds of cattle, came to the conclusion 
 that a cow weighing 700 poimds requires one sixtieth of her live 
 weight in hay equivalents, daily, to maintain her normal weight, and 
 
30 
 
 then yield from four to five times her weight in milk, according to 
 the breed or race, quantity, quality and manner of feeding. 
 
 In 1852 a series of experiments were made at eleven different 
 localities in the kingdom of Saxony, by order of the Eoyal Agricul- 
 tural Society, during a period of live years, the cows selected being 
 some of the best " Scrubs, " Allgauers, Oldenburgers and Hollanders, 
 the latter two being only the same breeds, as reported, the only differ- 
 ence being traceable to different care and different localities. The 
 results per annum for five years were reported as follows : 
 
 With common feed and common care. 
 
 The Scrub cows averaged 1> 437 quarts per annum. 
 
 The Allgauers " 2,334 " " 
 
 The Oldenburgers " 2,220 " " 
 
 The Hollanders " 2,062 " 
 
 With the best of feed and good care. 
 
 The Scrub cows averaged 2,365 quarts per annum. 
 
 The Allgauers " 3,000 " " 
 
 The Oldenburgers " 3,712 " " 
 
 TheHollanders " 3,232 " " 
 
 One dairy of Hollanders, of 190 cows, averaged 4,076 quarts a cow 
 per annum. 
 
 In regard to the size of cows. Professor Caspari made eighteen 
 experiments in feeding milch cows with a view of ascertaining how 
 many pounds of hay, or its equivalent, it required to make 100 pounds 
 of milk. He found that in Prussia 100 pounds of hay fed to Hol- 
 land cows made twenty-five and one-half pounds of milk ; and the 
 same in the Allgauers made thirty and ninety-eight one-hundredth 
 quarts of milk. At eleven dairies in Saxony, the value of 100 pounds 
 of hay produced in 
 
 Oldenburgers 25.40 quarts. 
 
 Hollanders 26.10 " 
 
 Allgauers • 30.00 " 
 
 Scrubs 23.65 " 
 
 Villeroy experiments resulted as follows : 
 
 Hollanders 28.92 quarts per 100 pounds hav. 
 
 Yorkshires 27.45 
 
 Devons 19.13 
 
 Herefords 15.97 
 
 Jerseys 26.33 
 
 Allgauers 27.61 
 
31 
 
 Thus it is claimed, and it seems to be clearly deuioustrated, by care- 
 fully made experiments at the agricultural schools on the continent 
 of EurojDe, that the large breeds of cows are more profitable, both for 
 milk and feeding for beef, than the small breeds. Hence it is a 
 wonder why such runts as the Brittanys and Kerrys should be 
 imported into this country, unless it be to displace goats. Professor 
 Rhode decided, after experimenting, to keep, in future, the Hollanders 
 for milk, and the Shorthorns for beef. The experiments by Professor 
 Lehmann, at the experimental school at Pommritz, with Shorthorns 
 and Hollanders, turned in favor of the former for both milk and beef. 
 
 In breeding for the dairy, work or the shambles, special regard 
 should always be had to the outline structure or good points of the 
 bull ; he should have a small, well-set head, rounded ribs, straight 
 legs, small bones and sound internal organs. The following are 
 deemed the best points in a Shorthorn bull. A short and moderately 
 small head, with papering muzzle and broad forehead, furnished with 
 short, waxy, curved, graceful looking horns ; bright, yet mild, large 
 eyes, placid in prominent orbits; dilated nostrils and flesh-colored 
 nose, and long, thin ears. The neck should be broad, deep and mus- 
 cular, sloping in a graceful line from the shoulders to the head. The 
 chest should be wide, deep, projecting, but level in front. The 
 shoulders should be oblique, the blades well set in toward the ribs. 
 The forelegs should be short, muscular above the knee, and slender 
 below it ; the hind legs should be slender to the hock, and thence 
 increase in thickness to the buttocks, which should be well developed. 
 The carcase should be well rounded on each side, but level on the 
 back and the belly. There should be no hollows between the shoulder 
 and the ribs, and the line from the highest part of the shoulder to the 
 insertion of the tail should be a perfect level. The flank should be 
 full, the loins broad and the tail finely formed and slender. The skin 
 is a prime point; it must be covered with hair of a roan or other 
 fashionable color, and communicate to the touch of the hand of the 
 experienced feeler a peculiar sensation, which it is quite impossible 
 to describe ; yet a point that seldom, if ever, misleads an experienced 
 « handler." 
 
 The points of a good Shorthorn cow are rhythmically described by 
 Mr. Carr, an English breeder of note, and a poet : 
 
 " The following features constitute, I trow, 
 The beau-ideal of a Shorthorn cow : 
 
 Frame massive, round, deep-barrelled and straight backed ; 
 Hind quarters level, lengthy and well packed ; 
 
32 
 
 Thighs wide, flesh'd inwards, plumb almost to hock, 
 
 Twist deep, conjoining thighs in one square block ; 
 
 Loin broad and flat, thick flesh'd and free from dip ; 
 
 Back ribs "well home," arch'd even with the hip; 
 
 Hips flush with back, soft-cushioned, not too wide; 
 
 Flanks full and deep, well forward on the side ; 
 
 Fore ribs well-flesh'd, and rounded like a drum ; 
 
 Fore flanks that even with the elbow come ; 
 
 Crop " barrell'd " flush with shoulders and with side ; 
 
 Girth large and round — not deep alone but wide ; 
 
 Shoulders sloped back, thick covered, wide at chine ; 
 
 Points snug, well-flesh'd, to dew-lap tapering fine ; 
 
 Neck-vein fiU'd up to weU-clothed shoulder point ; 
 
 Arm fall above, turned in at elbow joint ; 
 
 Legs short and straight, fine boned 'neath hock and knee ; 
 
 Belly cylindrical, from drooping fi'ee ; 
 
 Chest wide between the legs, with downward sweep ; 
 
 Brisket round, massive, prominent and deep ; 
 
 Keck fine at head, fast thickening t'ward its base ; 
 
 Head small, scope wide, fine muzzle and dish'd face ; 
 
 Eyes prominent and bright, yet soft and mild ; 
 
 Horns waxy, clear, of medium size, unfiled ; 
 
 Tail fine, neat hung, rectangular with back ; J 
 
 Hide soft, substantial, yielding, but not slack ; 
 
 Hair furry, fine, thick-set, of color smart ; 
 
 Udder well pressed, with teats wide apart. 
 
 These points proportion'd well delight the eye 
 
 Of grazier, dairyman and passer-by ; 
 
 And these to more fastidious minds convey 
 
 Appearance stylish, feminine and gay." 
 
 Having selected the breed of cows to be kept for dairy purposes, the 
 mode of feeding is of the first importance, as I shall next proceed to 
 consider, and to which I now invite your earnest and careful attention. 
 
 The physiology of the farm, in the aid of rearing and feeding of 
 live stock, is of the first importance to the farmer. A complete dis- 
 cussion of the subject would require a detailed account and description 
 of the organs of nutrition and their mode of action. The organs of 
 nutrition in the cow, e. g., are the mouth and teeth, palate, tongue, sali- 
 vary' glands, saliva, lips, cheeks, lower jaw, pharynx and gullet, blood- 
 vessels and nerves, deglutition ; tlien the abdominal organs of diges- 
 tion, as stomachs, rumination, process of digestion in the stomachs, 
 gastric juice, intestines, lacteals, liver, secretion of bile, temperature, 
 chyme, direct absorption by the blood-vessels of the mucous mem- 
 brane, etc. Upon the supply of food, comfortable housing and the 
 healthful functional action of these organs of nutrition depends the 
 value of the cow. 
 
33 
 
 In all cases where life is concerned it is not to be concluded that, 
 so much material being consumed, there will uniformly be, and neces- 
 sarily, so much product. This kind of conclusion is not absolutely 
 true in departments of production in which the materials and results 
 are inert. In manufactures, where the raw materials and the results 
 are alike destitute of physiological character or of a living agency, 
 the failure of perfect uniformity in successive effects is readily under- 
 stood, when the attention is turned to the well-known varieties in the 
 purity of raw materials met with in the market respectively under 
 one name, and again to the more or less perfect adjustment under 
 different circumstances of the manipulations prescribed in the pro- 
 cesses concerned ; as, e. g., it is found impossible to build two engines 
 or to temper two razors just alike 
 
 ■ It may not be easy to realize that the nutrition of animals presents 
 a different parallelism to the manufacture of complex chemical sub- 
 stances out of materials existing in natiire. When the idea is once 
 apprehended it is difficult to avoid running into the opposite extreme, 
 and picturing that in tlie mind as an identity of things which is 
 really and only a parallelism. It is true that the results, whether 
 of an inert chemical process or of a coin-se of nutrition in a living 
 animal, may be rendered more and more uniform, in every respective 
 case, by more and more pains being bestowed, to bring' all the circum- 
 stances concerned therein to a degree of perfection. But the occasion 
 wherein inert matter alone is under trial will much more certainly 
 repay the pains expended, by affording a corresponding uniformity of 
 results, than that in which living action is the subject of experiment. 
 The reason whereof, is, that it is commonly easy to bring any given 
 number of inert machines or of manipulations on inert matter to an 
 almost perfect similarity ; whereas no pains can bring two individuals 
 endowed with life to act exactly in the same manner, even under an 
 identity of circumstances. Every animal has an individual character, 
 involving pecidiarities which affect all its actions, nutritive as well as 
 relative. Whence an approximation only can be made to certainty 
 in the results expected from any rule of treatment, however well 
 established, even in animals of the same species, and bred as nearly 
 as possible in the same manuer. 
 
 This tendency to peculiarities of character in individual animals 
 enables observers to understand why, in trying any new plan of 
 management, however well it may promise, there is not certainty of 
 success, if no more than one or two animals are subjected to it in par- 
 ticular, before any such plan can be pronounced a failure, that the 
 3 
 
34 
 
 result must be ascertained in respect to a considerable number of the 
 animals concerned. Again, why there is room for large varieties, 
 even in plans of management, proved to be of good general effect in 
 their application to individual animals, such as that skill alone can 
 devise and put in practice, is not clear. 
 
 Farmers are, to some extent, aware of the agreement between the 
 constituent elements of such and such animal bodies and the con- 
 stituent elements of the kinds of feed on which they thrive. Tet, if 
 any one supposes that from what is learned by chemistry he can 
 compound feed for the perfect nourishment of cows or any other 
 farm stock, he makes a hasty and unwarranted conclusion; for it 
 must be remembered that the nutrition of an animal is not a simple 
 chemical operation, but one of particular physiological complexity ; 
 hence, the unknown sources of failure may vitiate a seeming solution 
 of the problem. 
 
 Besides knowing what kinds of feed are best to nourish the cow or 
 other animal, other circumstances must be considered, such as age, 
 breed, soil, climate, etc. The period of breedingis, e. g., one of the most 
 important. 
 
 A cow that produces milk and a cow that does not, like the working 
 ox and the ox unworked, or the working horse and the one unworked, 
 require different feeding and treatment; that is to say, different pro- 
 portions, severally, of flesh-forming and fat-giving proximate principles, 
 required to maintain health in animals at rest, moderately exercised 
 or vigorously exercised ; or again, when producing milk, for which 
 milch cows are kept and fed. In regard to what has been called "the con- 
 servation of energy," i. e., the principle of the alternate convertibility 
 of heat into mechanical force, and of mechanical force into heat, so 
 that numerical equivalents can be employed to signify reciprocal 
 effects : 
 
 First, then, of animal heat in its relation to " the conservation {i. e., 
 the art of preserving) of energy." The higlier temperature of the animal 
 body, as compared with the surrounding medium, depends on combus- 
 tion, chiefly between the oxygen admitted in respiration and the 
 carbon in the blood, as well as the carbon of such solids as are con- 
 tinually decomposed in the actions, assimilative or relative, of the 
 frame. The quantity of carbonic acid thrown off in a given time is 
 the index of the amount of this slow combustion in the same period. 
 And since it has been ascertained that the amount of heat produced 
 by the combustion of fixed quantities of carbon and oxygen is the 
 same, whether tlie combustion be rapid or slow, the sum of the heat 
 
35 
 
 generated in a given time in a living body, whether sensible or 
 metamorphosed, is determined when the quantity of carbonic acid 
 thrown off in that period is ascertained. It is a part of the " doctrine 
 of the conservation of energy," that all the heat produced in a living 
 body by the slow combustion in question does not become sensible, 
 but that a part of it passes into, or at least represents, the motive 
 forces eontinnally exercised in a greater or lesser degree in an animal 
 body. And there are now other actions, particularly so in man, that 
 cause the disappearance of a portion of the heat generated. Dr. Lyon 
 Playfeir, in one of his memoirs on this subject, says : " In the function 
 of bodily activity there are four kinds of work which a man has to 
 perform : first, vital work ; second, laeat work ; third, mechanical 
 work ; fourth, mental work. Tlie vital work refers to that proceeding 
 in the body in the direction of which man is more or less uncon- 
 scious. The heart beats, the blood circulates, the lungs play ; diges- 
 tion, assimilation and secretion go on by an inner directive move- 
 ment, independent of will. On these operations a large amount of 
 work is expended. It can be calculated with accuracy in the case of 
 the human heart. This organ is continually propelling blood with 
 force through the arteries, never ceasing, day or night. If we sup- 
 pose that the efforts used by it in propelling blood were all concen- 
 trated in raising its own weight, then its daily work is represented by 
 the astonishing number that it might raise its own weight ninety 
 miles high ! Thus the heart performs the principal part of what is 
 called vital work. It is essentially the same in character in quadru- 
 peds as in man. What is called heat work is the slow combustion, 
 supplying the heat that replaces the temperature lost by the living 
 body, owing to tlie medium in which it lives being colder than itself." 
 
 " Mechanical work " is the poM'er with which living bodies operate 
 on things without, as when a laborer is engaged in chopping wood, 
 or a horse before the plough. 
 
 " Mental work" is the exercise of thought, said to be tlie source of 
 high expenditure in man, however limited in quadrupeds. 
 
 While an animal is stationary in point of weight, the ingested 
 matter in a given time must equal egested matter ; i. e., the food must 
 be of the same absolute quantity as the excretions in the time or 
 period referred to. The excretions to be taken into account in 
 making this comparison are, essentially, the carbonic acid gas thrown 
 off in respiration, the urea, as a type of the urinary excretion, and the 
 feculent discharge of the bowels. There is, then, during the actions 
 of life, and great in proportion to their activity at the time, a 
 
86 
 
 continual disintegration of tlie living solids, which', in so far as it is a 
 chemical operation, takes place under the animal temperature in the 
 presence of the oxygen freely supplied in respiration and conveyed 
 from the lungs by the arterial blood to the capillary vessels of every 
 part of the body. The disintegration occurs in the muscular fibres 
 so largely concerned in the operations of the animal economy. This 
 vital work is continually going on, as in the contraction of the heart 
 and blood vessels, respiration and assimilation ; and even when the 
 body is at rest, not a few of tlie voluntary muscles are in ceaseless 
 action while the vital spark remains ; but it is in the greater or lesser 
 bodily activity that the disintegration of the voluntary muscles prin- 
 cipally occurs. Much more might be said in the elaboration of this 
 doctrine, but it must be omitted. 
 
 Whenever oxygen unites with carbon in the living body, heat is 
 produced ; bvit it is a physiological axiom that, as often as a living act 
 takes place, the organic agent concerned becomes disintegrated ; and 
 as all organic agents contain carbon, and such disintegration always 
 happens in the presence of oxygen supplied by the blood, carbonic 
 acid, and, therefore, heat is uniformly produced in all living acts, 
 whether falling under the head of vital work, heat work, mechanical 
 work or mental work, as peculiar to man. The heat so produced in 
 the case of vital work, mechanical work and mental work, is severally 
 metamorphosed, so as not to become sensible — that heat only becom- 
 ing sensible that falls under the head of heat work. 
 
 Authorities are in harmony, generally, as to the I'elation between 
 the production of carbonic acid in the living body, and the joint 
 amount of heat work and of the other kinds of work therein 
 developed. 
 
 The effect of falling from a height on the temperature of a body, 
 solid or liquid, is stated as follows : It has been demonstrated that a 
 body of water let fall from the height of 772 feet, its temperature 
 rises one degree of Fahrenlieit, equal to what is required to raise 772 
 times the same to the height of one foot. Hence the fact that one 
 pound of water, falling through 772 feet, rises in tempei'ature one 
 degree Fahrenheit, and the correlative fact that the rise of tempera- 
 ture in one pound of water is sufficient to raise 772 pounds' weight 
 one foot, thus constituting the standard measurement, relative thereto, 
 in what is called the " conservation of energy." 
 
 The production of carbonic acid is the measure of force exerted in 
 a living man or quadruped. If, then, it can be ascertained how much 
 carbonic acid is thrown off by an animal in twenty-four hours in 
 
37 
 
 respiration, a numerical index would be aiforded of the same of all 
 kinds of work, enumerated as performed in tliat time. This has not 
 yet been done, though experiments are making to determine this, says 
 Dr. Seller, to whom I am indebted. 
 
 Some remarks on the feeding of cows, as distinct from that of the 
 working ox or fattening cattle,* are deemed pertinent here. 
 
 The composition of the cow's milk before the calf has sucked, is 
 thus given : 
 
 Caseine 15.0 
 
 Butter 2.6 
 
 Sugar 3.6 
 
 Ashes 0.3 
 
 Water 78.5 
 
 100.0 
 
 It will be noted that the amount of caseine shown by this analysis 
 is much greater than what is found in the milk of dairy cows. 
 Caseine is a flesh-former ; why so much more abundant in milk than 
 subsequently, may seem inexplicable. Chemists believe the albumen 
 of the serum of the blood can be changed to caseine. The proteine 
 compound that comes nearest to caseine is legumine, the principle 
 existing in the seeds of the leguminous order of plants, to which 
 beans, peas and the clovers, or artificial grasses belong. Bean-meal 
 is a favorite feed for cows in old England. Playfair says " Potash is 
 perfectly indispensable to the formation of milk ; indeed, this alkali, 
 seems to be the means by which the albumen in the body of the cow 
 is rendered soluble, and, consequently, converted into caseine." The 
 sugar and butter in milk suggest the use of mangolds and linseed- 
 meal in the food of milch cows. 
 
 The following analysis is the average of several cows, milked in 
 the pasture : 
 
 Caseine 4.0 
 
 Butter 4.6 
 
 Sugar of milk 3.8 
 
 Ash 0.6 
 
 * According to the researchea of Lawea and Gilbert, an ox weighing 1,400 pounds should gain 
 twenty pounds weekly when fed under cover with eight pounds of crushed oilcake, thirteen pounds o f 
 chopped clover hay, and forty-seven pounds of turnips. The chemical constituents (in a dried 
 state) of this allowance are as follows: 
 
 Fat-formers 232 ounces. 
 
 Fleeh-formers 55 " 
 
 Mineral matter 29 " 
 
88 
 
 From 100 parts of milk, the produce of two cows, the following 
 proportions of salts were procured : 
 
 Phosphate of lime 0.310 0.344 
 
 Phosphate of magnesia . 042 . 064 
 
 Phosphate of iron 0.007 0.007 
 
 Chloride of potassium 0.144 0.183 
 
 Chloride of sodium 0.024 0.034 
 
 Soda 0.042 0-045 
 
 0.569 0.679 
 
 The following experiments by Playfair, at the same time, illustrate 
 the general effect of food on milk, and disprove Dumas's statement 
 that the fat of animals is totally derived from fatty matter in the 
 food : 
 
 1. On the second day the cow received twenty-eight pounds of 
 hay, which contained 0.43 pounds of fat, ai^d two and one-half pounds 
 of oat-meal, containing 0.050 pounds of the same constituent. The 
 cow produced about nineteen pounds of milk, in which were 0.969 
 pound of butter. The food contained only 0.486 pound of fat, so 
 that 0.483 pound of butter must have been produced from other 
 sources. 
 
 2. The food received by the cow on the third day consisted of 
 twenty-eight pounds of hay, two and one-half pounds of oat-meal and 
 eight pounds of bean-flour. 
 
 Twenty-eight pounds of hay 0.436 pound of fat. 
 
 Two and one-half pounds of oat-meal 0.050 " " 
 
 Eight pounds of beans 0.056 " " 
 
 In the food 0.542 " " 
 
 The milk of that evening amounted to 10.34 pounds, and contained 
 0.4 poupd of butter ; that of the morning to 11.61 pounds, and con- 
 tained 0.5 pound of butter, the whole amounting to 0.9 pound, of 
 which only 0,542 pound could have been furnished by the food, assum- 
 ing that the fat in the food could only be converted into butter. 
 
 3. On the fourth day the cow received fourteen pounds of hay, 
 eight pounds of beans and twenty-four pounds of potatoes. 
 
 Fourteen pounds of hay 0.218 pound of fat. 
 
 Eight pounds of beans 0.066 " " 
 
 Twenty-foTir pounds of potatoes 0.072 " " 
 
 In the food 0.346 " « 
 
39 
 
 The evening milk 12.9 pounds, and contained 0.86 pound of buttei-; 
 that of the morning 10.32 pounds, and contained 0.50 pound of but- 
 ter. The cow furnished, during the day, 1.36 pounds of butter. The 
 fat in the food amounted to 0.316 pound, therefore 1.061 pounds 
 must have been obtained from other sources. 
 
 4r. On the fifth day the cow was fed fourteen pouiids of hay and 
 thirty pounds of potatoes. 
 
 Fourteen pounds of hay . 218 pound of fat. 
 
 Thirty pounds of potatoes . 090 " " 
 
 In the food . 308 " " 
 
 The milk produced 13.18 pounds, and contained 0.606 pound of 
 butter; morning, 12.20 pounds, and 0.597 pound of butter, equalling 
 1.203 pounds of butter ; hence, 0.308 pound of butter must have been 
 produced from other sources than the fat in food. Hence, starch and 
 sugar must have contributed to the production of butter. This seems 
 demonstrated from the results when fed on potatoes rich in starch. 
 This fact seems to stand in contrast with that of bean-meal producing 
 casein e. 
 
 Connected with the desirable end of getting milk continuously 
 from a cow after dropping her first calf, by spaying her, has attracted 
 some attention. But no facts are at hand to prove the utility of such 
 a course, while there are some in the opposite direction. 
 
 The theory of feeding of cows during gestation, especially when 
 nourishing the foetus, and producing milk, part at least, and, in 
 cases, all of the time, during this period. Ordinarily, during 
 the latter months, milk decreases, and cows go dry. On an average 
 after the fifth month after conception the cow is dry until she calves. 
 
 The health and condition of the cow, before and at the time of 
 calving, has an important influence on subsecpient results. A late- 
 milked, lank, lean, ill-cared-for cow, may have an easy parturition, 
 but her after-milking has a tale to tell which is not creditable to her 
 owner ; hence, dry the cow a fair or reasonable tii-ne before her calv- 
 ing, and see that she is well fed. 
 
 To rear calves, let them run with their dams the first week, with 
 four quarts of milk a day, at two meals ; second to fourth week, five 
 or six quarts a day, at two meals ; fourth to sixth week, six or seven 
 quarts a day, at two meals; and the quantity during the next six 
 weeks, after which it is weaned, need not exceed eight quarts a day, 
 new milk being the basis of this statement. Some i^se skim-milk, 
 
40 
 
 witli boiled linseed, with good results. Others use gruel, with roots 
 and rowen ; linseed, two parts, and wheat, one part, boiled with an 
 equal quantity of skimmed milk is recommended. The too great use 
 of skimmed milk has resulted in the past in making pot-bellied runts, 
 and poor stock for any purpose, whether for milk, the yoke or the 
 shambles. When weaned, calves should be put into good pastures, 
 and be kept growing from that time till they are matured. When 
 raised for stock animals, whether male or female, they should be well 
 cared for. When castration of bulls is done, it should be when they 
 are about four weeks of age. 
 
 In the further treatment of my subject from the physiological 
 point of view, the chemistry of food, with sketches of the natural 
 history of such plants as are commonly used by dairymen for feeding 
 cows for the production of milk,_will be considered. It is the 
 primary function of plants to convert the inorganic matter of the soil 
 and air into organic forms or structures of a more or less complex 
 nature. The food of plants is of mineral origin, consisting chiefly 
 of water, carbonic acid and ammonia — water being composed of 
 oxygen and hydrogen, carbonic acid being compounded of oxygen 
 and carbon, and ammonia being formed of hydrogen and nitrogen. 
 These are termed the organic elements of the plant-world, because 
 they constitute the whole or a large part of thpse organic bodies. 
 The combustible pai'ts of both plants and animals are made up of 
 organic elements ; the incombiistible parts of potassium, sodium, and 
 the various other elements too numerous to be here enumerated, the 
 organic elements being furnished chiefly by the atmosphere and the 
 incombustible matters by the soil. 
 
 Water in the form of vapor constitutes, according to temperature 
 and other conditions of the atmosphere, from one-half per .cent, to 
 four and one-half per cent, of the weight of that fluid, about one 
 and one-quarter per cent, being the average. Carbonic acid is found 
 to exist therein to the extent of l-2000th, and ammonia forms a 
 minute portion of it — according to Dr. Angus Smith, one grain 
 weight in 412.42 cubic feet of air (of a town), or 0.000453 per cent. 
 It is remarkable that the most abundant constituents of atmospheric 
 air — oxygen and nitrogen — are not assimilable by plants, although 
 these elements enter largely into the composition of vegetable 
 organisms. In the soil, also, the part which ministers to the wants 
 of vegetables is relatively insignificant in amount. 
 
 Plants, not being endowed like animals with the power of locomo- 
 tion, must obtain requisite food where rooted, or perish. Hence it is 
 
41 
 
 that every breeze furnishes gaseous nutriment to their expanderl 
 leaves, while their rootlets seek, as it were, mineral aliment in the 
 soil, which must be found in a soluble state to furnish the plants witli 
 nutriment or food. To render these conditions availaljle they must 
 have the light of the sun. Under this potent power or stimulus the 
 plant grows and matures — the plant acting as a machine, light being 
 the force. 
 
 Animals, especially milch cows, can only be kept as machines for 
 producing milk throiigh the medium of the plant-kingdom. The 
 chief manifestation in the life of the plant is the accumulation of 
 force, while that of the animal is the waste or expenditure of force. 
 Animals, as a class, are dependent upon plants for life and sustenance. 
 This leads to the consideration of this part of my subject. 
 
 Dietetic or forage plants used as live-stock food, as botanically 
 arranged, will now l)e briefly considered. 
 
 First, dicotyledonous plants, the great division of plants in which 
 the embryo has two cotyledons ; this division, used as cattle food, 
 comprises, among others, the following exogenous plants, all well 
 known to dairymen : 
 
 The cabbage order, Cruciferce or Brassicaceee ; Brassica rapa., is the 
 common turnip; Brassica campestris, the origin of the Swedish 
 t^irnip ; B. najncs, rape or colewort ; B. oleracae^ the type whence 
 came the varieties of cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, etc., are origina- 
 ted by cultivation. Cramhe maritima, sea-kale, etc. 
 
 Brassica rapa, the common turnijj, and B. campest7'is, the Swedish 
 turnip or rutabaga, have passed from the vegetable gardeners' pro- 
 vince to the farmers'. Owing to the large proportion of water 
 present in the turnip, its nutritive value, judging by weight, does not 
 rank high. By drying in vacuo at 230° Fahrenheit, the relative pro- 
 portion of solid and liquid matter is estimated as follows : 
 
 Water 92.5 
 
 Solid matter , 7 . .5 
 
 looTo 
 
 Ultimate composition of the dried turnip : 
 
 Carbon 42.9 
 
 Hydrogen 6.5 
 
 Oxygen 42.3 
 
 Nitrogen 1.7 
 
 Ashes 7.6 
 
 100.0 
 
42 
 
 The following statement from Prof. Anderson's elaborate paper 
 on the composition of turnips, at different stages of growth, is of 
 great value. The examination was made at four periods, namely, 
 thirty-two days after sowing ; then after an interval of thirty-five 
 days ; then after a third interval of twenty days, and, finally, after a 
 fourth interval of thirty-five days — ^bringing the date of the last 
 examination as late as the fifth of October. 
 
 Leaves. 
 
 No. of daj's. 
 
 Water. 
 
 AlhuminouB 
 compounds. , 
 
 other organic 
 matters. 
 
 Ash. 
 
 
 32 
 35 
 20 
 35 
 
 92.08 
 90.90 
 89.10 
 88.45 
 
 2 51 
 1.84 
 0.76 
 2.40 
 
 4.79 
 6.38 
 8.19 
 7.27 
 
 0.62 
 
 
 1.88 
 
 Third . 
 
 1 95 
 
 
 1.88 
 
 
 
 Bulbs. 
 
 32 
 36 
 20 
 35 
 
 81.13 
 89.90 
 90.02 
 90.50 
 
 6.31 
 1.06 
 1.40 
 1.18 
 
 9.22 
 8.16 
 7.65 
 6.33 
 
 3.34 
 
 Second. 
 
 0.88 
 
 Third . 
 
 1 02 
 
 Fourth 
 
 1.99 
 
 
 
 Chemists are not agreed on the particular organic substances con- 
 tained in turnips. According to Boussingault's experiments in flesh- 
 forming elements, sixty pounds of turnips correspond to twelve pounds 
 of wheat-flour. Thus, in a cow the quantity of flesh-forming sub- 
 stances required to counterbalance the daily loss of such matter, is . 
 nearly eighteen ounces, which quantity is equivalent to what twelve 
 pounds of wheat-flour or sixty pounds of turnips can supply. In the 
 same animal from four to flve pounds of carbon are necessary to fur- 
 nish the carbon contained in the carbonic acid thrown off by respira- 
 tion ; and to yield this amount of carbon daily, 100 pounds of turnips 
 are no more than sufiicient. 
 
 Kape cake and rape-seed cake are used extensively in England, both 
 for feeding stock and for manure ; also to adulterate linseed cake. The 
 rape plant is used for sheep, which are very fond of it, and thrive 
 upon it. 
 
 Hooker says the turnip plant is indigenous to England. Hesiod 
 and Thebphrastus give a detailed account of turnip culture. In 
 regard to its flrst cultivation in England there is nothing definite. It 
 was doubtless cultivated bj' the early religious orders. Columella 
 speaks of two sorts grown, the rapa and the rapus. In Scotland, in 
 1857, the total area under rotation tillage, was 3,556,572 acres, of 
 which 476,691f were occupied by turnips, giving some idea of the 
 culture of turnips in Scotland. Statistics in England are mere guess- 
 work, and therefore of no value. The crop varies from sixteen to thirty 
 tons per acre, as of the White-stone Globe. 
 
43 
 
 In determining the proportion of water contained in the bnlbs of 
 thirty specimens of different varieties of turnips, it was found to 
 vary from eighty-six to ninety-two and seventy-seven one-hundredths 
 per cent., giving an average of ninety per cent., and in the tops from 
 seventy-nine to ninety per cent. It was also found that a crop often 
 tons per acre yielded more nutrition than a crop of twenty tons. 
 
 The numerous varieties of Brassica oleracea are rich in nutritive 
 qualities. The common field cabbage is relished by cows and sheep. 
 The turnip-stemmed cabbage, or kohl-rabi, was lately introduced 
 from Germany into England, and stands high as forage plant. Decon- 
 dolle called it Brassica oleracea caulo-raj>a alba. The varieties are 
 numerous ; the large red and green varieties are deemed best. On 
 the result of careful analyses. Dr. Voelcker remarked as follows : 
 
 A comparison with the analyses of Swedes, mangolds and turnips, 
 shows that, theoretically, kohl-rabi is much more nutritious than white 
 turnips, and fully equal, if not superior, to Swedes and mangolds. 
 He further remarked that the kohl-rabi is an excellent food for milch 
 cows, as it produces much and good milk ; and that butter made from 
 it has no disagreeable taste like that made from the milk of cows fed 
 on turnips. Let dairymen note this. 
 
 Dr. Voelcker adds, that cabbage contains about the proportions of 
 water, sugar and proteine compounds as good Swedes, and he is 
 inclined to the conviction that cabbages and Swedes possess about 
 equal nutritive value as forage for cows and sheep. 
 
 Cow cabbage, Brassica oleracea acephala arhorescens, called also 
 Caesarian kale, is not acclimated here, and must be grown further 
 south, if at all. 
 
 The cotton plant {Gossypi'itm herhaceum) produces seed, the cake of 
 which, after expressing the oil, has. come into use for feeding cattle. 
 
 Dr. Voelcker, after analyzing it, says, those fortunate enough to 
 secure the best decorticated cake consider it a most valuable feed. 
 Much depends upon its quality, a circumstance that has led to a 
 variety of opinions in this country, among dairymen, as in England. 
 
 The following varieties are noted : 1st. Thin decorticated cotton- 
 seed cake ; 2d. Thick decorticated cake ; 3d. Ordinary cake made of 
 whole seeds ; 4th. Oil-meal, or thick cake reduced to a coarse powder. 
 
 Dr. Voelcker, after the analysis of seven samples of thin decoi'ticated 
 cotton-seed cake, made the following remarks : 
 
 The proportion of oil in all the samples analyzed is higher than in 
 tlie best linseed cake. As a supplier of fat, cotton-seed cake is supe- 
 rior to linseed cake. Decorticated cotton-seed cake contains a much 
 
44 
 
 larger per centage of flesh-forming matters than Unseed cake, he sug- 
 gesting that cotton-seed cake is good feed for milch cows and young 
 stock, adding that the excrements will be found valuable from the 
 nitrogen they contain. The ash of cotton-seed cake is richer in bone 
 material than are the other oil cakes. He concludes as follows : I 
 think, as far as I am able to judge from analysis, that the best decor- 
 ticated cotton-seed cake possesses about the same nutritive value as 
 linseed cake. Its average quality, as found in the market, is some- 
 what inferior to linseed cake in average composition. It is deemed 
 unnecessary to dwell further here and now upon oil cakes. 
 
 Leguminous plants come next in order, including beans,* peas, 
 clovers, etc. Stewart remarks, in his Stable Economy, that beans, if 
 they do not afford more nutriment, weight for weight, than oats; 
 they produce more vigor; i. e., they keep the stomach healthy 
 longer, especially when fed to horses. 
 
 The use, however, of the pea for feeding horses and cattle is on the 
 decline in England. It has never been used very much in this 
 country for that purpose. The same is true of the lupine.f 
 
 The next subject in my order of arrangement comprises the clovers, 
 called by some the artificial grasses. The genus is named Trifolium 
 from the three leaflets common- to the genus. The species most 
 important in agriculture will only be noted at present. 
 
 Trifolium pratense, the common red clover, is a well known plant 
 of fibrous root, perennial. It is one of the most luxuriant forage 
 plants of the farm. It is sown from three or four to eight pounds of 
 seed per acre. A bushel of seed should weigh sixty-four pounds ; 
 the number of seeds in an ounce is 16,000. 
 
 * Beana are mentionecl in the Bible as liaving been offered with other grains to David when flee- 
 ing from hi8 son Absalom to the wilderness ; also, in one of the early sieges of Jerusalem as 
 described in Ezekiel ; in the former case 1023 years B. C, and in the latter 595. (See 2 Sam., xvii, 
 28, iihd Ezk., iv, 9.) The bean is, undoubtedly, of eastern origin, probably from Persia. De CaudoUe 
 deems it indigenous to the borders of the Caspian sea. Homer, the blind poet, speaks of the bean 
 as an article of food ; and, in the later Roman history, it is spoken of as an agricultural crop. Beans 
 and the other leguminous plants entered largely into the agriculture of the ancients. It is said to 
 have been introduced into Spain by the Moors; thence into France and across the channel into 
 England. But as beans have not been generally grown in this country as a forage crop, the subject 
 will be dropped here. 
 
 tThc average of peas in Scotland is to beans as 3,687 of the former to 89,186 of the latter, the 
 same proportion being applicable to England. Pea-straw, by Dr. Voolcker, who has carefully ana 
 lyzed it, gives the following organic composition : 
 
 Water 16.02 
 
 Compounds containing nitro§;en-albumen 8.86 
 
 Compounds not containing nitrogen, oil and fat 2. .34 
 
 Compounds containing nitrogen gum and digestible fibre 42 . 79 
 
 Ash 4.93 
 
 100.00 
 
 This represents pea straw as more valuable for fodder than any other forage crop. 
 
45 
 
 Cow-grass, or perennial red clover {T. ])ratense perenne)^ is a per- 
 manent variety of red clover, and is seeded as ^vitli red clover.^* 
 
 Trifoliuin repens^ called white or Dutch clover, is a fibrous-rooted 
 plant, a creepiug-stenimed perennial, flowering through the summer. 
 When superabundant in a pasture it tends to scour cattle that eat 
 freely of it; such abundance is unfortunate, for it supplants better 
 forage plants or pasture grasses. It may be seeded from two to eight 
 pounds per acre ; a bushel of seed weighs sixty-five pounds, number- 
 ing 32,000 seeds per ounce. 
 
 Lotus Gornieiilatus, common bird's-foot trefoil, Lohts majo7\ greater 
 bird's-foot trefoil, Medicago luperlina^ common yellow clover trefoil, 
 are all common in England, but inferior to red clover. 
 
 Medicago sativa, lucern, is a deep rooting perennial, and a native 
 
 * Pliny, the Koman naturalist, speaks of the Ti-ifolium, and Dioscorides, who lived in the time of 
 Nero, described, and left drawings of the vetches, sanfoiu, clover, etc. In the decline of the Roman 
 empire, agriculture, which had attained a high state, retroceded. The religious houses that then 
 sprang up throughout Europe became the depositories of agricultural knowledge, as well as that of 
 the classics, etc. ; and through those centuries of strife, denominated the middle ages, these fields 
 were ravaged and fertilized, as it were, with blood, crops destroyed, the plough and the pruning hook 
 being laid aside or converted into the weapons of war ; the land was given back to the spontaneous 
 productions of nature, as it were, little being done but to grow what was absolutely necessary for 
 daily food, flocks and herds being left to their own resources; the lessons of imperial Rome were 
 neglected, until wars had ceased and peace had spread its mantle of security over the land rent by 
 internal feuds. The seventeenth century marked an important epoch in the revival of agriculture. 
 Red clover, with turnips, was then introduced, among the farm crops, into England. Gerardc, m 
 his edition of botany, in 1597, described and figured the red and the white clovers. They were not 
 then cultivated in fatherland. To quote, he said: "There is also a trefoile of this kind which is 
 Bowne in fields of the Low Countries, in Italy and divers other places beyonde the seas, that cometh 
 up ranker and higher than that which groweth in meadows, and is an excellent food for cattel, both 
 to fatten them and to cause them to give great store of milke.'" In 1645, Richard Weston, then 
 ambassador from England to the Low Countries, to whom England is indebted for its introduction 
 in 1645, says of red clover, as he saw it cut in Flanders, in the neighborhood of Antwerp, on June 
 first, then twenty-four inches high and very thick, and on June twenty-ninth was cut again, twenty 
 inches high, and the third time in August, when eighteen inches high. Its introduction into England 
 was attended with great success, as, in 1653, Blythe recommended it for general cultivation. In the 
 beginning of the next century Lisle referred to it as well suited for dairying districts, except on 
 strong clay soils. 
 
 THfolium hybrichin, hybrid or alsik;e clover, is called an intermediate between the red and the 
 white clover. It resembles the former in duration, size and mode of growth, and*the latter in other 
 respects. The roots are fibrous, and are said to remain vigorous for fifteen or twenty years ; an 
 error, probably, from the fact of its self-seeding, in congenial soil, as is true of all clovers. The 
 long head resembles the extended white clover head. 
 
 The red clover is a very good rustic hygrometer, as its leaves are fiaccid in dry hot weather, but on 
 the appearance of rain they become firm and stiff. 
 
 The white and the yellow clover are shown by analysis to be greatly inferior for forage to the red 
 clovers ; alsike possesses high feeding properties, and for this reason should be more generally cul- 
 tivated. 
 
 Lucern was well known in Roman history, and was spoken of in high terms. Columella praised 
 it, because it lasted many years as a crop and could be cut from four to six times in a season. He 
 stated that a measure of land, equal to three-fourths of an acre, was suflicient to keep three horses 
 a 3'ear. Palladius speaks of it in the same terms, and Pliny agrees with them, adding that, instead 
 of ten years, it is productive for thirty years. It requires three years to come to its maximum. It 
 produces from twenty-five to thirty tons per acre, and is excellent feed for milch cows. Analysis 
 shows it fully equal to the clovers in all respects. Farmers should note this. 
 
46 
 
 of southern Europe, but has been naturalized in England and this 
 country, and should be cultivated by itself. It has never become 
 popular here. A bushel of the seed should weigh sixty pounds, and 
 numbers 12,000 seeds per ounce. 
 
 Onobrychis sativa, common saintfain, and Melilotics leuoantha 
 wio/or, Bokhara clover, are rather fanciful than useful herbage plants. 
 
 Analysis of these Clovbes. 
 
 
 Water. 
 
 Flesh- 
 forming. 
 
 Fatty 
 matter. 
 
 Heat- 
 forming. 
 
 Woody. 
 
 Ash. 
 
 Date. 
 
 T. prateuee 
 
 T. pratense, perenne 
 
 81.01 
 81.05 
 79.71 
 76.80 
 69.95 
 76.64 
 
 4.27 
 3.64 
 3.80 
 5.70 
 3.83 
 4.33 
 
 0.69 
 0.78 
 0.89 
 0.94 
 0.82 
 0.70 
 
 8.45 
 8.04 
 8.14 
 7.73 
 13.62 
 10.73 
 
 8.76 
 4.91 
 5.38 
 6.32 
 
 8.74 
 
 5.77 
 
 1.82 
 1.38 
 2.08 
 2.51 
 3.04 
 1.84 
 
 June 7. 
 June 4. 
 
 Med. lupulina 
 
 June 6! 
 
 Ono. Sativa 
 
 June 8. 
 
 Ditto Dbied. 
 First as above 
 
 
 22.65 
 19.18 
 18.76 
 
 3.67 
 4.09 
 4 .<iS 
 
 44.47 
 42.42 
 40.04 
 33.31 
 40.16 
 45.96 
 
 19.75 
 25.96 
 26.53 
 27.19 
 84.21 
 24.70 
 
 9.56 
 8.35 
 10.29 
 10.84 
 10.11 
 7.86 
 
 
 Second as above 
 
 
 Fourth as above 
 
 24,60 4.06 
 12.76 2.76 
 
 
 
 
 Sixtb as above 
 
 18.45 
 
 3.03 
 
 
 Composition of Ked and of White Clovee. 
 {Dried 212° Fahrenheit.) 
 
 Eed. 
 
 Organic matter 92 . 
 
 Ash 8.0 
 
 White. 
 
 91.3 
 
 8.7 
 
 100.0 100.0 
 
 Ash. 
 
 Total sulphur 0.47 0.38 
 
 Sand and silica 3.3 3.7 
 
 Potash ' .^ 14.9 14.3 
 
 Soda 1.4 3.7 
 
 Lime 35.4 26.4 
 
 Magnesia 11.2 8 2 
 
 Oxide of iron 1.0 2.0 
 
 Chloride of potassium 3.0 0.0 
 
 Chloride of sodium 2.4 5.0 
 
 Phosphoric acid 6.3 11.5 
 
 Sulphuric acid 4.2 7.2 
 
 Carbonic acid 16 .9 18 . 
 
 100.0 100. 
 
47 
 
 Of the unbelliferous order of plants the carrot, Dancus oarota, 
 used for feeding both horses and cows, and for artificially coloring- 
 butter in winter, is a very productive crop — twenty-eight tons per 
 acre. Several varieties are grown, concerning which there are a 
 diversity of opinions. They are deemed the best or among the best 
 root crops for forage. The white Belgian is deemed the best for live 
 stock of any known in England. Carrot seed, it should be remem- 
 bered, retains its vegetating power but a year. For milch cows car- 
 rots are well suited. 
 
 The composition of the white Belgian carrot, given by Dr. Yoelcker, 
 is as follows : 
 
 Dry. 
 
 Organic matters containing nitrogen (flesh-forming) 5 . 081 
 
 Substances free from nitrogen (heat-forming substances) .... 88 . 629 
 Inorganic matter (ash) 6 . 290 
 
 100.000 
 
 Proximate Principles. 
 
 At 202° Farh. 
 
 Fresh. Dry. 
 
 Water 87.338 
 
 Cellular fibre 3.471 27.412 
 
 Inorganic matters attached to the fibres . 145 1 . 145 
 
 Sugar 6.544 51.628 
 
 Salts, soluble in alcohol 0.409 3.230 
 
 Gum and pectine . . . . ■ . 885 6 . 989 
 
 Inorganic salts, insoluble in alcohol . 293 2 . 314 
 
 Soluble caseine 0.498 3.934 
 
 Insoluble proteine compounds . 169 1 . 334 
 
 Oil 0.203 1.604 
 
 Nitrogen in the shape of am moniacal salts. . . 0.008 0.063 
 
 99.959 99.653 
 
 Pastinaca sativa (parsnip), a plant indigenous to England. In 
 France and in the Jersey Islands the parsnip is extensively grown for 
 cattle forage as well as for swine. In Brittany the parsnip is deemed 
 little inferior in nutritive value to wheat, an over-estimate, I think. 
 Milch cows, there and thus fed in the winter, give as much and as 
 good milk, and butter therefrom as well flavored, as with grass in May 
 and June. Horses fed on parsnips are said to look sleek, though it is 
 said they sometimes have an ailment called " watery eye." The 
 analysis shows that parsnips contain from six to eight per cent, less 
 water than turnips, and from five to six per cent, less than mangolds. 
 
48 
 
 The quantity of flesh-forming substances in fresh parsnips is about the 
 same as that contained in turnips. In a dried state, turnips are richer 
 in proteine. 
 
 Proxvmate Principles. 
 
 Water. Dry. 
 
 Water 82.046 
 
 Cellular fibre 8.022 44.671 
 
 Ash united with the fibre 208 1.159 
 
 Insoluble proteine compounds .550 3.060 
 
 Soluble caseine 665 3. 704 
 
 Gum and pectine 748 4.166 
 
 Salts, insoluble in alcohol .455 2 . 535 
 
 Sugar 2.882 16.055 
 
 Salts, soluble in alcohol 339 1 . 888 
 
 Ammonia, in the state of ammoniacal salts. . .033 .184 
 
 Starch 3.507 19.537 
 
 Oil 546 3.041 
 
 100.000 100.000 
 
 The parsnip is particularly suited for fattening animals and for 
 milch cows. When compared with the carrot, to which it is closely 
 allied, it is found greatly superior for feeding purposes, containing 
 five or six per cent, less water, and therefore keeps better. Its flesh- 
 forming properties are nearly double that of the carrot. 
 
 Ash, l>y Dr. Richardson. 
 
 Potash 56.12 
 
 Soda 3 . 11 
 
 Magnesia 9 . 94 
 
 Lime 11.43 
 
 Phosphoric acid 18 . 66 
 
 Sulphuric acid 6.50 
 
 Silica , 4.10 
 
 Phosphate of iron 3 . 71 
 
 Chloride of sodium 5 . 54 
 
 119.11 
 
 (Proteine the basis 6t animal tissue [?]) 
 
 Salanum tuberosum, the potato, a tuber largely grown both for 
 man- and beast.* 
 
 *The potato is indigenous to South America, along the coast of the Pacific. Itwas introduced into 
 Europe the beginning of the sixteenth century, by the Spaniards ; thence to Italy and over Europe. 
 According to Von Thaer, it became a field crop in 1T71 in Germany. Itwas introduced into England 
 in 1684, by Sir Walter Raleigh, who found it in Virginia, named for the virgin queen (Elizabeth) j 
 it was called Openawk by the Indians, and was changed to Batatas VirginiatW; and under this name 
 
49 
 
 Composition, from Hemming^s Tables. 
 
 (Tuber dried at 212 degrees Fahrenheit.) 
 
 Organic matter 96 . 
 
 Ash 4.0 
 
 100.0 
 
 Ultimate Elements. 
 
 Carbon 45 . 9 
 
 Hydrogen 6.1 
 
 Oxygen 46.4 
 
 Nitrogen 1.6 
 
 100.0 
 
 Ammonia 1.94 
 
 Proximate Principles. 
 
 Albumen, gluten, caseine 5.8 
 
 Fat, oil 1.0 
 
 Starch 64 . 2 
 
 Gum, dextrine, pectine 2.2 
 
 Sugar 13 . 5 
 
 Fibre and husk 13.3 
 
 ' 100.0 
 
 Ash. 
 Total sulphur 0.094 
 
 Sand and silica 1.7 
 
 Potash 43 . 1 
 
 Soda 3.2 
 
 was figured by Gerarde, 1597, to distinguish it from the sweet potato. In 1633, tbe Royal Society 
 encouraged its culture. So lightly, however, was it esteemed, that, in 1699, Evelyn said, "Plant 
 your potatoes in your worst ground." In 1723, the first field crop was seen in Scotland, and in 1732 
 was extensively cultivated, notwithstanding it was here that the objection to its introduction had 
 been made, that it was a sinful plant, because not mentioned in the Bible ; yet, though not named 
 in the holy Scriptures, it has been found, both for man and beast, one of the moat valuable gifts of a 
 beneficent Providence. The varieties are almost innumerable. 
 
 The proportion of stem to tuber is liable to great variation; on the average of a large number of 
 trials, they may be taken as about two to five. The per cent, of water contained in tubers varies 
 both with reference to the time of maturity and variety. According to Df. Trovberg's elaborate 
 investigations of the composition of the potato, the least ripe one was found to contain seventy-six 
 per cent, of water, and the ripest from sixty-eight to seventy. The average of fift3'-one examinations 
 by Prof. Johnston, sevent3'-six per cent, of water was given. Kortes's experiments showed sevenfy- 
 flve and one-tenth per cent. Seventy-five per cent., or three fourths of their weight, is water. In 
 the stem, eighty-six to eighty-eight per cent, of water. For feeding, starch malres up what is wanted 
 in nitrogen as compared with turnips and mangolds. Its solid constituents are about twenty-five 
 per cent. Its forage, per acre, for cows is in excess of the cereals. A Crop of wheat would contain 
 twelve per cent, of nitrogen, and of starch flfty-five per cent. ; while a crop of potatoes ^vould contain 
 of nitrogen two per cent., and of starch fifteen per cent. 
 
50 
 
 Lime • • • 1-7 
 
 Magnesia 3.2 
 
 Oxide of iron 0.4 
 
 Chloride of potassium and sodium 4.7 
 
 Phosphoric acid 8.5 
 
 Sulphuric acid 15-2 
 
 Carbonic acid 18.3 
 
 100.0 
 
 Composition of Potato Haulm. 
 
 Organic matter. 
 Ash 
 
 85.0 
 15.0 
 
 100.0 
 
 Beta vulgaris, the beet. Beta vulgaris (campestris) mangold 
 wurzel, is a plant that is largely cultivated for cattle feed, and 
 deemed a good root for milch cows ; none better. 
 
 Composition of Mangold Wurzel.* 
 
 Dried at 212° Fahrenheit. 
 
 Organic matter 
 Ash 
 
 • UltimMe Elements. 
 
 Carbon 
 
 Hydrogen 
 
 Oxygen 
 
 Nitrogen 
 
 Ammonia 2.18 6.90 
 
 BuIbB. 
 
 TopB. 
 
 93.7 
 
 80.2 
 
 6.3 
 
 19.8 
 
 100.0 
 
 100.0 
 
 Bulbs. 
 
 Tops. 
 
 45.7 
 
 48.6 
 
 6.2 
 
 6.5 
 
 46.3 
 
 39.2 
 
 1.8 
 
 5.7 
 
 100.0 
 
 100.0 
 
 * The mangold was known to the Greeks and Romans. It is a productive crop. In 1859, the Man- 
 chester and Liverpool Agricultural Society awarded premiums, respectively, for flf ty-one tons, forty- 
 pis tons and forty -five tons per acre. Of the part growing above the ground and in it, it was found 
 to vary, in some cases, in nitrogen, while in others no difference was found. — (Ander60N.) The 
 mangold is grown largely in Europe for sugar making, and is undergoing experiments here. 
 
51 
 
 Proximate Principles. 
 
 Albumen 0.7 
 
 Caseine 2.3 
 
 Gum, dextrine, pectine 3.0 
 
 Sugar Y3 . 
 
 Fibre and husk 21 .0 
 
 
 , tops, 0.502. 
 
 Koots. 
 
 2.6 
 
 24.8 
 
 13.8 
 
 2.0 
 
 2.1 
 
 0.6 
 
 29.4 
 
 3.1 
 
 3.3 
 
 18.3 
 
 100.0 
 
 Ash : total sulphur, 0.058 ; do.. 
 Sand and silica 
 
 Tops 
 
 2 
 
 Potash 
 
 
 21 3 
 
 Soda 
 
 
 7.0 
 
 Lime 
 
 
 8.6 
 
 Magnesia 
 
 
 8 7 
 
 Oxide of iron 
 
 
 1 
 
 Chloride of sodium 
 
 
 34 
 
 Phosphoric acid 
 
 Sulphuric acid 
 
 Carbonic acid 
 
 
 5.1 
 
 5.8 
 6.5 
 
 
 100.0 
 
 100.0 
 
 Polygonum fagojpyrum, or Fayopyriom esculentum, is the plant 
 that produces buckwheat, or, more properly, beechwheat, as its old 
 name indicates, its seed resembling the beech-nnt or mast, a native of 
 Asia ; and, in China it is grown as bread corn. It is an annual plant, 
 and flowers soon after it vegetates. The seed is deemed good for 
 horses and poultry. It will grow on land too poor for com. It 
 stands but a short time and makes good bee-pasturage. 
 
 The composition of the green stem is given as follows : 
 
 Water 82.5 
 
 Starch 4.7 
 
 Woody fibre 10.0 
 
 Sugar 0.0 
 
 Albumen 0.2 
 
 Extractive matter and gum 2.6 
 
 Fatty matters 0.0 
 
 Phosphate of lime 0.0 
 
 100.0 
 
52 
 
 Oomposition of the Seed. 
 
 Husk 26.9 
 
 Gluten 10.7 
 
 Starch 52.3 
 
 Sugar and gum 8.3 
 
 Fatty matter 0.4 
 
 1.6 
 
 Ash of the Seed. 
 
 BlBChan. Liebig 
 
 Silica 0.69 0.7 
 
 Potash 8.74 8.7 
 
 Soda 20.15 20.1 
 
 Lime 6.66 6.7 
 
 Magnesia 10.38 10.4 
 
 Oxide of iron 1 . 05 1.1 
 
 Phosphoric acid 50.17 50.1 
 
 Sulphuric acid 2.16 2.2 
 
 100.00 100.0 
 
 Tlie natural pasture grasses and the grasses cured for hay are now 
 reached in the present botanical order of classification or arrangement 
 of forage feeding plants. 
 
 GratnineaB, or grass family, comprises what are called the natural 
 grasses. Grasses are defined as plants, usually with hollow stems 
 (culms) closed at the joint, alternate, two-ranked leaves, their sheaths 
 split or open on the side opposite the blade ; the hypogynous flowers 
 imbricated with two-ranked glumes or bracts ; the outer pair (glumes 
 proper calyx) subtending the spikelet of one or several flowers ; the 
 inner pair {pcdece, outer perianth) inclosing each particular flower, 
 usually furnished with two or three minute hypogynous scales. 
 Stamens one to six, commonly three ; anthers versatile, two-celled, 
 the scale distinct. Styles mostly two or two-parted ; stigmas hairy 
 or feathery. Ovary one celled, one ovuled, forming a seed-like 
 grain in fruit. Embryo small on the outside and at the base of the 
 flowery albumen. Roots fibrous. Sheath of the leaves usually more 
 or less extended above the base of the blade into a scarious appendage 
 (ligule). Spikelets panicled or spiked. Inner (upper) palea usually 
 two-nerved or two-keeled, therefore probably consisting of two united. 
 This is a vast and most important family of plants, as it furnishes the 
 cereal grains and the principal food of cattle, sheep and horses. 
 
 Of the genera of grasses having claim to culture as forage plants, 
 
53 
 
 Agrostis is first in the alphalietical order. The species of this genus 
 are popularly known as the marsh-bent grasses. The Agrostis alba — 
 agrostis, from ager a field, and alba white — Agrostis vulgaris — vulga- 
 ris, common — are the only species of this genus deserving mention. 
 The Agrostis alba and A. stolonifera are said to be the' same grass, 
 called, also, marsh-creeping bent-grass, or fiorin-grass. The Agrostis 
 alba, by some farmers, is considered a troublesome weed, an impover- 
 isher of the soil, in consequence of its long, creeping roots. Its typi- 
 cal form is seen in meadows, pastures, to the altitude of some 2,000 
 or 3,000 feet above the level of the ocean. It grows, also, in peaty 
 soil and by the side of brooks in wet lands. The variety met with in 
 such situations is known as Agrostis palitstris. 
 
 Lowe, in his British Grasses, describes A. alba as follows : Koots 
 perennial, tufted and creeping; stem circular, polished and upright, 
 hearing four or five short, narrow, flat, very rough leaves, with rough, 
 striated sheaths, the upper one extending beyond its leaf, having its 
 apex a long, ragged, acute, ribbed ligule ; joints smooth, inflores- 
 cent cuniformed, penciled; panute upright and beautiful, of a pur- 
 plish hue, with pale green florets ; branches rough, slender and 
 spreading when in flower, proceeding from the rachis generally in fives, 
 placed at equal distances but unequal in length ; spikelets small, 
 upright, numerous, consisting of one small floret ; ciilyx consisting 
 of two nearly equal-sized, acute glumes, destitute of lateral ribs ; 
 florets of two unec[ual-sized palete, exterior one ovate, hairy at the base 
 and notched at the apex ; inner one only half the length, with cloven 
 apex, entire margins, and semi-transparent ; height from eighteen to 
 twenty-four inches. This species has many varieties, as already stated. 
 
 Cattle are fond of it. It is recommended for deep, tenacious soils, 
 intended to be kept perpetually in grass. Seed, per acre, one and 
 one-half pounds to three pounds. A bushel of seed weighs thirteen 
 poiinds. No analysis is found. It is manifestly deficient in succu- 
 lent qualities, the stem being too woody. It has produced over four 
 tons of hay per acre in Ireland, where a plant has been seen that 
 measured ten feet in length. The other species and varieties of this 
 genus resemble the species described. 
 
 Aira caespitosa. Tufted hair-grass ; is of little value for forage. 
 
 Alojpecurus pratensis, the meadow foxtail-grass, a common pasture 
 grass in Great Britain ; thrives best in soil of intermediate quality, 
 as to dry or moist ; its earliness greatly increases its value as a forage 
 plant. It is seeded, one pound to two pounds per acre. A bushel 
 of seed weighs about five and one-fourth pounds. 
 
54 
 
 Anthoxanthum (a yellow flower, Gr.), a genus where the sweet 
 scented vernal grass is found, named A. odoratum. It is fibrous- 
 rooted, perennial, and grows from twelve to eighteen inches in height. 
 It is .common to almost all soils. It is not a favorite forage plant with 
 cattle ; its chief merit is its earliness. Its superiority for aftermath 
 is its chief recommendation for pasturage or grazing. It gives a 
 pleasing fragrance to cured hay ; it is claimed in England that it gives 
 their mutton a peculiar flavor ; also, about Philadelphia, as giving a 
 nice flavor to butter. Seed, per acre, one-half to one pound. A 
 bushel of seed weighs six pounds. 
 
 Arrhenatherum avenaceuin, tall, oat-like grass, a comparatively new 
 genus, called French rye-grass, formerly called HoIgus a'venaceus. It 
 is a fibrous-rooted perennial ; it thrives well under trees ; it grows to 
 the height of three feet. A variety of it is known as knot-grass, A. 
 hulbosom. Different opinions prevail as to its merit as a forage plant. 
 It is sown from three to five pounds of seed per acre. A bushel of 
 seed weighs seven pounds. 
 
 Avena fiavescens, yellow oat-grass ; a fibrous-rooted perennial, 
 growing from one foot to two feet in height. It is an early, sweet 
 grass, and is suited to light, dry soils, and is most luxuriant in a calca- 
 reous soil, and thrives best when grown with other grasses. Sheep 
 are fond af it. It is recommended for permanent pastures, in pro- 
 portion of one pound of seed per asre. A bushel weighs five pounds. 
 
 Brachypodium (short foot), a genus to which wood, fescue-grass, is 
 referred under the name of JB. sylvaticuni, once called Festuca syl- 
 vatioa, and again Triticum syl/oatioum. It is fibrous-rooted, peren- 
 nial, growing from one foot to two feet in height. It is common in 
 shady places, but thrives well in open meadows. Seeded, two pounds 
 per acre; d, bushel of the seed weighs ten and one-fourth pounds. 
 
 Bromus (food), a genus to which is referred the grass known as 
 Bucetum giganteum, Festuca gigantea ; tall fescue-grass, or giant- 
 wood brome-grass, under the name of Bromus giganteus. It is a 
 fibrous-rooted perennial, growing to the height of three or four feet. 
 It is eaten readily by cattle. It is recommended for shady places ; 
 three pounds of seed per acre. A bushel of seed weighs fifteen 
 pounds, and numbers 8,600 seeds per ounce. 
 
 Cynosurus (dog's tail) cristatus (crested). Dog's-tail-grass, a well 
 known species, is a fibrous-rooted perennial, growing to the height 
 of from twelve to eighteen inches. It thrives best in tenacious soils, 
 and is valuable for permanent pastures, the herbage being succulent 
 and tender, and furnishes more nourishment later in the season than 
 
55 
 
 early ; it is seeded from five to seven pounds per acre ; a bushel 
 weighs twenty-six pounds and numbers 28,000 seeds per ounce. 
 
 Dactylis (a finger) glomerata (in heaps) is a common grass, not 
 particularly liked by cattle. It is called orchard-grass, rough cock's- 
 foot-grass, and is a fibrous-rooted plant, growing to the lieight of t\vo 
 feet and more. It grows best in damp, shady locations ; it is a pro- 
 ductive pasture grass, more valuable for pastures than for hay, said 
 Sinclair, yet for the latter it is preferable to Loliuin perenne. It 
 should be closely cropped, and is a good soiling crop. The most 
 celebrated fattening pastures in Devonshire are orchard-grass pastures. 
 Says an English writer : A combination of three parts of cock's-foot- 
 grass and one part composed oi Festuca du7'iuscula, Bucetwmjjj'atense, 
 Poa trivialis, Phleum jpratense, and Lolium perenne, make most 
 luxuriant pastures in alternation of grain crops. A variety called 
 the giant cock's-foot-grass is deemed most productive. Seeded from 
 three to five pounds of seed per acre, or from five to seven pounds if 
 overshadowed by trees. Weight of seed, eleven and a half pounds 
 per bushel. 
 
 Festuca duriuscula is known as hard fescue-grass, is fibrous-ruoteil 
 perennial, somewhat creeping, occasionally throwing out lateral 
 shoots. It grows from one foot to two feet in height. This grass is 
 deemed in England of high value as a forage plant, it being of early 
 growth and thriving in a variety of soils. It resists drought in a 
 remarkable degree, and is noteworthy for its verdure It is recom- 
 mended for permanent pastures, and seeded at tlie rate of tliree to 
 four pounds per acre. A bushel of seed weighs nine and a half 
 pounds. 
 
 Festuca elatior (tall) is a fibrous-rooted perennial, growing from 
 three to five feet in height, thriving in moist soil, and is recommended 
 for permanent pasture, in medium and heavy soils ; two and a half to 
 three pounds per acre. A bushel of seed weighs fourteen pounds. 
 
 Festuca heterophylla, a fibrous-rooted perennial, is similar to 
 F. duriuscula, and is recommended for permanent pasture, on medium 
 and heavy soils; one and a half pounds of seed per acre. A bushel 
 weighs twelve and a half pounds. 
 
 Festuca loliacea has several names, such as spiked fescue-grass, 
 slender fescue-grass, rye-grass fescue-grass, and darnel-spiked fescue- 
 grass, and is fibrous-rooted, perennial, growing from one foot to two 
 feet high, favoring moist land. It is recommended to be sown on 
 irrigated land, from one to three pounds per acre. A bushel of the 
 seed weighs fifteen pounds. 
 
56 
 
 Festuoa opina (sheep fescue-grass) is a fibrous-rooted perennial, 
 growing from three to nine inches in height, sheep preferring it to 
 all other kinds of grass. It is very nutritious, and being small, ren- 
 ders it unfit for any but pasture forage. It retains its greenness 
 through the winter, and is best suited for permanent pastures ; one 
 pound of seed per acre. A bushel of seed weighs thirteen and one- 
 quarter pounds. 
 
 Several varieties of Festuoa ovina are pointed out and described, 
 some of which are F. hirsuta, F. vivipara, F. angustifolia and 
 F. ccesia. Meadow fescue has several names by botanists, some 
 uniting it with Festuca elatior, others with F. loliac'ea. Parnell 
 calls it BucetuTn ]}ratense. Lawson, in his catalogue, calls it F. pra- 
 tense. It is fibrous-rooted, perennial, growing from fifteen inches to 
 two feet in height. It is a good meadow and pasture grass. It com- 
 bines the valuable properties of the rye-grass {Lolium perenne) without 
 its defective ones. Sinclair says the meadow fescue constitutes 
 a very considerable portion of the herbage of all rich natural pastures 
 and irrigated meadows. It makes excellent hay, and though a 
 large plant, the leaves of the herbage are succulent and tender, and 
 liked by the cattle, as they never form rank tufts, common to the larger 
 grasses. It does not reach maturity as soon as fox-tail or cock's-foot 
 grass. It favors clay soil. It is recommended to be sown, for per- 
 manent pasture, from one pound to three pounds per acre. Its seed 
 weighs thirteen pounds per bushel. ^ 
 
 Festuca rubra is a variety of F. duriuscula, growing to the height 
 of two feet, and is suited to sandy or light soils ; from one to four 
 pounds per acre, averaging ten pounds per bushel of seed, and num- 
 bering 39,000 seeds per ounce. 
 
 Festuca tenuifolia is a variety of F. ovina, and is fine lawn grass ; 
 one to two pounds of seed per acre; averages twelve pounds per 
 bushel, of seed numbering 88,000 per ounce. 
 
 Glyceria is a sweet meadow grass, or reed meadow grass. Poa 
 aquatica, by the older botanists, is now called Glyoeria aquatica. 
 It is a creeping-rooted perennial, favoring marshy soils, margins of 
 fresh-water lakes and streams. Cattle are fond of it. It yields a 
 heavy crop. It is recommended for marshy grounds, seeding two to 
 three pounds per acre. Seed per Ijushel weighs thirteen and one- 
 quarter pounds. 
 
 Glyceria jhiitans (floating meadow-grass, floating sweet-manna- 
 grass, or fiftat-fescue, formerly called Poa Jluitans) is a fibrous- 
 rooted perennial, growing to the height of fifteen inches to two feet, 
 
57 
 
 and thrives on marshes and along banks. It is an early, sweet, 
 nutritions forage plant. Its seeds are sought by water fowls. It 
 may be cultivated on moist land and yield a good crop. Palatable 
 bread has been made of its ground seeds, nearly equal to that made 
 of wheat. It is suited to irrigated lands, two to three pounds of seed 
 per acre. A bushel weighs fourteen and a half pounds. 
 
 Uolcus (to extract) lanahis (woolly), soft, woolly grass, and is called 
 white-grass. Is of little value as a forage crop. A bushel of seed 
 weighs seven pounds. 
 
 liolcus mollis^ like the former, may be sowed one to two pounds 
 per acre, for- pasture. A bushel of seed weighs six pounds. 
 
 Lolium comprises two important grass species, viz., rye-grass and 
 the common rye-grass. In England it is regarded as a valuable 
 genus, including L. perenne Italicuni and JL. peremie, tlie former 
 being regarded as a variety of the latter. It is of biennial and tri- 
 ennial duration. It is good for irrigated lands, cattle and sheep 
 being very fond of it. (Seed may be sown from three to six pounds 
 per acre. A bushel of seed weighs fifteen pounds. 
 
 Lolium perenne is the common rye-grass, and is of biennial, tri- 
 ennial or quadrennial duration, growing from fifteen inclios to two 
 feet in height. It is common in Great Britain, it luuing been culti- 
 vated there since 1674. It is sown from five, six, eigliteen to twenty 
 pounds per acre. A bushel weighs eighteen pounds to thirty pounds. 
 
 Miliiim, millet-grass, M. effusum, is fibrous-rooted, perennial, with 
 creeping shoots, and grows from three to four feet high. It is recom- 
 mended to be sown for permanent pasturage, and for hay, in orchards 
 and other grounds overshadowed. A bushel of the seed weighs 
 twenty-five pounds. 
 
 Phalaris (shining, Gr.) arundinaoea (a reed), best known as 
 ribbon-grass, painted-lady-grass, gardener's garters, a creeping- 
 rooted perennial, growing to the height of two to five feet. Cattle 
 eat it readily. It does well on irrigated lands. It is seeded from one 
 to two pounds per acre. A bushel of seed weighs forty-eight pounds. 
 
 Phleum (reed-mace), timothy-grass, cat's-tail, herd's-grass, is known 
 as Phleum pratense, a perennial grass, with bulbous, creeping 
 roots, growing eighteen inches to two feet or more in height. It is 
 deemed a valuable grass for hay. A bushel of seed weighs forty- 
 four pounds. 
 
 The genus Poa (grass) includes several species of the most valua- 
 ble grasses. Poa nemoralis (of a weed) has a perennial, creeping 
 root, and the stem grows to the heiglit of eighteen inches to two feet. 
 
58 
 
 An excellent grass for pastures and lawns. Cattle, sheep and horses 
 are exceedingly fond of its fine, succulent herbage. Several varieties 
 of P. nemo'ralis are cultivated. P. nemoralis senvpervirens or Hudson 
 Bay hay-gi-ass, known as Poa nervosa. This variety is remarkable 
 for the rapidity of its growth, after being eaten or cut, as by its per- 
 petual verdure. Seed from one to two pounds per acre. A bushel 
 weighs fifteen pounds. 
 
 Poa pratensis, smooth-stalked meadow-grass, spear-grass, green- 
 grass, June-grass, Kentucky blue-grass, etc., etc. It grows from 
 one foot to three feet high. It is one of the best, if not the very 
 best, as I think, of the pasture-grass species, it being both of a luxu- 
 riant growth and of very nutritious quality, and stands the drought 
 well, and winters well also. No better grass is known for permanent 
 pastures. Seeding from four to six pounds per acre. A bushel of 
 seed weighs thirteen and a quarter pounds. 
 
 Kentucky Blue-Geass — Poa ^^ratensis. — The "Kentucky blue- 
 grass" is Poa pratensis of the botanist, and known as green, or 
 common meadow-grass, by Gray, June-grass, by Wood, smooth- 
 stalked or meadow-grass, by Torrey, meadow-grass, by Congdon, 
 spear-grass, green-grass, smooth meadow-grass, by Darlington, com- 
 mon spear-grass, by Dewey, the smooth-stalked meadow-grass by 
 Lowe, Loudon and other English botanists. 
 
 The grass known to botanists generally as blue-grass, is Poa com- 
 pressa, as seen by referring to Wood, Gray, Torrey, Dewey and 
 others; and this is what has misled , and is still misleading persons 
 who refer to indices in botanical works. To show the reader the 
 diiference between these two species, we copy Prof. Gray's descrip- 
 tion of the two ; first, Poa pratensis : 
 
 P prate?isis (green or common grass). Culms ranging from a 
 foot to three feet high, from a creeping base and sheath smooth ; 
 branches of the pyramidal panicle common in fives (see cut), spread- 
 ing ; spikelets three to five-flowered ; flowers five-nerved, lance-ovate, 
 acute, having on the marginal nerves and keel ; ligule blunt, short. 
 Common in dry soil ; imported for pastures and meadows. Indige- 
 nous (?) in White Mountains of New Hampshire and northward. 
 Flowers from May to July. 
 
 Second, Poa compressa : P. compressa (blue-grass, wire-grass). 
 Culms much fiattened, obliquely ascending, from nine to eighteen 
 inches, from a creeping base, the uppermost near the middle ; leaves 
 short, bluish green ; panicle dense and contracted (expanding just at 
 flowering), partly one-sided ; the short branches often in pairs, covered 
 
59 
 
 near to the base with four to nine-flowered flat spikelets ; flowers 
 linear elliptical, rather obtuse, hairy below on the lateral nerves and 
 keel ; ligule short and blunt. Dry Fields and banks, probably intro- 
 duced with other and more valuable grasses ; rarely in woods ; 
 apparently truly indigenous (?) northward. 
 
 Any one reading the description of these two species, as here given, 
 cannot fail to see how unlike they are to each other ; and when com- 
 pared with each other in the meadow, as they may be, no one will fail 
 to wonder that any intelligent farmer should mistake the latter for 
 the former, or either for white-top, Danthnnia spicata. 
 
 That it is so, and the reason why, we will now give. While at 
 the farm of the Hon. Brutus J. Clay, in Paris, Ky., we had the 
 pleasure of meeting Mr. Bedford, a neighbor of Mr. Clay, a breeder 
 and grazier, and as we were making inquiries about the " Kentucky 
 blue-grass," Mr. Bedford said : " It was first discovered growing in 
 that section of the State on a ridge near the Upper Blue Licks, in 
 Bath county, contiguous to, and east of, Bourbon county, where it 
 originated more than half a century ago. The farmers liked it so 
 well that they used to go thither to gather seed to sow on their pas- 
 ture lands ; so coming, as it did, from the ' Blue Licks,' the grass was 
 called ' blue-grass.' " 
 
 This is the manifest reason why this grass {Poa pratensis) was 
 called " blue-grass ; " and secondly, the circumstance that it first 
 became famous in Kentucky, where it was found growing sponta- 
 neously, though probably not indigenously; hence the reason for its 
 being called " Kentucky blue-grass." It was these facts, gathered by 
 observation and from conversation in our visit to that part of Ken- 
 tucky, which led the late Professor Dewey to write to the piiblisher 
 of the Boston Cultivator as follows : " Your editorial correspondent, 
 W. (Leander Wetherell), has settled the name of this Kentucky blue- 
 grass. It is gratifying to have one error removed, or one mistake 
 corrected. Though I have seen the botanists' blue-grass {Poa conrv- 
 pressa), from Kentucky, as it was said, yet, it cannot be the real 
 ' Kentucky blue-grass.' " The Professor, whom we afterward saw, 
 expressed the most hearty gratification in view of the fact that we 
 had so clearly set forth the identity of the "Kentucky blue-grass" 
 with that of June-grass {Poa pratensis), he remarking, " that all his 
 doubts about this mooted and much controverted question are now 
 entirely removed," which, of course, was highly gratifying to us, a 
 former disciple of so eminent a teacher as was Dr. Chester D'e,-we.j. 
 
 A CO temporary lately said : "Poa pratensis is unquestionably the 
 
60 
 
 grass known in Kentucky as ' blue-grass,' and in other States often by 
 the name of ' Kentucky blue-grass.' In Pennsylvania and Delaware, 
 however, this same grass is popularly called ' green-grass,' while the 
 variety [species] botanieally termed Poa compressa is known in the 
 latter States as ' blue-grass.' It may be a matter of question whether 
 from length of usage Poa coTrvpressa does not have priority of claim 
 to designation as ' blue-grass ' [no question whatever as to priority of 
 claim], but there is no doubt that what is known as Kentucky blue- 
 grass — the grass which gives their peculiar value to the grazing lands 
 of Fayette, Woodford, Bourbon and adjoining counties in Kentucky 
 — is something quite dift'erent, and is, in fact, Poa pratensis. In 
 Eastern Pennsylvania and Delaware, the farmers will say that ' green- 
 grass' {Poa pratensis) produces the herbage which renders their best 
 pastures of almost unrivalled excellence, and will point out, as ' blue- 
 grass,' specimens of Poa compressa, which may also be found quite 
 generally — wondering not a little, as they do, that in Kentucky ' blue- 
 grass ' is so highly esteemed." 
 
 Let farmers understand that the " blue-grass " of botanists is Poa 
 compressa, and the " Kentucky blue-grass " of our agricultural jour- 
 nals is Poa pratensis, also called by some one of the common names 
 given above from both American and English botanists, and the 
 whole cause for the difficulty is thus entirely removed. The local 
 use of the name "blue-grass" in Kentucky, and for the reason given 
 by Mr. Bedford, has led to all the confusion referred to in regard to 
 these two species of the Poa, " the Kentucky blue-grass " being one 
 of the best pasture grasses known, while the "blue-grass" of the 
 botanists is wiry and nearly worthless, as compared with the former, 
 and is, besides, a very troublesome weed in tillage grounds, somewhat 
 resembling witch-grass in its great tenacity for life. The " Kentucky 
 blue-gi"ass " we commend to the notice of farmers as one of the most 
 valuable of the " tame grasses," as the introduced, cultivated grasses 
 are frequently called in the "West and South-west. 
 
 Of its quality, Muhlenberg terms it " optimum pabulum^'' the most 
 valuable of grasses known in our pastures ; its prevalen('e and luxu- 
 riant growtli is an evidence of the land being in good condition and 
 well managed, says Dr. Dai-lington. Dr. Torrey says it is considered 
 the best grass for pastures. Imported for pastures and meadows, 
 says Gray, and indigenous at the White Mountains. Dr. Dewey 
 says it forms a great portion of the turf of pastures and meadows in 
 all but* aquatic places. Wood says, an excellent grass for making hay 
 and for pasturage. Dr. Gray says, imported for pastures and meadows. 
 
61 
 
 Lowe, of England, says it is an early grass, yielding a large crop, and 
 is liked by cattle. Pratt says it is useful in pasture lands as a turf 
 former, and is what farmers call one of the " sweet-grasses," and is 
 very nutritive. This is the testimony of botanists, and might be 
 greatly enlarged ; but let this suffice. 
 
 The testimony which the late E. A. Alexander gave us on his farm 
 in Kentucky, is, perhaps, the most pertinent of all, and will, there- 
 fore, be the best understood and most highly appreciated by New 
 England farmers, especially those in Massachusetts, which was this: 
 He said to us, " I regret to see the white clover working into my blue- 
 grass pastures, for it is not so good for stock as the blue-grass." Mr. 
 Clay and others there concurred with Mr. Alexander, as we did, 
 judging from what we saw. The famous pastures in Worcester 
 county West, and some parts of Franklin county, of Shelburne, e. g., 
 are genuine blue-grass pastures, resembling those of Kentucky. 
 
 Poa trivalis, a rough-stalked or stoloniferous meadow-grass, is a 
 creeping-stemmed perennial, growing from twelve to eighteen inches 
 in height. It is indigenous to moist or wet shady land, and is a highly 
 nutritious and useful grass, and may be sown with Agr^ostis stolonif era, 
 the marsh-creeping bent-grass, and Poaflxdtans {Glyceria Jiuitans), 
 the floating sweet-grass for irrigated meadows. It is recommended 
 to be sown for permanent pastures in heavy soils. A bushel of the 
 seed weighs fifteen and a quarter pounds. 
 
 Poa aiinua, annual meadow-grass, ohe of the commonest of grasses, 
 affords early feed, of which cows are very fond, and is good for early 
 pasturage, and should be sown on grazing lands. It flowers all 
 summer. 
 
 Poa nervata* now called Glyceria nervala. It is called fowl- 
 meadow by farmers ; has a panicle upright, but drooping when ripe; 
 often a foot long, growing from the height of eighteen inches to three 
 feet ; root perennial, and native of North America. 
 
 Jared Eliot, of Connecticut, writing of it in 1749, said : " There are 
 two sorts of grasses, natives of this country, which I recommend, viz., 
 Herd's-grass, known in Pennsylvania as Timothy-grass ; the other as 
 Fowl-meadow, called Duck-grass. Herd's-grass was first found in a 
 swamp in Piscataqua, New Hampshire, by one Herd, who propagated 
 it; that fowl-meadow was brought into a meadow in Dedham, Massa- 
 
 * Now called Glyceria nervata by Prof. Gray ; Poa nervata, by Willdenow ; P. Striata, by Michaiix ; 
 P. parvijU>ra, by Pursh. Poa serotina, mistaken by Flint for fowl-meadow, is called by some farmers 
 " basUrd fowl-meadow." It was called P. neTUoralis by Pursh ; P. crocata by Michaux. It is called 
 wood-meadow-grass by Sinclair. Poa nemoralis, variety angitstifolia. It is a valuable grass for wet 
 lauds. 
 
62 
 
 chusetts, by dncks and other water-fowl ; hence its name. It was 
 brought into the meadows in Hartford, Connecticut, by the annual 
 floods, and was then called swamp wire-grass. Of these two, the lat- 
 ter is the better, making a more soft, pliable hay than Herd's-grass, 
 and is consequently better for pressing and shipping, and, besides, is 
 not inferior to English grass, it yielding a good burden, three loads 
 per acre. It does not suffer from standing late, for there comes a 
 second growth. When grown about three feet high, it falls, but does 
 not rot like other grasses when lodged, but sends out new branches 
 at every joint, thus keeping the sap in circulation through the main 
 culm or stock to maintain the suckers ; thus is it kept green for a long 
 time." 
 
 Thus much for Mr. Eliot. It grows over New England, and is 
 moderately cultivated by farmers ; much less than it deserves to be in 
 view of its great value. It makes excellent hay for oxen and cows, 
 it being exceedingly nutritive. It thrives best when mixed with 
 other grasses. 
 
 In an account of experiments on the produce and nutritive quali- 
 ties of different species of grasses used as food for cattle, instituted 
 by the Duke of Bedford, England, called " Hortvs Gramineus Wo- 
 iurnensis" by George Sinclair, the produce of this grass, at the time 
 of flowering, on a rich, sandy loam, was 21,780 pounds per acre. 
 
 The crops of this grass, at the time of flowering, and at the time 
 the seed is ripe, are equal in point of quantity and nutritieiit quality ; 
 a circumstance which occurred in no other species of grass in the 
 series of experiments. The nutritive matter contained in the latter 
 math was greater than in most other grasses. The root-leaves are 
 produced on a shoot, and stand in two rows after the manner of a fan. 
 This shoot, formed by the union of the base of the leaves, is very 
 succulent, and contains a greater proportion of nutritive matter than 
 the leaves, which accounts for the superiority of the latter math in 
 nutritive matter. This grass is remarkably hardy. On February 17, 
 1814, after the severe winter preceding, this species of poa was per- 
 fectly green and succulent, while not one other species of grass, out 
 of nearly 300 different ones that grew around it, remained in a 
 healthy state, but were all inferior and more or less injured by the 
 severity of the weather. In the following season the produce rather 
 exceeded the above, though mowed the preceding season, and no 
 manure had been applied. It is a native of North America, where 
 the winters are longer and more severe, and the summers warmer 
 than in this climate ; and the plants, natives of Siberia, exhibit a 
 
63 
 
 similar habit, for the severer the winter the greater is their produce, 
 and the milder, the less. The long-rooted clover is one of this class ; 
 after a severe winter the produce is very great, and after a mild win- 
 ter considerably inferior. This will be found true of most of the 
 grasses, both natural and artificial. 
 
 Poa fertilis, called fertile meadow-grass, a native of Germany, 
 and perennial, is erroneously copied from " Sinclair's Grasses " into 
 Flint's " Grasses and Forage Plants," so called, as false red-top, 
 fowl-meadow {Poa set'otina). 
 
 The next topic for consideration is the chemical composition of the 
 principal forage grasses, not, as admitted, entirely satisfactory to 
 chemists. Mr. Sinclair was first to undertake this examination, the 
 plan having been suggested to him by Sir Humphrey Davy. A 
 given quantity of grass was subjected to hot water till the soluble 
 parts were taken up. The liquid was then separated from the undis- 
 solved, woody matter by filtration and carefully evaporated to dry- 
 ness, the dry product thus obtained being deemed the measure of the 
 nutritive matter of the plant. 
 
 By a more exact analysis of the present day, the following points 
 are sought to be determined : 
 
 Ist. The proportion of water in every grass as taken from the 
 meadow. 
 
 2d. The proportion of albuminous or flesh-forming principles, i. e., 
 of all the nitrogenous principles present. 
 
 3d. The proportion of oily or fatty matters, which are regarded as 
 fat-producing or forming principles. 
 
 4:th. The proportion of elements of respiration, or heat-producing 
 principles, under which head come starch, gum, sugar, pectine, etc., 
 or all the non-nitrogenous principles, with the exception of fatty mat- 
 ters and the ligneous crust of cellulose. 
 
 5th. Cellulose and woody fibre. 
 
 6th. Mineral matter or ash. 
 
 The grasses as analyzed by Mr. Way, of England, as subjoined, 
 were gathered from their natural habitats, and not from cultivated 
 grounds. 
 
64 
 
 Analysis of Natural Gkasses, as Taken from the Field. 
 
 AlopecuruB pratensis 
 
 Anthoxantlium odoratum , , . . 
 Arrhenatherum avenaceum .... 
 
 Avena flavescens 
 
 Cynosums cristatus 
 
 DactyliB glomerata 
 
 Dactylis glomerata, seeds ripe 
 
 Festuca duriuscula 
 
 Holcue lanatus 
 
 Lolium Italicum 
 
 Lolium perenDe 
 
 Lolium aunuum 
 
 Phleiim pvatense 
 
 Poa pratensis 
 
 Poa trivialls 
 
 80 20 
 80.35 
 12.65 
 60.40 
 62.13 
 70.00 
 52.57 
 69.18 
 69.70 
 75. HI 
 71.43 
 69.00 
 57.21 
 57.14 
 73.60 
 
 5@ 
 
 g«'3 
 
 2.44 
 2.05 
 3.54 
 2.96 
 4.13 
 4.06 
 10.93 
 3.70 
 3.49 
 2.45 
 3.37 
 2.96 
 4.86 
 3.41 
 2.58 
 
 fH 
 
 0.52 
 0.67 
 0.87 
 1.04 
 1.32 
 0.94 
 0.74 
 1.02 
 1.02 
 0.80 
 0.91 
 0.69 
 1.50 
 0.86 
 0.97 
 
 ^3 
 
 "•2§ 
 
 a --^ 
 
 8.64 
 11.21 
 18.66 
 19.64 
 13.30 
 12.61 
 12.46 
 11.92 
 14.11 
 12.08 
 12.89 
 22 85 
 14.15 
 10.54 
 
 ^ 
 
 6.70 
 7.15 
 9.37 
 14.22 
 9.80 
 10.11 
 20.54 
 11.83 
 11.94 
 4.82 
 10.08 
 12.47 
 11.32 
 J2.49 
 10.11 
 
 1.55 
 1.24 
 2.36 
 2.72 
 2.98 
 1.59 
 2.61 
 1.66 
 1.93 
 2.21 
 2.15 
 1.99 
 2.26 
 1.95 
 2.20 
 
 June 1 
 May 25 
 July 17 
 June 29 
 " 21 
 
 13 
 July 19 
 June 13 
 
 29 
 " 13 
 
 13 
 
 11 
 18 
 
 Analysis of Natural Grasses dried at 212° Fahrenheit. 
 
 S.S 
 
 
 f. 
 
 
 a 
 
 
 
 
 M 
 
 
 .H« 
 
 
 " 5 
 
 
 S 1 >^ 
 
 
 ga 
 
 .3o 
 0-S" 
 
 S 
 
 
 O 
 
 ^Ss 
 
 <1=! « 
 
 ^ 
 N 
 
 §•§§ 
 
 g 
 
 10.43 
 
 8.41 
 
 45.48 
 
 36.86 
 
 12.32 
 
 2.92 
 
 43.12 
 
 38.83 
 
 13.95 
 
 3.19 
 
 38.03 
 
 34.24 
 
 7.48 
 
 2.61 
 
 47.08 
 
 36.95 
 
 11.08 
 
 8.54 
 
 52.64 
 
 26.36 
 
 13.53 
 
 8.14 
 
 44.32 
 
 38.70 
 
 23.08 
 
 1.56 
 
 26.68 
 
 48.82 
 
 12.10 
 
 3.84 
 
 40.48 
 
 38.17 
 
 11.62 
 
 3.66 
 
 39.25 
 
 39.30 
 
 10.10 
 
 8.27 
 
 57.82 
 
 19.76 
 
 11.85 
 
 3.17 
 
 42.24 
 
 35.20 
 
 11.36 
 
 3.55 
 
 53.85 
 
 26.46 
 
 10.85 
 
 2.63 
 
 43.06 
 
 38.02 
 
 9.80 
 
 3.67 
 
 40.17 
 
 38.03 
 
 s 
 
 Anthoxantlium adoratum 
 
 AlopecuruB pratensis 
 
 Arrhenatherum avenaceum... 
 
 Avena flavescens 
 
 Cynosurus cristatus 
 
 Dactylis glomerata 
 
 Dactylis glomerata, seeds ripe 
 
 Festuca duriuscula 
 
 Holcns lanatus 
 
 Lolium Italicum 
 
 Lolium perenne 
 
 Phleum pratense 
 
 Poa pratensis 
 
 Poa trivialls 
 
 6.32 
 7.81 
 11.59 
 6.88 
 6.38 
 5.31 
 5.51 
 5.42 
 6.37 
 9.05 
 7.54 
 5.28 
 5.94 
 8.33 
 
 The composition of the hay or forage made of clover, lucerne, and 
 various other kinds of artificial grasses, is shown in the tables, based 
 on the results of "Way's analyses, given on page 65 and 66. 
 
 The cereal grains, botanically, are grasses, as wheat, rye, oats, 
 barley, rice, maize or Indian corn, millet, and the sorghums, etc. 
 
65 
 
 Composition of the Hay of Aetificial Grasses. 
 
 Red clover {Trifolium praUnse) . 
 Purple clover (T. pratense perenm) 
 
 Crimson clover (T. incarnaium) 
 
 Cow-grass (7. medium) 
 
 Cow-grass, second specimen 
 
 Hoj) trefoil {T. procumdens) 
 
 White trefoil ('7'. repens) 
 
 Common vetch (Vicia sativa) 
 
 Bush vetch ( F. sepvum) 
 
 Sainfoin ( Onobrychis sativa) 
 
 Lucerne {Mcdicago sativa) 
 
 Yellow clover (if. lupulina) 
 
 ^ih-^vasB {Plantago larweolata) . .. 
 
 Burnet {Potcrium sanquisorba) 
 
 Millef oil {Achillea mUlefolium) 
 
 Mean 
 
 a " 
 
 S a 
 
 O 33 
 
 18.79 
 15.98 
 13.83 
 20.27 
 16.64 
 17.07 
 15.63 
 19.68 
 19.23 
 15.38 
 10.63 
 20.50 
 11.91 
 13.96 
 8.62 
 
 15.81 
 
 3.06 
 3.41 
 3.11 
 2.97 
 3.98 
 3.89 
 3.65 
 2.55 
 2.40 
 2.51 
 2.30 
 3.38 
 3.06 
 8.34 
 2.09 
 
 3.18 
 
 OS 
 •I- 
 
 37.06 
 .35.35 
 31.25 
 30.30 
 41.38 
 .36.55 
 .33.37 
 32.87 
 27.62 
 38.30 
 33.47 
 27.76 
 33.58 
 39.50 
 37.88 
 
 34 42 
 
 ^ 
 
 16.46 
 21.63 
 26.99 
 23- 12 
 15.70 
 18.88 
 22.11 
 22.82 
 25.87 
 20.59 
 28.51 
 22.66 
 27.56 
 19.89 
 27.24 
 
 22.47 
 
 7.97 
 6.96 
 8.15 
 9.67 
 6.64 
 6.94 
 8.57 
 5.42 
 8.21 
 6.56 
 8.42 
 9.03 
 7.23 
 6.64 
 7.50 
 
 7.69 
 
 &: 
 
 16.6 
 16.6 
 16.6 
 16 6 
 16.6 
 16.6 
 16.6 
 15.6 
 16.6 
 16 6 
 16.6 
 16.6 
 16 6 
 IP .6 
 16.6 
 
 16.6 
 
 The fruit of the one-seeded grasses is known to botanists as caryo^psis, 
 as of wheat, barley, etc. The inner membrane of the seed-Yessel 
 adheres to the integuments of the seed ; the seed, exchisive of its 
 coats, consisting of farinaceous albumen on the outer side, and at the 
 base lies the embryo. In a nutritive point of view, the albumen is 
 the most important part of the seed. The cereal grains contain the 
 following proximate principles : 
 
 Starch. 
 
 Vegetable albumen, ] 
 
 Vegetable fibrine, (- Crude gluten. 
 
 Gluten caseine, J 
 
 Oily matter. 
 
 Sugar. 
 
 Gum. 
 
 Earthy phosphates. 
 
 Ligneous matter (bran, husk, etc). 
 
 Water. 
 A bitter principle, and resin, ha'^e been found in some kinds of 
 corn. The ultimate elements" of the following cereals are stated by 
 Boussingault as follows : 
 
 Eye. 
 
 OatB. 
 
 Carbon — 
 Hydrogen 
 Oxygen . . . 
 Nitrogen . 
 Ash 
 
 46.1 
 5.8 
 
 43.4 
 2.3 
 2.4 
 
 100.0 
 
 46.2 
 5.6 
 
 44.2 
 1.7 
 2.3 
 
 100.0 
 
 60.7 
 6.4 
 
 36.7 
 2.2 
 4.0 
 
 100. 
 
66 
 
 St-3>-rl-3>-3^haSH5l-»l-sV-3l-5l-5t-3l-5 
 
 >fa b g 
 Si-si-5->5i-=i^ 
 
 J. 
 
 as 
 
 .9 3 
 
 -iC4C*W>*(MT-i(T»i-iTOT-iT-i«O»0>»a 
 
 th « T-. (N i-t 
 
 1-1 t-mG>*c' 
 C- 1- d' ■^ M t- 
 
 
 MS 
 
 N a 
 
 SSa.. 
 
 feg 
 
 ■^Oli-'tDiXioai-^'^Or^CDWlOCOrHlOOJlO'^COt-© 
 jniO(N;OT-HDi-'Osoco«Crpo;oOi-iaot-T->ioosi-iQO 
 
 l-ll-iTHOTCO t-H-H 1-H-H-l ^ ,-1 ,-1 C* tH tH T-( Mr-l 
 
 
 a -3 
 
 
 (N<NMc^co<r*co..a<.^TjH0 50sOTfeo(r*(r*c4eoc*eo«<?* 
 
 
 
 " ccOTcDTf<iooo»n«Jt-oioect-coTr'«c*r->T-itoinir5c 
 
 OQiNOi-Hi-iOJtOCTOe^CsOlCO-i-ilOt-Olt-CCt-Tj'O 
 aOOOt-CCKOlOlOC-cOt-iOeDsDiOC-t-lOt-SOt-OOt-tO 
 
 ^t?»lls 
 
 M 
 
 ill 
 
 
 
 - S e «5 
 
 > ^ .^ CC DO 
 
 : S * a I . 
 
 1 oi o-jt; 
 
 iiigiiiigii|iii.iiiiris 
 
67 
 
 The nitrogenized constituents of the cereal grains — or, in the lan- 
 guage of Liebig, their plastic elements of nutrition — are, vegetable 
 albumen, glvitin-fibrin, gluten-casein e and gluten ; while their non- 
 nitrogenized constituents, or the elements of respiration, are starch, 
 sugar, gum, and oily matter. 
 
 Triticum vulgare. — Wheat with its different species and numerous 
 varieties cannot be dwelt upon here. It may be said, in passing, that 
 the proportion of bran to flour varies in different specimens, the bran 
 usually forming about fifteen per cent of the whole weight. 
 
 The following analysis of the bran of wheat is from Prof Johnston : 
 
 Water 13.1 
 
 Albumen 19.3 
 
 Oil 4.7 
 
 Husk (woody fibre and a little starch) 65.6 
 
 Salts 7.3 
 
 100.0 
 
 Sir Humphrey Davy remarked, that wheat of warm climates 
 abounds more in gluten (gluten-fibrine, gluten-caseiue and gluten) 
 and in insoluble parts than that of colder climates, and, therefore, 
 that it is of greater specific gravity, and harder to grind. The wheat 
 ot the south of Europe, in consequence of the larger proportion of 
 gluten which it contains, is peculiarly fitted for making m^ccaroni 
 and other preparations of flour in which a glutinous quality is con- 
 sidered an excellence. The hard or thin-skinned wheat is in much 
 higher estimation in the south of Europe than the soft or thick-skin- 
 ned wheat, owing to the greater abundance of nutritive matter 
 in the former. In connection with this difference it might be inte- 
 resting to refer to an elaborate analysis of growing wheat at different 
 stages by Prof. Anderson, of the Highland Agricultural Society, 
 which want of time forbids. 
 
 Though bread has long been called " the staff of life," it does not 
 appear alone capable of supporting human life for auj' considerable 
 time. How far the same observation applies to the animals of the 
 farm merits particular attention. It cannot be affirmed that the 
 whole wheat plant, including chaff', straw and leaves, has been proved 
 to be insufficient for the maintenance of a cow, sheep or horse. 
 Observation on so important a point should not longer be neglected. 
 
 Avena sativa, the common oat, as an article of nutrition, stands 
 above wheat in the economy of the farm. When the grains are 
 stripped of their integuments, they are called groats or grits, and 
 
68 
 
 these when crushed are called embden groats, and when ground into 
 flour their name is prepared groats. Oatmeal is made by grinding 
 the kiln-dried seeds, deprived of their husks and outer skin. The 
 oat is among the most valuable of grains. 
 
 Hordeum, distichum is the common long-headed barley, and consists 
 of numerous varieties, but is not much used for farm stock. Dreg, 
 the residue after distillation of spirit from the fermented liquor called 
 low wines, consists of a thin and a thick liquid. Five gallons of thin 
 and two gallons of thick dreg yield three pounds of dry food. One 
 gallon of thin dreg, on evaporation, leaves 4,235 grains of solid mat- 
 ter, while one gallon of thick dreg leaves 10,884 grains of solid 
 ma-tter. Of the 4,235 grains left in the first case, 3,871 are organic 
 matter and 364 inorganic matter. Of the 10,884 grains in the second 
 case, 10,290 are organic matter and 594 grains are inorganic matter. 
 Dreg is fed by dairymen, living near distilleries, in large quantities 
 to their cows in form of drink. 
 
 Secale cereale. — Common rye is little used for feeding farm stock. 
 Ergotised rye and grass seed, which are common in some seasons, 
 are said to produce abortion in cows, which may be true. 
 
 Oryza sativa is rice, common in the south of Europe and in the 
 Carolinas, and is less nutritious than wheat, and less laxative than 
 the other cereal grains, but is not used for cattle feed. 
 
 Zea Thays, or Indian corn, is the name given by botanists to the 
 monoBcious grass, yielding Indian corn. It is used largely for feeding 
 farm stock, especially milch cows ; both the plant and the grain. 
 
 Panicum miliaoeum, millet, has been referred to as a forage-grass. 
 Milium effusum is different from the cereals which pass under the 
 name of millet ; for example, Panicum miliaoeum, Sorghum vulga/re 
 {Holous sorghum), the Sorghum, saocharatum, S. spicdtum, the S. 
 halepense, usually more or less confounded ; of the Panicum milia- 
 ceum, are the brown and the yellow, cultivated for feeding poultry. 
 S. vulgare (formerly IIolcus sorghum) is much grown in Arabia and 
 Asia Minor. In the West Indies it is called negro guinea-corn, grow- 
 ing to the height of five or six feet, and being good food for laborers. 
 In Arabia it is called dora, or durra. The flour is very white, and it 
 makes good bread. 8. saocharatum abounds in sugar, and is called 
 millet of Caffraria, and is known in America as couscou. 
 
 Of the acotyledonous plants of the fern order, the only one that 
 needs be named in this connection is Equisetum fluviatile ; eaten by 
 the reindeer, says Linnaeus, but is not acceptable to horses. The E. 
 fiwviatile, great water horse-tail, with several other species, is said to 
 
69 
 
 kill horses that eat it, the only reason for referring to it at all in con- 
 nection with the forage-grasses and plants. 
 
 Such is a brief account of the forage-plants and grasses cultivated 
 and used green or cured as hay, for feeding cows and other farm 
 stock, with the cereals used also for this purpose, with bulbs, roots, 
 etc. Much more might be said on this part of my subject, but the 
 want of time forbids, and this must suffice for the present. 
 
 In conclusion, after having occupied so much of your time, allow 
 me to say that I have sought to present such suggestions to the New- 
 York State Dairymen's Association as are deemed fundamental to 
 these special departments of dairy husbandry, to wit, cows and forage. 
 In respect to cows and the breed or breeds thereof, I have not ven- 
 tured to dictate what it or they shall be ; but having decided this 
 point for yourselves, then rest satisfied with nothing short of the best 
 that can be had of its kind or their kind. The average of dairies, per 
 cow, as tliey are usually kept, says the Hon. Lewis F. Allen, is not 
 over 500 gallons a year ; of the butter dairies, 150 pounds per cow ; 
 of cheese dairies, 350 pounds per cow ; averages that can be increased 
 fully one-half in the selection of cows, with increased and suitable 
 feed, with due care in keeping, milking, etc. It is stated that in 
 England the annual profit of cows varies from £6 sterling ($30 in gold) 
 to £20 sterling ($100) per head, averaging, as it strikes me, much 
 above the annual production of cows in the dairy sections of the 
 United States. The best cow, no matter what the breed may chance 
 to be, is the one that, from a given amount of forage, produces the 
 most milk suitable to make good butter or fine cheese. The cow that 
 is superior for the butter dairy may prove inferior for the cheees 
 dairy, and vice versa. Cows must be chosen, therefore, with special 
 reference to the end in view, whether it be butter, cheese, or selling 
 milk by the can. Having selected the kind of cows to be used for 
 converting forage into milk, then comes up the subject as to what is 
 the best feed for making milk for the purposes wanted. I have pre- 
 sented a list of plants, including roots, tubers, grasses, grains, etc. In 
 doing this, as in what is said of cows and their breeds, I have made 
 use of the best authors within my reach, combined with both obser- 
 vation and experience. I make no claim, therefore, of originality 
 beyond the method of presenting my views of the subjects discussed, 
 the only originality, says the Rev. Dr. Dewey, that any man can 
 justly have much claim to. Tables of the analyses of both green and 
 dried grasses, most used in cattle feed, have been presented with those 
 of the artificial grasses, and some of the leading artificial feeds, such 
 
70 
 
 as linseed and cotton-seed meal, etc., etc. I have purposely omitted 
 saying anything of steaming or cooking feed for milch cows, because 
 of the diversity of views on the subject, and the seeming c'onflict of 
 statements, both sides claiming experience as the basis of contra- 
 dictory results. Grood, natural blue-grass pasture, with good English 
 ha}^, properly cured and stored, with roots, potatoes and grains, are 
 the common forage for dairy stock, and if well grown, properly cured 
 and stored, and skilfully fed in due proportion to well-selected cows, 
 will make dairy husbandry one of the most profitable, as it is now 
 one of the pleasantest departments of farm industry. 
 
 Addeess of J. W. Ckonkhite, Esq., on the Commercial Aspects 
 
 OF THE Daiet. 
 
 Mr. President^ Ladies and Gentlemen : In laying before you a 
 few thoughts on " The Commercial Aspects of the Dairy," it will be 
 necessary to go back in imagination perhaps half a century, to the 
 origin of this valuable production as a specialty by our farmers. 
 
 It is said that cheese were produced in this country as a partial 
 product of the farm as early as 1810, and that since 1825 its produc- 
 tion has been quite general. 
 
 Mr. Ferris, Mr. Thayer, Mr. Salisbury, of Norway, and Mr. Nathan 
 Ai'uold, of Fairfield, were the first, or among the first, to embark in 
 this business. From these it has extended from neighbor to neighbor, 
 and from farm to farm, until it may be considered to-day the staple 
 product of Herkimer county and of a large portion of this and a few 
 other States. 
 
 It was not dreamed of by these early producers of cheese that it 
 was destined by the laws of commerce to become an article of expor- 
 tation. 
 
 The increased production from year to . year tended to make mar- 
 keting more difficult, and I very well remember, thirty-five years ago, 
 when my father came home one evening, after a hard day of effort to 
 sell his cheese, and told us he had contracted to supply a canal grocer 
 for the season with cheese at five and a half cents per pound cash. 
 Elated with the bargain himself, it was the occasion of general rejoic- 
 ing by the family. 
 
 "We must remember that the great communication of travel to the 
 West through this valley, at that time, was by " Line and Packet 
 Boats," and that a canal grocery was quite a commercial institution. 
 
 The lands of Herkimer county, especially Fairfield, Salisbury, 
 Russia and Manheim, were found well adapted to grazing, and the 
 
71 
 
 manufacture of cheese was experimented in by these towns among 
 the first in the State, and proved successful. But the great difficulty 
 that presented itself was a cash and paying market. 
 
 For years the peddling system continued, and canal and village 
 grocers were importuned to buy a single cheese for cash, and many 
 dairymen on a small scale thought it a favor to exchange cheese at a 
 nominal price for goods at an exorbitant price with the village mer- 
 chant. 
 
 At length the products of the dairy sought a more extended com- 
 merce, and a sort of commission agency was established by a leading 
 merchant in this village, who volunteered to accommodate the dairy- 
 men by sending their cheese to Albany and New York during the 
 season, and rendering account sales on the 1st of January (and too 
 often January became May before returns were realized). 
 
 But they were allowed to trade in running account on their cheese 
 during the season, and occasionally a few dollars were advanced as a 
 partiGular accommodation^ and interest charged until the tardy 
 returns arrived. 
 
 In this beggarly manner this business seemed obliged to be done, 
 and the weary dairymen plodded on until a wider field of commerce 
 opened before them, and buyers sought their cheese on the shelves, 
 and negotiations were entered into in the cheese-house, and it became 
 a merchantable product with a cash valne. 
 
 The dairymen of those times little dreamed that their cheese would 
 even enter the gateways of commerce, and sail out from our seaports, 
 an article of national exchange, to be cut and discussed at the tables 
 of European cities and meet a ready market there. 
 
 In 1847, while temporarily residing in Cincinnati, Ohio, I noticed 
 an advertisement by a citv provision dealer, HerMnie?' Gotinty Cheese 
 for sale. Feeling somewhat homesick myself and among strangers, 
 I really felt a desire to scrape acquaintance with even a Herkimer 
 county cheese, and always felt a peculiar respect for that paper and 
 that huckster. 
 
 Now, gentlemen, Cincinnati and all the other populous cities of the 
 west and south-west are supplied with home-made cheese, and Ohio 
 meets you as a formidable competitor in the markets of our commer- 
 cial seaports, and can produce cheese, if not of as good quality, at less 
 cost than yours. 
 
 In the steady increase of this product new demands have been 
 made upon it, and new avenues of commerce have opened to its grow- 
 
72 
 
 ing interest, and yet the supply has not exceeded the demand, but a 
 ready market at remunerative prices is ever within your reach. 
 
 The magnitude of the dairy product of this country has called out 
 more extensive arrangements for the transaction of this important 
 ' business. So that, from the commerce of a canal grocery and a vil- 
 lage provision dealer (a pitiable commerce, indeed, in those dark days 
 of the dairymen) it has made its way, as a staple commodity, in all 
 the large cities of this country, and is beckoned beyond the sea as a 
 sweet morsel to European cities. 
 
 The growth of ideas on a more magnificent scale has kept pace 
 with the increasing importance of this dairy product, until extensive 
 houses are established in our shipping cities, employing millions of 
 capital and conducted on the most elevated principles of commercial 
 interchange, where shippers wait from week to week the arrival of 
 your cheese. Boards of trade and dairymen's associations are being 
 established in cities and villages all over the country for the purpose 
 of concentrating and facilitating business. Telegraphic wires, as well 
 as ocean cables, are at your service, and are made available in the 
 interest of this important business. 
 
 The growing importance of the dairy and its products has enlisted 
 some of the most able scientific ability of this country in its interest, 
 until cheese once set in a wash-tub and made in a sort of guesswork 
 way, is now manufactured in every department on scientific principles. 
 
 The management of cows, flow of milk, grasses, how to improve 
 them, salting, when and how to cut and cure hay, winter care of 
 stock, cooking and steaming of food, best breeds for the dairy, etc., 
 are some of the pertinent themes that are now treated from experi- 
 ence, and with judgment and ability. 
 
 The dairymen of to-day are in possession of every advantage in 
 carrying on their business over those who, long ago, engaged in this 
 business as an experiment. The important achievements of the 
 inventor have given you machinery in all your departments of hus- 
 bandry and the dairy. The low prices of cheese during the past 
 season may have been somewhat discouraging to dairymen, but we 
 must remember that the price has averaged more than double that of 
 thirty years ago. 
 
 The high price of cheese during the war for the Union, though in 
 a depreciated currency, gave dairymen the means of freeing them- 
 selves from debt, notwithstanding the dollar in greenbacks was 
 reduced to less than forty cents in gold. Congress gave it a par value 
 in the payment of debts, and the twenty to sixty cents per pound you 
 
73 
 
 received for your cheese was mainly caused by the high premium on 
 gold and corresponding depreciation of the greenback, thus enriching 
 the north, which mainly stood by the government, and impoverishing 
 the south, which sought to overthrow and destroy it. 
 
 New York, the great commercial emporium of this country, has 
 suffered from wicked and corrupt government to an extent that is 
 alarming the world. The developments from day to day are astound- 
 ing. Ketributive justice seems at length awakened. Her ports and 
 her laws are being investigated ; her commerce driven away, except 
 when it would contribute to the personal aggrandisement of a thieving 
 ring. It is said that they successfully opposed every improvement 
 of the commercial facilities of the city by private enterprise, and 
 made the urgent demand for such improvements the means of plun- 
 der and robbery. 
 
 The wharves of the city and the gateways of its commerce were made 
 the means to rob and plunder her trade, while they were so neglected 
 that a committee of the legislature, in 1867, stated "that the condi- 
 tion of the piers, wharves, bulk-heads and slips of the harbor of New 
 Yoi-k were most deplorable, and a disgrace to such a commercial 
 emporium as the city of New York." Gov. Hoffman, then mayor, 
 stated to the same committee " that the wharves were in a disgrace- 
 ful and dilapidated condition ; that commerce was seeking other ports 
 of entry, and ships were compelled to go to other and neighboring 
 cities to find proper facilities and dock room." This condition of the 
 wharves, by reason of exposure of goods to the weather and thieves, 
 and the unnecessary cost of carting, imposed a burden of more than 
 five dollars per ton upon all the goods shipped over them, creating a 
 loss in the aggregate of more than $50,000,000 annually. 
 
 And it is not unreasonable to suppose that the dairy interest, 
 exporting a large amount of its products, has contributed its propor- 
 tion to this loss. Five dollars per ton is an important item. Let us 
 be thankful that persistent vigilance in exposing these frauds has led 
 the people, in love of justice and self-protection, to unite in breaking 
 this thieving ring. 
 
 The exportation of cheese from this country, mainly to Liverpool, 
 during 1869 was 926,411 boxes; in 1870, 1,184,687 boxes; in 1871, 
 1,317,690. The excess of receipts over exports in 1870 was 10,556 
 boxes; in 1871, 254,726; showing a greater production during the 
 past year by 240,000 boxes ; and still it is reported that the country 
 is clear of cheese, and that all or nearly all has gone forward. These 
 statistics show a greater consumption of cheese in this country. 
 
74 
 
 Estimating the cheese exported during the past year at sixty pounds 
 average weight, and we have 79,061,400 lbs. A loss on this amount of 
 five dollars per ton is $19,765,475. Then so much of the $50,000,000 
 loss by New York robbery and corruption is suffered by dairymen, 
 for all these losses and charges must come directly from the producer, 
 as the middlemen cannot stand them, and will take them into account 
 when they fix the price they offer you. 
 
 When we examine the records kept in our warehouse at this depot, 
 we see that on July 12 and 13, 1869, the shipment was 6,755 boxes? 
 or 418,492 pounds. On the correspondings days of 1871 they were 
 7,640 boxes, or 473,365 pounds, showing an increase of 53,873 pounds. 
 
 We find that as a shipping point Little Falls may safely challenge 
 any other point in this country. The large increase of the shipments of 
 these two corresponding days may be considered as an index to all 
 other market days of the season. 
 
 The product of the daity, as an article of commerce, we see is 
 growing into increased importance, and is not likely to become less. 
 The consumption of American cheese is becoming more general 
 abroad, and new markets are opening to it from year to year. It is 
 becoming more and more an article of home provision, and it is 
 extending its market from city to city and village to village all through 
 this country. 
 
 Let dairymen avail themselves of every new discovery in science 
 and act for the increase of the products of your dairies, and for the 
 improvement of its quality ; strive to produce the finest qualities that 
 the market demands, have confidence in your calling, post yourselves 
 thoroughly in every minutia that pertains to it. Let your emulation 
 be to excel, and, having produced a superior article, go boldly and in 
 confidence to the market place, and exhibit it, in full assurance that 
 your efforts are appreciated, and feeling, too, that you are under no 
 greater obligation to the buyer than he is to yon. He is the solicit- 
 ing party and needs your products as much as you need his money, 
 and the obligations are mutual, and yet a pleasant interchange between 
 buyer and seller is desirable and should be cultivated. 
 
 You have consolidated the milk of your herds and established fac- 
 tories all over the country, so that the poorer dairyman with his half- 
 dozen cows is placed on a pro rata basis with the wealthy landholder. 
 
 So, too, it is within your means to again consolidate for the market- 
 ing of your products, by establishing your own house in New York 
 and Liverpool, and take commerce in your own hands, and thus save 
 the profits of the " middlemen " as well as a host of shorts and leak- 
 
75 
 
 ages that are " charged back " to you all the way from here to the 
 other side of the Atlantic. 
 
 This mattei' has had some consideration from dairymen, and, per- 
 haps, might be further considered with interest and profit. 
 
 In the sale of dairy products as well as all other commodities of 
 the farm, the cash-on-delivery system should be strictly adliered to. 
 Sell no man your hard earned products on credit. Do not be induced 
 by a one-fourth, one-third, or even a one-half cent per pound to assume 
 the risk. The experience of the past season has taught some of our 
 dairymen too dearly that these were but alluring baits, for the pur- 
 pose of confiscating your property. 
 
 It would have been well if the prophetic counsel on this subject 
 given by Mr. Folsom, in his address at the opening of this room in 
 July last, had been heeded by dairymen. If so, the tenant dairyman 
 would have had his cash with which to pay his taxes, and treat his 
 family to comforts and luxuries for the holidays, instead of meeting 
 here from week to week to hear the sickening propositions of a cor- 
 rupt " Tammany ring," with tremendous liabilities and small assets. 
 
 How often in life, when caught in these snares, do we resolve that 
 this shall be the last, and yet again and again does the i or J allure 
 us from our resolves, and again we take the risk. Nothing but an 
 established principle or business will save us, and let that be fixed 
 and inviolable. 
 
 It is a source of gratification and pride on the part of Ameincan 
 dairymen that they have brought the manufacture of cheese to a pei'- 
 fection that excels the famous old English cheese, and that they have 
 established a reputation and a market for it as first in point of excel- 
 lence all over the world, placing it upon a firm basis of national 
 exchange. 
 
 You are stimulated by the high and honorable position already 
 attained to greater effort in the production of an article that shall 
 stand second to none in the commercial marts of this country as well 
 as in European cities. 
 
 The Futdee op Daiey Husbandet. 
 By L. B. Arnold, of Tompkins County. 
 We judge of the future by the past. We look back into the past, 
 observe what has been the course of events, and judge, hence, what 
 direction they will take in the future. If in this way we make an 
 inference in regard to the future of dairy husbandry in the United 
 States, we shall see large and permanent results and a more hopeful 
 prosperity lying before us. 
 
76 
 
 The history of dairy husbandry reaches far away into the dim light 
 *5f by-gone ages. Starting at an obscure and distant period, its pro- • 
 gress may be supposed to be measured by lines, which, like those of 
 an acute angle, stretch away to some far-off" centre, and open gradually 
 as they advance, till, at length, they enclose a space of no mean 
 magnitude. 
 
 In the United States, the growth of dairy husbandry was slow and 
 remarkably steady, until about the year 1860, when the lines that 
 seemed to measure its progression spread suddenly apart and took in 
 a much wider angle than before. Up to that period, the number of 
 cows in the United States, the measure of its capacity, increased very 
 evenly with the increase of population.' This was not strictly true 
 of particular localities, but in the country, as a whole, the relation 
 between the number of cows and inhabitants has been very nearly 
 uniform, being one cow to about three and a-half persons. Since that 
 time, the number of cows has relatively increased, especially in the 
 northern half of the Republic. There is now, evidently, a better use 
 made of milk than formerly, and it has gone more largely into con- 
 sumption, as well as to sustain a larger export trade. 
 
 At the constant rate of increase of population in the United States, 
 the year 1900 will find us with 100,000,000 of inhabitants. If we 
 continue to consume cheese at no greater rate than at present, it will 
 require two and a half times the quantity we now consume, or 
 450,000,000 pounds of cheese, to supply the annual home consumption 
 of that day. The shipping demand must also increase. Nothing but 
 a war with England can prevent it. The English are a cheese-eating 
 people. They are now using ten pounds per head per annum, or 
 more than twice as much as we do. Nor is that rate of consumption 
 likely to be abated. The strong necessity felt by the labouring 
 classes, and especially by the English people, for animal food, must 
 be supplied in some way ; and it can be done in no way so well or 
 so cheaply as by the use of cheese. As I showed upon a former occa- 
 sion, cheese contains more than twice as much nutrition, pound for 
 pound, as meat ; while more pounds of cheese than meat can be pro- 
 duced from a given quantity of food. Cheese, therefore, will very 
 naturally grow in favour with the masses, as being by far the 
 cheapest and best animal food for labouring people. Besides this, 
 the habits of the English nation are very stable, and are not likely to 
 be very easily changed. We may safely assume, then, that they will 
 continue to use cheese no less freely than at present. But the popula- 
 tion of England is increasing, while her capacity for cheese producing 
 
is not. Her territory is limited and stocked with cheap labour. Her 
 high priced land can be better occupied than with dairying, and she 
 has not, as we, cheap lands to fall back on. Her dairy products are 
 a fixed quantity, and will be no greater years hence than to-day. 
 And so, too, with Germany, which now supplies England with the 
 great bulk that England fails to supply for herself. There is no other 
 country in Europe making cheese to export in any considerable 
 quantity, and hence we may fairly anticipate that the increasing 
 wants of England will be drawn from the United States. Sweden, 
 Norway, and Russia have the means of producing an immense 
 quantity of dairy products, and, if they should adopt the factory 
 system, they might compefe with us for the English market. But 
 they would be behind us in skill to start with, and by the time 
 they could ' attain to our present excellence, we, unless the genius 
 of the Yankee nation shall fade away, shall have passed on to a 
 higher standard ; for nations, like men, who have the capacity of 
 originating improvements, have within themselves the elements of 
 progress and will keep moving on and keep in advance of those 
 who must learn of them. The million a year added to the Eng- 
 lish population, will be very likely to call for ten million pounds 
 more of cheese from us, so long as we can supply them with a 
 more desirable article than they can obtain elsewhere, for the same 
 money. If we continue to consume cheese at the same rate we 
 do at present (4rJ pounds per head per annum), the annual increase 
 in the United States will call for an increase of six million pounds 
 a year, to supply the increasing home consumption. By and by 
 that increase will be very much greater than at present, and the 
 annual demand for home consumption will be relatively larger. 
 With a steady improvement in the average quality of cheese, the 
 rate of consumption will, doubtless, also improve ; so that, with the 
 increased export demand, the year 1900 will call upon us for an 
 amount of cheese not much less than a billion of pounds. It must 
 at any rate require a larger expansion of the cheese dairying 
 interests of the coimtry, to meet the wants of that year. Then 
 there is our butter interest, larger still. We export but little butter, 
 but we consume about three and a half times as much as we do 
 of cheese. Our consumption varies from 13 to 17 pounds per head 
 per annum. We are now using sixteen pounds a head. With an 
 average of 15 pounds to the inhabitant, the hundred millions who 
 are to occupy our places in 1900 will require a billion and a half 
 pounds for their yearly use. Where are all these dairy products 
 
78 
 
 coming from ? Will the United States be equal to such a demand ? 
 It is notorious that dairying is not equally profitable in all parts of 
 the country. It must, for a long time at least, be confined to the 
 northern half of the republic, where the climate is cool. Under our 
 present system of managing milk, dairying can never crowd into 
 warm climates profitably. Except upon elevated or mountainous 
 tracts, it must, for the most part, be excluded from the South ; nor is 
 all the northern half equally adapted to the use of the dairyman. But 
 there are diflferent opinions in regard to ihe capacity of the country 
 for dairy purposes. I have often heard dairymen predict a high 
 reward for dairy products in the future, especially for cheese, because 
 the demand was outrunning the limited capacity of the dairy districts 
 of the country ; while others believe its capacity large enough for any 
 productive demand. The State of ISTew York is probably more 
 exclusively devoted to dairying than any 'other State in the Union, 
 and yet by many of her own citizens a small share of the State only is 
 accredited as good dairy land. 
 
 If we were to ask our friends in Herkimer county, who contributed 
 so largely to fill this hall to-day, where are the bounds of the good 
 cheese-producing lands of the State, would they place them outside 
 the bounds of their own county ? If we were to put the same ques- 
 tion to Orange county, in reference to butter, who could not anticipate 
 the reply ? Attachment to place, love of home, a better acquaintance 
 with things immediately about us than with those at a distance, are 
 very apt to combine in impressing us with the importance of our 
 own particular localities. If any particular region succeeds in making 
 good butter or cheese, the success is apt to be ascribed to the locality. 
 But let no one be deceived with such limited ideas. The ability of 
 the country is equal to its wants. The demands of the year 1900 will 
 be easily met by the people of that day, and with dairy lands 
 to spare after that. The truth is, fine butter and cheese can 
 be made from any soil or any climate where cows can be fed 
 with grass, or other green food, and be kept comfortable and 
 healthy. It is only necessary to lengthen out the soiling system, now 
 so successfully adopted by dairymen in this vicinity, for a short time 
 in the middle of the season, to convert all the grain lands in the 
 State not only, but in all the northern part of the United States, 
 into good dairy lands. High prices for dairy products cannot safely be 
 based on any exclusiveness in dairying lands. Butter and cheese must 
 stand on an equality with other farm products, keeping relatively 
 neither higher or lower ; the price must be regulated by the supply 
 
79 
 
 and demand. If dairymen would aspire to any advantage in their 
 calling, it must be reached through the superior merit of their goods. 
 This is true with respect to both our home and foreign trade. In no 
 other way can we maintain our hold on the Britisli markets. There 
 is plenty of good dairy land in the northern part of Europe at low 
 prices. Russia alone has land enough as cheap as ours, and for anght 
 I know as good as ours, to supply herself and England as easily as we 
 can, if she had the skill to do it. And Canada, as it is well known, 
 is running largely and successfally into dairy husbandry ; and will, at 
 no distant day, be able to carry on a large export trade in that line. 
 No, we must not lie down supinely and rest on any exclusiveness in 
 soil. The future of dairy husbandry in the United States hangs on 
 nothing so dependently as upon the quality of the goods to be thrown 
 into the markets we would hold. Efforts at improvements must be 
 constant and unremitting from year to year. I often hear dairymen 
 and dairy women representing that they are making as perfect goods 
 as could be made from milk. It is a misfortune to be so conceited. 
 The advancement yet made is so little, and perfection is so far off in 
 the distance, that it is not yet even in sight. The properties of milk 
 are not yet half understood ; skill in handling and care in producing 
 it are just beginning to receive attention. If we would rise higher, 
 we must strive harder to improve our art. Science must be called to 
 our aid, a constant watchfulness in observing results, communication 
 between dairymen should be more frequent and full. Organizations like 
 the one here inaugurated are among the most efficient means of advance- 
 ment. We need not only a national association, but one in every 
 State, county and town, that does anything at dairying, to discuss 
 questions, offer suggestions, detail experience and compare results. 
 Yery little progress is made by single-handed labour. The old system 
 of private dairying demonsti-ated this. It is associated effort that 
 moves the cause along, and the more we have of it the better. 
 The future of the dairy interest is intimately connected with its 
 results. It brings out improvements in manufacture, and improved 
 goods bring high prices and prosperity. Choice butter and cheese 
 have never failed to sell well and bring good returns. It is the 
 faulty goods that drug and spoil the market and make the whole 
 cause suffer on their account. This has been well exemplified in the 
 transactions of the cheese trade the past season. The turn taken by 
 the trade in cheese last summer has seemed very strange to many. 
 Less cheese has been consumed in the country the current season 
 than in the previous one, although the cheese has evidently been 
 
80 
 
 better and prices lower. The average product per cow has generally 
 been less than in the season before ; a great many who formerly 
 made butter, and who have for a few years past been patronizing the 
 cheese factories, have withdrawn their milk and have been making 
 butter again the past season ; the receipts at the seaboard have been 
 less this year than last, and the exports greatel-. All the indications 
 point to a diminished consumption the current year. Why has this 
 been so, when the quality is better and the price less than the year 
 before, with nearly a million and a half added to our population to 
 help consume ? 
 
 In 1870, there was made an enormous amount of bad cheese. The 
 exports, as usual, were mostly made from the best goods, for the poor 
 cheese was, much of it, too faulty to bear transportation. The great 
 bulk of the bad cheese was disposed of at home. It wa^ scattered 
 everywhere and lodged on the shelves of the retail grocers. The 
 patrons, after partaking of it a few times, grew cautious and pur- 
 chased sparingly, if at all, for people will not eat poor cheese freely. 
 If they could get no other, they, after a while, became disgusted, 
 ceased to buy and got out of the habit of using cheese. In this 
 way the poor stuif dragged along through the fall and winter, and 
 late in the spring. At length new cheese took its place. A steady 
 offering of better goods, after a time, began to restore confidence and 
 increase sales. The markets began to clear away and prices revived. 
 This is the legitimate result of a heavy stock of bad cheese. It clogs 
 the market, brings prices down, and diminishes consumption. To 
 say nothing of the loss on cheese itself, the faulty make of 1870 has 
 cost the American dairymen hundreds of thousands of dollars in dull 
 sales and low prices this year. 
 
 How long shall these losses be repeated ? Must they always be 
 endured ? I think not. With sufficient pains and attention on the part 
 of farmers, the causes that produced the bad milk of 1870 can be nearly, 
 if not quite, obviated. And when farmers can be made to understand 
 and appreciate them, they will be removed. The milk itself can be more 
 skilfully handled. It certainly can never be handled worse. If it 
 is faulty when it come from the cow, it is made ten times worse by 
 carrying tightly closed and warm to the factory. 
 
 The manufacturing may be better adapted to the condition of the 
 milk, for some parties now succeed in turning it into fair cheese. 
 Others can learn. The so-caUed tainted milk, such as produced the 
 unsound cheese of 1870, is not always so vitiated as might be sup- 
 posed from the cheese made from it. Some of it is doubtless faulty 
 
81 
 
 beyond redemption ; but most of it may be converted into fair cheese. 
 The success which certain parties have met with proves this. More 
 watchfulness on the part of milk producers must be observed to 
 avoid a bad production ; more skill on the part of manufacturers in 
 manipulating it, and a better ability on the part of all concerned to 
 distinguish between the sound and the unsound, to the end that the 
 latter may be put to some other use than cheese-making. We need 
 more investigation to keep the wheels of progress rolling. We would 
 be glad to see them move faster, but it is not to be expected that 
 everything will be learned in a day or in a year. We should be 
 thankful and satisfied as long as we can see the cause advancing. It 
 is moving on as rapidly, perhaps, as could be expected for one of so 
 much magnitixde. Notwithstanding the discouragements of the 
 season just past, I think we have great cause to be encouraged. I 
 look forward with bright hopes for the future of dairy husbandry in 
 the United States. I base these hopes, not on any limitation of but- 
 ter and cheese producing territory, nor on any demand that can not 
 be easily supplied ; but on the steady expansion required to meet the 
 constant increase of our population, and on the evident indications 
 of a steady improvement from organized efforts, that will bring out 
 a more desirable and uniform quality, and which, in turn, will lead 
 to a more liberal and regular use by the consumers of our goods both 
 at home and abroad, as well as to maintain a preference in the market. 
 I am not anticipating that the business of dairying will be so luci'a- 
 tive and easy that it will carry all its votaries to competence, wealth 
 or pleasure, witliout seeming industry or exertion ; but I do expect 
 that year by year the obstacles to improvement will wear away, till 
 high and even qualities become fixed and reliable, and bring not a 
 marvellously high, but a sure and satisfactory reward ; and that the 
 vocation of our choice will assume a magnitude and a permanency 
 that will pertain to no other branch of rural industry. 
 
 " How SHALL WE Impeove oue Daiey Stock ? " 
 By Harris Lewis, Frankfort, N. Y. 
 
 Before entering upon the discussion of this question, other ques- 
 tions arise. First, is our present dairy stock in this State, as good 
 as we desire ? Second, if not, can it be so improved that it will be 
 more profitable without extra care and food ? Third, the universal 
 Yankee question comes in, will it pay ? 
 
 It is my honest opinion, that the dairy cows in this State, taken as 
 a whole, are not as good milkers as we desire, and that they may be 
 improved. 
 
82 
 
 There are many dairies in this county, and in otlier parts of the 
 State, which have been so far improved as to be satisfactory to the 
 owners, and, perhaps, yielding all the milk, and producing all the 
 butter and cheese for the food consumed, that could reasonably be 
 expected or required. "We also find in almost every dairy some 
 choice cow or cows which produce a large quantity of milk, far beyond 
 the average of the dairy, although they receive the same care, and 
 same kind of food, with the other cows in the same herd. But we 
 also find in the same herds some good-for-nothing, goaty cows, which 
 do not half pay their keeping at present prices. In order to illustrate 
 the difference between a good cow and a poor one, allow me to quote 
 from a very able address, delivered by Mr. S. S. Whitman, of this 
 place, before the American Dairymen's Association, at Utica, at the 
 session of 1866. On page 77 of the report, Mr. Whitman says : 
 
 All dairymen know that a good cow is much better than a poor 
 one, but all do not appreciate the difference. To illustrate this differ- 
 ence, I cannot do better than to give an extract from an essay by Mr. 
 A. Keed, in March, 1859, before the Farmers' Club of Little Falls. 
 The whole of it is valuable, as all his essays were. Mr. Eeed gives 
 the statistics of the yield and profit of five of the best cows in his 
 dairy, and also of the five poorest, in the year 1857. 
 
 These were obtained by measuring and recording the amount of 
 each cow's milk on the first day of each month, and are appi-oxi- 
 mately correct. 
 
 Best Five Cows. 
 
 By 554 gallons milk each, at ll-Jc. per gallon $6S 75 
 
 To 2i tons hay, at $8 per ton $20 00 
 
 Thirty weeks in pasture, at 2s. per week 7 50 
 
 To 200 lbs. ground feed, at $1.50 per 100 3 00 
 
 Ten per cent on cost of cow, at $45 4 50 
 
 35 00 
 
 By balance in favor of each cow 28 75 
 
 Poorest Five Cows. 
 
 To keeping, &c 35 00 
 
 By 243 gallons milk each, at ll^c. per gallon 27 95 
 
 Balance against each cow $7 05 
 
 From this showing, Mr. Eeed lost, by keeping one lot, $35.25, 
 while he gained a profit from the other lot of $143.75, making a dif- 
 
83 
 
 ference of $1Y9 between the two lots of five cows each. At present 
 prices, the difference would be much greater. We are all repeating 
 this experiment year by year, but are not as careful as Mr. Reed in 
 searching out the truth, nor as frank to confess it. But if there is a 
 dairyman present who does not keep cows which fail to pay their 
 keeping, I would be delighted to see him rise up, that we may all 
 take courage and go on our way rejoicing. But if all our dairymen 
 are keeping cows which do not pay their keeping, it is but reasonable 
 to conclude that our dairy stock is not as good as we desire. 
 
 Can our dairy stock be so improved that it will be more profitable 
 without extra care and food ? 
 
 At a very early day the Dutch, or Hollanders, adopted a system 
 of improvement for their dairy stock, by careful breeding from their 
 best milking families ; and the justly celebrated Dutch, or Holstein 
 cattle, resulted from their well directed efforts. 
 
 The Jerseys and Ayrshires are also the result of long continued 
 and careful breeding for certain specific objects. 
 
 In the one, richness of milk, and in the other a large yield of milk 
 was secured, to an almost absolute certainty. 
 
 The wonderful success attained in breeding short-horns for beef, 
 shows us what may be accomplished in breeding with equal care for 
 milk. The reward of careful breeding is not confined to neat stock 
 alone, as our poultry, swine and sheep, bred either for wool or mut- 
 ton, attest. 
 
 So, also, our horses, and in fact all farm stock, even to the honey 
 bees, show the perfection to which all our animals, and even insects, 
 may be brought by careful and judicious breeding. 
 
 I have often alluded to the successful efforts of A. L. Fish, of Litch- 
 field, and R. D. Brown, of Fairfield, to improve their dairy stock by 
 judicious breeding. Mr. R. D. Brown presented this subject to the 
 Farmers' Club, of Little Falls, in a very able and valuable essay, at 
 one of the February meetings of the club, in the year 1859 ; and I 
 can, with pride, commend this essay to the careful study of every 
 dairyman present. Many other dairymen in this county have attained 
 like success, and left good examples for us to follow. And in answer- 
 ing this question with the light we have, we must answer in the 
 affirmative. 
 
 There are four methods at present employed for the improvement 
 of our dairy stock, or, rather, to increase the quantity of milk pro- 
 duced : First, by purchase ; second, by high feeding ; third, by 
 adding water ; and, fourth, by breeding. 
 
84 
 
 The dairymen of central New York have, for many years, obtained 
 most of their cows from the western part of the State, from the States 
 west of this, and from Canada. 
 
 These cows have generally been purchased by men engaged in the 
 trade, brought in here, and sold to dairymen. 
 
 Most of these cow merchants have an established reputation for 
 honesty and fair dealing, and claim the ability to tell a good cow 
 from a poor one at first sight, sure pop, and no mistake ; never deal 
 in any but choice cows. But these men purchase those cows, and 
 those only which are for sale. A cow may look well, and even be a 
 good milker, yet be breachy, and have a confirmed habit of swinging 
 her right hind foot in an uncomfortable, awkward manner aroiind at 
 the milker and the milk-pail. 
 
 Again, cows are sometimes sold to these merchants by dairymen 
 here, for some good reason well known to themselves, and these sold 
 to other dairymen even in the same town. But we dairymen can 
 tell a good cow from a poor one, by keeping her a year or two, just as 
 well as the cow merchant can at first sight ; the cow dealer's wit 
 going before, and ours coming after the sale and delivery. When 
 our wits do come, however, if we have been badly bamboozled in 
 the trade, we sell the cow for what she will bring as a barreller, 
 and purchase another at a high price, perhaps of even less value. 
 We purchase these co^s, brought in from every section of the 
 country, and sometimes in infected cattle cars, at great peril ; and as 
 cattle diseases are increasing in number, and becoming more widely 
 spread over the land, our dangers increase year by year ; and if tliis 
 system is much longer continued, I predict the introduction of some 
 infectious or contagious cattle disease, that will sweep central New- 
 York of our herds as clean as some parts of England have been. 
 
 Improving our dairy stock by high feeding, I judge, has been 
 carried to a greater extent in this county than anywhere else in 
 the United States. During the year 1869 over one million dollars 
 worth of grain was purchased and fed in this county, in addition to 
 what was grown in the county. In addition to this, a large quantity 
 of cattle food was purchased at Utica and brought into the county, as 
 well as some from the counties of Otsego and Montgomery. As the 
 quantity purchased out of the county, by Herkimer county men, 
 could not be obtained, I estimated it as equal to all fed in this county 
 to teams in addition to that grown here. I conclude, therefore, that 
 the, dairymen of this coimty expended, during the j^ear 1869, one 
 million dollars to improve the milking qualities of their dairy stock, 
 
85 
 
 and that the same cows were not near so good during the year 1870, 
 on acconnt of that enormous expenditure of money. 
 
 With the introduction of the factory system of cheese-making, 
 a spirit of rivalry among dairymen sprung into existence, hitherto 
 unknown. Every dairyman was found striving to excel every other 
 dairyman in the quantity of milk delivered at the factory from a like 
 number of cows. This spirit of emulation increased, or tecame inten- 
 sified, with the increased price paid for cheese, until some few dairy- 
 men (and I rejoice that this number was no greater) could not afford 
 to use milk in their tea and coffee, and, overstepping the rules of 
 right, forgetting their own duties, as well as the rights of their neigh- 
 bors, would, sometimes, it is feared, turn the rinsings of the cans, 
 pails and pans into the milk ; and, as a further evidence that they 
 were improving the milking qualities of their dairy stock, would add 
 a pail or two of water, not having the shadow even of milk about it. 
 I have been enabled to exercise this degree of charity for these unfor- 
 tunate milk-and-water men, that nine of every ten have been induced 
 to sink a fair name, and drown their reputation in a pail of water, 
 not so much for the gain as for the purpose of equalling or excelling 
 the amount of milk per cow, delivered at the factory by some one 
 else. But for exercising this degree of charity, I have been charged 
 with a desire to exempt these men from a just punishment for the 
 crimes committed. However just or unjust this charge may have 
 been, I must confess that my mantle of charity thrown over some of 
 them has been altogether too short to cover their nakedness. Allow 
 me, therefore, to advise all dairymen, everywhere, and for all time 
 to come, not to improve the milking qualities of their dairy stock 
 by adding water to the milk. 
 
 Failing to improve our dairy stock stock in a satisfactory man- 
 ner, by either one of these methods last named, we will again 
 refer to that of careful and judicious breeding, as the only legiti- 
 mate and satisfactory method by which the desired improvement 
 of our dairy stock can be effected. And for the purpose of bring- 
 ing out the views of others in the discussion which may follow, I 
 will make the following suggestions : The greatest improvements 
 may be made, in the shortest time and at the least expense, by 
 using with our native cows a thoroughbred bull of that breed best 
 suited to our respective farms, and that particular branch of the dairy 
 business we intend to pursue. For instance, had I a farm possessing 
 all the essential requisites for a butter dairy, I would use a thorough- 
 bred Devon or Jersey bull, and raise the calves from those cows 
 
86 
 
 ■which would produce the greatest amount of butter, irrespective of 
 the quantity of milk. If, on the other hand, the production of milk 
 was my only object, and this to be sold in any one of our cities, where 
 pure, rich milk is a stranger, and would be regarded with suspicion, 
 if not disgust, I would cross with an Ayrshire or Holstein bull from 
 the best milking families attainable. Both these breeds, and their 
 grades, are excellent milkers, and very valuable for. cheese dairies. 
 The Ayrshires, in fact, are not excelled in their ability to obtain a 
 living on steep side-hills, or to travel long distances to obtain it. On 
 pastures that are level, or but gently undulating, and the herd not 
 compelled to travel long distances to obtain their food, I would prefer 
 to cross with short-horns, from a good milking family, to any other, 
 or even to the thoroughbred short-horns themselves. The grade 
 short-horns, if judiciously bred, and kept on lands suited to their con- 
 dition, will, in my opinion, produce the greatest amount of good 
 milk, butter, cheese and beef, for the food consumed, of any grades 
 or full-bloods living. There are other favorite breeds which would 
 improve our native dairy stock by careful crossings ; but each dairy- 
 man must judge for himself between the different breeds, and select 
 that one best adapted to his farm and his specific pui-pose. And, in 
 conclusion, allow me to suggest that the constitution of the cow is 
 quite as important as her milking qualities, and should never be lost 
 sight of in our efforts to improve our dairy stock. If either parent 
 has an imperfect physical development, or, in other words, a weak, 
 faulty constitution, our enterprise will be hazardous in the extreme, 
 and our success very doubtful. For the progeny of such parents will 
 be weak and frail, subject to every ailment and liable to every cattle 
 disease to which they are exposed. Such cows, if overfed with any 
 kind of food exciting to the milk-producing, or milk-secreting organs, 
 will be sure to have garget, and, upon the second or third attack, 
 will be utterly ruined for the dairy, notwithstanding the many sure 
 cures for this disease. If, therefore, the foundation upon which we 
 build our improvement be faulty, our superstructure will ever stand 
 toppling, and always ready to fall ; our disappointment will be greater 
 than the quantity of milk obtained ; our sorrows will outnumber our 
 cheeses ; and our butter will be insufiBcienfc in quantity for compound- 
 ing the liniment necessary to heal our wounded pride. 
 
87 
 
 Labok-saving Implements and Machines used in Cheese Factoeies. 
 By Dr. L. L. Wight, Whitestown, N. Y. 
 
 I propose to call your attention to the use of some new inventions, 
 and some articles of utility not as yet brought iuto general use, in 
 cheese factories. The earlier method of conducting the milk from the 
 carrying cans to the receiving can through faucets and tin pipes, was 
 found on many accounts to be so objectionable as to be discarded in 
 most, but not all cheese manufacturing establishments. The objec- 
 tions to this practice were, that it required much more time to unload, 
 which, in a large factory in warm ■weather, when several teams are 
 standing waiting, both tends to injure the milk and wastes the time 
 of the drawers. Furthermore, the faucets in the cans and the tin 
 conductors, through which the milk passes, are difhcult things to 
 cleanse perfectly, and not unfrequently are left in a filthy condition. 
 The drawers of routes, too, at times, take advantage of the obscurity 
 of this method of unloading, and leave a few quarts of milk in the 
 cans they bring to take home and make butter of, or fatten their pig 
 with. The later method of unloading the milk by dumping avoids 
 these objections, but, unless the machinery is properly constructed, 
 incurs other evils scarcely less objectionable. There is more danger 
 of injuring the cans and of spilling the milk, unless great care is 
 observed. The bungling manner in which many of these hoisters are 
 erected causes much strength to be expended in unloading. The 
 simplest and easiest method I have seen is by means of a wheel from 
 six to eight feet in diameter, fastened to a shaft, to which is attached 
 a cable chain which passes over a pulley, adjusted directly over the 
 can to be hoisted. A rope being thrown around this wheel, and pass- 
 ing through a pulley beneath to steady it, a boy or girl of average 
 powers can readily raise from five to eight hundred pounds of milk 
 without difficulty ; and weigh and book at the same time. I refer to 
 this as many factories are using a more expensive fixture, and one 
 requiring much more power to work it. 
 
 Where the milk is- brought to the factory at night, an agitator is 
 found to save much irksome toil in cooling the milk. I notice some 
 manufacturers use a smalbdipper with a strainer bottom, to remove 
 the flies which sometimes indulge themselves in being drowned in 
 the milk vat. A vat which equalizes the temperature the most 
 thoroughly through all parts of milk — at the ends, sides, middle, top 
 and bottom — saves some labor in stirring to keep the curd from 
 packing on the bottom. I have used one constructed for steam, the 
 patent of E. H. & W. A. Stuai't, with much satisfaction during the 
 
88 
 
 past season. Also one, in which the steam is passed into water, 
 made by William Ralph. A person who has never used different 
 kinds of vats could hardly estimate the difference there is in the 
 amount of labor required when using a perfectly constructed vat 
 and one in the construction of which the laws of science have not 
 been observed. The wooden case in which the tin vat is inclosed 
 should not be made with six awkward legs to interfere with the 
 movement of the operator's feet, but should rest on supports at the 
 upper end and middle of the vat, which supports do not extend 
 nearer than five inches to the sides and end of the vat. Quite an 
 amount of labour is saved, and more satisfaction is secured by the 
 use of Halleck's cheese vat fastener, which is so constructed that a 
 light stroke upon a spring will cause the lower end of the vat to 
 lower; and on again raising the vat, the spring adjusts itself, and 
 fastens the vat firmly and surely. No enterprising factoryman will 
 be without curd rakes and curd knives, including one horizontal curd 
 knife. 
 
 The next improvement I would call your attention to is the 
 curd-mill. As this essay does not tjontemplate considering the 
 improvement in the quantity and quality of the cheese by the use 
 of any implement or machine I may speak of, I shall strictly confine 
 my remarks to the labor-saving qualities they possess. When the 
 curd-mill is used, it requires less labor in the stirring of the curd in 
 the vat, as no moving of the curd is necessary after the temperature 
 has been raised to the required degree. With this process, less chro- 
 nological exactness is demanded in grinding than is necessary when 
 you dip out the curd in the old way ; and, hence, less help is required, 
 as the process can be conditionally deferred. If steam or water-power 
 is used, less manual labor is, of course, thus required. These curd- 
 mills, however, which grind coarsely, or which cut the curd into 
 cubes instead of tearing it in pieces, require the expenditure of but a 
 small quantity of force to perform the operation. 
 
 A tin pail, of which the lower half of the side is made of strainer 
 cloth, is very convenient to scoop the remains of the curd and whey 
 into. The whey is more readily removed from the curd when it is 
 desirable to draw it off, by means of a pipe extending from the inside 
 of the tin vat through the wooden case, and then attaching to a fau- 
 cet, than by the old method of using a siphon. When this is done, 
 however, the tin vat must be firmly clasped to the outside case. Rub- 
 ber mops are much preferable to other articles in cleaning up the 
 floor. 
 
89 
 
 The greatest labor-saving machine in cheese factories, which I 
 have observed the past season, is Frazer's gang-press. This has now 
 been so fully perfected as apparently to leave nothing further to be 
 desired in the line of hoops and presses. The advantages to be 
 derived from its use may be enumerated somewhat as follows : I. 
 Less press-room is required. 2. One screw will take the place of ten, 
 fifteen, or even twenty, by the ordinary method ; and, hence, from 
 nine-tenths to nineteen-twentieths of the force and time usually 
 expended in raising and lowering the screw is saved. 3. In using 
 this apparatus, the bandage is adjusted to its place before the curd is 
 placed in the hoop, and, therefore, no after-bandaging of the cheese 
 is necessary. 4. The use of all press-cloths, with their wasting, 
 scraping and washing, is avoided. 5. The hoops having bottoms can 
 readily be placed upon a set of scales in the curd sink, and the curd 
 be accurately weighed in the hoops, with very little trouble; thus 
 giving the cheese a uniformity in size obtainable in no other way. 
 6. Each cheese being very nearly true in its perpendicularity, and of 
 the same height, there is no cutting down of boxes in boxing to make 
 a perfect fit. 7. There is no pressing up of the curd between the 
 hoop and follower, or protruding between the hoop and press-board. 
 8.. No press-boards being used, the time occupied in washing and 
 cleansing them is saved. 9. The surface of cheeses pressed in tliis 
 press has, in my experience, always presented a good smooth face 
 and rind, so difficult sometimes to obtain, especially where the curds 
 are ground. 10. The cheese are more easily removed from the hoop 
 never adhering except in quite cold weather, and then readily slipping 
 out on the application of hot water to tlie outside of the hoop. The 
 experience I have had with the gang-press the past season has been 
 very satisfactory, and I can heartily recommend it for general use. 
 
 DAiETiNa IN Oswego County. 
 By Hiram Walker, Mexico, N. Y. 
 
 The county of Oswego was not settled so early, by many years, 
 as the surrounding counties. It was, most of it, bought of the State 
 by George W. Scriba, about the year 1792, for sixteen cents per acre, 
 and was surveyed and brought into market in 1794. The first settle- 
 ment was made in 1796, except at the old French fort at Oswego. 
 
 This county was organized in 1816, and is centrally distant from 
 Albany 135 miles, and contains 1,083 square miles. Its surface 
 is generally undulating, with a series of bluffs immediately on the 
 lake. The general inclination is northerly. The drainage in the 
 
90 
 
 south and west is through Oswego river, and in the north and east 
 through Salmon river, Salmon creek, and Sandy creek, and many 
 other small streams that flow directly into the lake. The highest 
 range of land is in Kediield, which is about 1,500 feet above tide 
 water. The county is exceedingly well watered, and trout originally 
 abounded in all the streams ; and very few farms are without living 
 water. There are about 290,000 acres of improved land ; and 374,000 
 acres of unimproved land. The western half of the county skirting 
 Lake Ontario is mostly improved. The unimproved land lies in the 
 eastern half bordering on Lewis and Oneida counties. This county 
 until within a few years was quite isolated, which retarded its increase 
 in wealth and population. The primitive forests were heavy, and in 
 many parts were largely mixed with hemlock, spruce and pine, which 
 severely taxed the early pioneers in preparing the land for cultiva- 
 tion, and when cleared, portions of land were unproductive until it 
 could be worked with the plough. 
 
 The land bordering on Salmon river and its tributaries had heavy 
 forests of spruce and pine. All past observations demonstrate that 
 in such localities lumber is first and agriculture second, which does 
 not prosper while a pine tree is left standing. Soon after, the land 
 in this county was thrown into market, and emigration began to set 
 in encouragingly, a great blunder was committed by the proprietor 
 in advancing the price of the land, which turned the tide of emigra- 
 tion to the Holland purchase, which was just then thrown upon the 
 market at a less price. This foolish act retarded the settlement some 
 ten years, while taxes and interest on unsold lands, with the cost of 
 surveying, devoured the proprietor's estate and left him poor in his 
 old age. If his policy had been a moderate price and quick sales a 
 princely fortune awaited him. Time has developed the fact that no 
 lands in the State improve faster by being well worked than those of 
 Oswego county. It is eminently a grazing county. There are three 
 reasons why it is well adapted to dairying. A temperate climate, 
 land sufficiently rolling for good drainage, and pure running water 
 abounding in springs. Grass is the great staple crop of the county, 
 and also of the United States, and is more entitled to be called " king " 
 than cotton, being in all its forms of more value than any other 
 single crop. From it we produce' our horses and mules, beef and 
 tallow, mutton and wool, skins and horns, butter and cheese, and 
 beasts of burden. 
 
 Having briefly sketched in outline, the early history, soil, climate 
 and productions of the county, during forty-three years of observa- 
 
91 
 
 tioQ and residence in it, I come more especially to speak of the dairy 
 interest, and its rise and progress. 
 
 There has always been butter to a limited amount, made for home 
 consumption, from its earliest history, but not much for export. The 
 great distance from market, and the cost of transportation, did not 
 encourage its production ; besides the conveniences for making and 
 the skill of the manufacturer were not such as to produce a prime 
 article. The make of cheese was very meagre in the early history 
 of the county. The make of butter increased with the increase of 
 population, and down to 1840 the surplus was principally bartered 
 with the merchants for goods, and by them packed for market. 
 Packing butter by the producer was unknown. About the year 1835 
 some good sized dairies sprung up, like Col. Meacham's, near Pulaski, 
 who sent a mammoth cheese to President Van Buren. This dairy 
 was the exception rather than the rule. The surplus cheese then 
 made was sent to market in casks, and the quality would now be 
 declared "out of flavor." The old, time-honored way of making 
 cheese was expensive in time, and arduous to the maker, with the fix- 
 tures of those days, and the slow routine of operation. At this tinie 
 there was no foreign demand for either butter or cheese, to stimulate 
 production. Wheat, pork and beef were mainly relied on to raise 
 money. Other cereals were disposed of by bai-ter. Two prices on 
 most of the produce prevailed, cash and barter. Pine shingles and 
 lumber were hauled by teams to Oswego and Pome, at a less price 
 than is now paid for hemlock on the line of our railroads. JSTow, 
 with our 150 miles of railroad completed, very few farmers are more 
 than ten miles from a railroad station. It was not until the valley of 
 the Mississippi began to export beef, pork, and all the cereals, that 
 farmers saw the necessity of turning their attention to a class of pro- 
 ducts which would not find a formidable competition in that valley. 
 Sheep had been tried to a considerable extent from 1835 to 1850, but 
 the low price of wool, tariif-tinkering and the inadaptation of our moist 
 soils to this branch of husbandry, made it a non-paying business. 
 About twenty-five years since, sheep began to disappear and herds of 
 cows increase, and improved facilities and fixtures for cheapening the 
 manufacture and improving the quality of cheese. These improve- 
 ments for the manufacture of cheese, have kept pace with the increased 
 make, until the factory system was developed by Jesse Williams, of 
 Oneida. 
 
 It is nine years since the first cheese factory was erected in this 
 county, and to-day there are fifty factories, receiving the milk of from 
 
92 
 
 200 to 800 cows each. Id this town (Mexico) there are five factories 
 that worked the milk of 2,200 cows. The past season one of tlie 
 factories (Davis Union) made over 200,000 pounds of cheese. The 
 number of cows has increased from 10,000, thirty years ago, to 30,000 
 or over to-day. I estimate that each cow represents a capital of $300, 
 in herself, land for keeping, factories, and all implements and fixtures 
 for making butter and cheese. This will show a capital of nine millions 
 (9,000,000) of dollars invested in dairy agriculture. Our cows do not 
 come in as early, nor do our factories run so long as do the factories 
 in Herkimer and Oneida counties. The cows are generally in milk 
 from the 10th of March to the 30th of April. The time of making 
 cheese averages about 160 days, from the 20th of May to the 20th of 
 October, some more, some less. Butter is made the rest of the season. 
 Many dairymen think it is more profitable to make butter during the 
 cool portions of the season than cheese, especially those who raise 
 calves to recruit their dairy stock. 
 
 The average make of cheese per cow does not exceed 350 pounds 
 in a season. Some dairies make over fifty pounds of butter per cow, 
 besides cheese. At the factories 200 pounds of butter per cow is a 
 good average for butter dairies. The quality of our cheese has been 
 greatly improved within a few years, since cheese-making has been 
 conducted on scientific principles. Agricultural fairs and dairymen's 
 associations, where enterprising farmers meet and compare notes, have 
 done much to systematize the operations of the dairy. The price we 
 obtain for our goods is a fraction less than that of other counties, who 
 went earlier into the business and earned prestige. It costs us half a 
 cent more per pound freight to New York than the Herkimer county 
 dairymen pay. So much for railroad monopoly. An attempt was 
 made two years ago to establish a market at Fulton, in the south-west 
 part of the county, for the sale of butter and cheese, but failed for the 
 want of general co-operation. There are four points in the county 
 where butter and cheese are marketed, viz. : Sandy Creek, Pulaski, 
 Mexico and Fulton, covering a space of thirty miles from north-east to 
 south-west, and nearly equi-distant from each other. This prevents 
 any general centering of business at any one point. Time may rectify 
 this difiiculty. A majority of cheese is sold to runners from New 
 York, on the shelves, while butter is marketed with dealei-s at the 
 above named towns. The gross revenue to dairymen for their goods 
 besides home consumption, must have averaged for the last eight 
 years over $1,000,000 per year. The foregoing is a brief history of 
 
93 
 
 the rise and progress of dairy farming in Oswego county, leaving the 
 manipulations of the milk to other hands. 
 
 Stock raising opens a wide field for thought and investigation, 
 when every class or breed of cattle have their admirers. One of the 
 things which is of first importance in dairying is to have good milk- 
 ing stock to begin with. To do this you must begin with the calves, 
 if you purpose to raise your own stock ; selecting those having the 
 best points and from the best ancestry. Guenon has some very good 
 rules by which to judge of their best points. The practice in use by 
 our best breeders is to take the calf from the dam the second day, and 
 teach it to drink. At three weeks skim lightly till cheese-making 
 begins ; then feed sweet wliey with wheat middlings tiU three or four 
 months old, with good pasture. After haying reserve a good lot with 
 plenty of aftermath till winter. This will bring them in good condi- 
 tion to winter feed, which should be good hay, and a mixture of meal 
 and shorts sufficient to keep them thriving dui-ing the winter, and 
 with good summer keep they will attain a fair size, and come into 
 milk at two years old. To be successful in dairying, cows should have 
 plenty of nutritious food summer and winter, and in case of a severe 
 drought, like the summer of 1 871, a good supply of sowed corn or meal 
 and shorts to keep up the flow of milk is necessary. Cutting hay 
 early is coming largely into practice with good results, which is evi- 
 denced in the improved condition of cows fed on it. 
 
 It is not necessary for my present purpose to go into details of the 
 important points that commend the different breeds to their admirers, 
 but merely to note the existing state of things and the improvement 
 that has been made in the various practices of time-honored farm life. 
 Fifty years ago farmers were not as particular about the stock the\' 
 bred from as at the present day. Then dairying was comparatively in 
 its infancy, with not so much thought about the milking qualities of 
 the sire or dam. Then calves were generally raised and the majority 
 sold for beef at two years old. Since then great improvement has 
 been made in all of our domestic animals, and in none more than in 
 our dairy stock. The factory system is not so well adapted to sti_)ck 
 raising as farm dairying. This county raises sufficient stock to fill up 
 the waste in our dairy by age or other causes. Large numbers of 
 cows are annually imported from Canada for home use and traffic with 
 other counties, while probably an equal number of home bred cows 
 are exported to other portions of the State, equal to the influx from 
 Canada or other counties. Many argue that it is cheaper to buy cows, 
 to recruit their dairy stock, than to raise them. My observation is 
 
94 
 
 that you will get a greater percentage of good cows by raising than by 
 buying. If all dairymen should adopt the buying principle, it does 
 not need much of a prophet to foretell the result. Our farmers are 
 careful to select their calves from the very best milking stock, both as 
 to quality and quantity of milk, and think that these points are as 
 important in the sire as in the dam. 
 
 Onr dairy stock is mostly native, carefully bred from its best speci- 
 mens, with occasionally a slight infusion of Short-horns, Devons and 
 Ayrshires. The Durhams are not considered profitable for the dairy 
 either as to milking qualities or hardiness for this climate, but better 
 adapted to the blue grass of Kentucky, where beef rather than milk is 
 the main object. The Devon is a sleek, hardy breed; makes spry 
 working cattle, but ordinary milkers, and does not stand high with 
 dairymen. I don't know of any Jerseys in the coimty, although they 
 stand high in many parts of New England for their rich milk ; but the 
 small quantity they give unfits them for use in factories. They are 
 said to do well on the hill-sides of New England, where small numbers 
 are kept for family use. The Ayrshire cow is coming largely- into 
 public favor, and will eventually be more sought after to cross with 
 our native stock than all other thoroughbreds. The one great pre- 
 ventive to their more general introduction is the mammoth prices at 
 which they are held by those who deal in them. When a trio of 
 fowls are held at $100, a two year old thoroughbred heifer at 500 
 guineas, and an entire horse at $10,000, small fry farmers must take 
 back seats and let wealth and arrogance, without especial merit, head 
 the column. 
 
 Kaising and Fattening Swine. 
 By a. Dibvbndorf, of Montgomery County. 
 The most important appendage to the dairy is pork making. That 
 which produces the most ready money at the least cost, according to 
 the capital invested, and consequently giving a larger net profit, is 
 the judicious fattening of a well-bred pig. Under the usual system 
 of fattening hogs, I admit that it was a " losing game " the past sea- 
 son. But this furnishes no proof that it is an unprofitable invest- 
 ment. Pork making, like any other pursuit, is attended with -its 
 difiiculties, and its results are in accordance with the labor and means 
 expended upon it. With proper management it can be produced 
 cheaper than either beef or mutton ; that is, a given amount of corn 
 meal will produce in a well-bred pig more pounds of pork than any 
 other kind of meat, because a pig can eat more, digest more and 
 
95 
 
 .ssiiuilate more, over and above the amount of food necessary to sus- 
 ain life, tliaa any other domestic animal. 
 
 The amount of food to sustain life is considerable ; but the addi- 
 ional amount required to produce an increase in weight is compara- 
 ively small, and, consequently, in this extra feed is where we must 
 .eek our profits. That is, if it requires four quarts of corn meal per 
 lay to keep up the heat of the body and sustain the vital functions of 
 I full-grown hog, we get, in this case no profit, but sustain a total loss 
 )f the whole amount fed. But if, instead of feeding four quarts per 
 lay, we feed live quarts, this extra quart will make an increase, say 
 )ne pound, and so ten quarts will make six pounds of pork instead of 
 ;wo pounds, since the first five made but one pound ; and if the hog 
 ;ould be made to eat one bushel per day, the increase would be in 
 Droportion, i. e., twenty-eight pounds. Hence, the larger the quan- 
 ;ity of food . eaten, digested and assimilated, the greater will be the 
 ncrease. 
 
 The secret of success of pork making hinges not so much on any 
 ^articular breed, although the breed has a great deal to do with it, as 
 ,t does on liberal and regular feeding. J^either do I favor any par- 
 ticular breed, but think a cross between our large hogs and some of 
 ;he small breeds, such as the Essex or Suffolk, preferable for the dai- 
 -ymen of New York. By such a cross we get more constitution and 
 I quicker growth. It is putting the great digestive powers of the 
 arge breed in the body of the small, refined and quick-fattening pig. 
 [ncrease the quantity of food and lessen the demand upon it to sus- 
 ;ain life, the greater will be the formation of fiesh and fat. The view 
 ;hat farmers usually take is that feeding spring pigs for the autumn 
 narket is more expensive than the fattening a lean, stunted and 
 squealing shoat that has been half starved through foitr or five cold 
 ;vinter months ; but this is a mistaken idea. The cheapest way to 
 ivinter a shoat, I think, is in the pork barrel, unless you have a very 
 ivarm stable and the conveniences for steaming the food, when early- 
 3ut clover may be fed to a great advantage, and tlie pigs made to 
 :hrive nearly as well as through tlie warmer months. But under the 
 3ommon system of wintering hogs, a well-bred spring pig will do the 
 3est, cost the least and weigh the heaviest by fall, if properly fed and 
 pushed from the beginning. 
 
 In proportion to the food consumed, young pigs grow much more 
 rapidly than old ones, and, beside, if they are grades of some of the 
 small breeds, they will be ready for market when four or five months 
 aid, and will always bring a fancy price. 
 
96 
 
 The starvation and neglect that shoats generally receive during the 
 vinter, will counteract every advantage that may be given them dur- 
 ng the summer. 
 
 The resources of heat are sufficiently well developed to meet nearly 
 iYery necessity. Yet the application of heat is, if well understood, 
 )ut poorly appreciated. Although heat adds nothing to the nutri- 
 nent of food, and would be in no way a benefit if other things were 
 iqual, its chief importance is found in its economy. Heat deprives 
 ood of its vegetative powers, destroys the living principle, increases 
 ts digestibility by rendering soluble that which otherwise would be 
 mperfectly digested, and thereby increasing tlie value of the food 
 rom one-third to one-half. 
 
 From a litter of eleven grade Suffolk pigs, born February 20, and 
 mother of seven, born March 10, same breed, I give a few experi- 
 nents made by me the past season : 
 
 1. On April 16 I weighed both litters. The oldest, eight weeks 
 jld, weighed 357 pounds ; average weight, thirty-two pounds. The 
 >ther litter, five weeks and three days old, weighing 126 pounds ; 
 iverage weight, eighteen pounds. 
 
 2. On April 30, two weeks later, I weighed both litters again. The 
 irst litter of eleven, ten weeks old, weighed 490 pounds ; average 
 iveight, forty-four and a half pounds; gain in two weeks, 133 pounds ; 
 average gain, twelve and a half pounds in twenty-four days ; a gain 
 jf thirty-seven per cent. The second litter, seven weeks and three 
 lays old, weighed 185 pounds ; average weiglit, twenty -seven pounds ; 
 ^ain, eight and a half pounds in twenty-four days ; a little more than 
 X3rty-six per cent increase. The total gain of both litters during the 
 ;ime was 192 pounds. The amount of food consumed during the 
 same time was 300 pounds of corn meal, which cost me five dolla,rs 
 md twenty seven cents ; making the cost of one pound of pork two- 
 jighth cents, nearly. This gives sixty-four pounds of pork for every 
 LOO pounds of meal. But, in addition to the meal, they had con- 
 siderable buttermilk, but no very large quantity, the value of which 
 [ do not compute. 
 
 3. On May 14, two weeks later, the first litter of eleven, twelve 
 Areeks old, weighed 590 pounds ; average weight, fifty-three and a 
 lalf pounds; gain in two weeks, 100 pounds; average gain, nine 
 Dounds against twelve and a half two weeks previous, or an increase 
 )f twenty per cent against thirty per cent the two weeks before. On 
 ;he same day the second litter, nine weeks and three days old, weighed 
 253 pounds ; average weight, thirty-six pounds ; gain in two weeks, 
 
97 
 
 sixty-eight pounds ; average gain, ten pounds against eight and a 
 quarter pounds, or thirty-six per cent against forty-six per cent two 
 weeks previous. Total gain of both litters 168 pounds against 192 
 pounds the two weeks previous. The amount fed was 100 pounds 
 corn meal and 150 pounds barley meal. Cost four dollars and thirty- 
 nine cents, making the cost of pork 2.6 cents per pound, against 2.8 
 cents on corn meal alojie, and giving sixty-seven pounds of pork 
 against sixty-fonr pounds the two weeks previous. At this time I 
 made a division by throwing out the two finest of the eleven to 
 winter over, and giving the smallest to the other litter of seven, 
 making both equal in numbers. On June 4th, three weeks later, I 
 weighed the oldest eight. Their age was fifteen weeks, and weighed 
 600 pounds ; average weight seventy-five pounds. Grain 175 pounds ; 
 average gain twenty-two pounds in twenty-one days. 
 
 On. June 11th, I weighed the same litter ; age sixteen weeks and 
 weight 684 pounds ; average weight eighty -five and a half pounds. 
 Gain in one week eighty-four pounds, and average gain ten and a 
 half pounds or one and a half pounds per day, and during the last 
 four weeks they increased 260 pounds, or an average of a little more 
 than one pound per day for each pig from the time they were twelve 
 weeks until they were sixteen weeks old. 
 
 Two weeks after this I sold these eight pigs for fifty dollars. The 
 amount consumed up to this time by both litters was 1,683 pounds 
 of corn meal and 150 pounds of barley meal, or in all 1,833 pounds, 
 which cost me $31.54. Taking one-half of this, which I think is a 
 fair estimate, would make $15. YY as cost to fatten these eight pigs 
 and leaving a balance of $34.23. 
 
 Tliis calculation does not include the value ot whey, which was 
 their chief drink since they were two months old, and clover, of 
 which they had plenty, a small armful three times a day. These 
 eight pigs must have weighed, allowing their usual increase, 708 
 pounds, the cost of which would be but $2.22 per 100 pounds live 
 weight, and allowing twenty per cent for shrinkage, it would make 
 $2.78 per 100 pounds dressed pork. 
 
 These eight pigs weighed when they were eight weeks old, accord- 
 ing to average, 256 pounds, which makes a gain during the next 
 fifty-eight days of fifty-six pounds, nearly one pound per day. I 
 doubt if the same increase can be made with the same feed, and 
 under similar circumstances, on pigs that are matured, say ten or 
 twelve months old. On July 12th, I weighed tne other litter of 
 pigs; they were four months and two days old, excepting one of the 
 
98 
 
 Qumber which was three weeks older. Their weight was 900 pounds. 
 A.verage weight 112^. The last time this litter was weighed was 
 May 14th, an interval of nearly two mouths, and for that time the 
 increase was one pound per day. On July 23d their weight was 
 1,075 pounds. Average weight 134 pounds. Gain in eleven days 
 176 pounds, or per day for each pig, two pounds, which makes 
 jighteen per cent increase for the same time. 
 
 On August 8 their weight was 1,290 pounds ; average weight 161 
 rounds ; gain in sixteen days 214 pounds, or per day nearly thirteen 
 md one-half pounds, age five months less two days. Soon after this 
 [ sold these pigs for eight cents per dressed pound. 
 
 On August 31, I butchered the two smallest, six hours after feed- 
 ng. Their gross weight was 340 pounds ; dressed weight 276 
 Dounds, or 18.8 per cent, shrinkage. 
 
 On September 8, 1 butchered two, three hours after feeding. Their 
 fross weight was 400 pounds, dressed weight 325 pounds ; shrinkage 
 seventy-five pounds, or 19.25 per cent. 
 
 On September 15, I butchered the third pair, twelve hours after 
 ■ceding. Their gross weight was 450 pounds ; dressed weight 375 
 Dounds, giving seventy-five pounds shrinkage, or 16.6 per cent. 
 
 On September 19, I butchered the remaining two, immediately 
 ifter full feeding. Their gross weight was 490 pounds, shrinkage 
 L09 pounds, or twenty-two per cent. 
 
 The aggregate live weight of the eight pigs was 1,680 pounds, 
 iverage weight 210 pounds ; dressed weight 1,355 pounds, average 
 Iressed weight 169 pounds, shrinkage, 325 pounds, or 19.31 per cent. 
 
 Their average age was six months and the number of pounds of 
 neal consumed was 3,158 pounds, at an average cost of $1.53 per 
 LOO pounds, making $47.31, and deducting this from $108.40, the 
 imount received, leaves a balance of $61.09. According to these 
 igures the cost of 100 pounds of pork, live weight, is $2.80, and per 
 100 pounds, dressed weight, $3.49. Both litters consumed $63.08 
 s^orth of meal, and made $158.40 worth of pork, leaving a balance 
 )f $95.32. This I do not consider the net profit, yet I think it is 
 lot far from it. Although I have not computed the first cost of pigs, 
 ;^alue of whey and clover, fuel and labour expenses, for the reason 
 ;hat I never expected that these experiments should ever be given to 
 ;he public ; or I should have made them more thorough and exact ; 
 md the only object I had in view was to satisfy myself on a few 
 3oints, and the chief one of these was whether a spring pig could be 
 18 profitably fattened as a hog 12 or 15 months old. T do not assume 
 
99 
 
 that 3,158 pounds of corn meal, well cooked as this was, did make 
 1,680 pounds of pork, live weight — that is, one pound of pork from 
 one and eight-tenths pounds of meal since twenty pounds of pork to 
 100 pounds of raw meal is considered a fair increase, and if well 
 cooked will do one-third better; but that whey and clover were 
 important agents in producing this growth. Whey is not a perfect 
 food in itself, as it contains only a part of the constituents necessary 
 to sustain animal life and health. It is composed mainly of milk and 
 sugar, retaining but a slight proportion of cheese and butter, and has 
 about the same composition as the turnip. Mix whey with a nitro- 
 genous food and it becomes very profitable, particularly to young 
 animals. But the most important food for pigs, and the cheapest, is 
 clover. It is a regulator of the digestive organs, as well as a flesh 
 former. It gives health and vigor to the pig, and it is an important 
 agent to produce a perfect assimilation of a concentrated food. 
 
 The eight pigs of the second litter were fed whey, sufficient to 
 satisfy their thirst, four times during the day ; and at three of these 
 feedings, they had, in connection with the whey, all the corn meal 
 pudding that they would eat ; and every morning I would cut a large 
 basket full of clover, which I would feed at intervals during the daj^, 
 as it would happen. I do not assume that the result of these experi- 
 ments teaches any new ti-uths, gives any more light upon a subject 
 that is of considerable interest to every farmer ; but it is a satisfac- 
 tion to learn, from our own labours, the lessons that success and 
 failure give us in every pursuit. Although we may learn them with 
 profit from others, yet we can not give them that relish as though 
 they were the direct results of our own eiforts in the pursuit of 
 knowledge. 
 
 General Maeketing of Dairy Peoditce. 
 By David W. Lbwis, of Kbw Yobk. 
 The cheese trade is hardly lagging behind other interests in its 
 methods of reaching the world's markets, but rather is taking the lead 
 of many of them, with Little Falls as its centre of operations, and it 
 seems more difficult to suggest anything in addition to what has been 
 done than to learn something from what has already been attained. 
 These headquarters here for trade and the diifusion of information, 
 this association and this annual gathering for the comparison of notes, 
 show the tendency of men, coincident with an advancing civilization, 
 to consult together and to work together for the mutual benefit and 
 the common good. 
 
100 
 
 The cultivator of tlie soil stands as it were next to the creative 
 power, in that within certain bounds of soil and climate, he may 
 iashion from the earth according to his own good will and pleasure. 
 Be has choice of production, and, therefore, it is his province to can- 
 ;'ass the wants and needs of his markets, that he may supply such stores 
 IS are most necessary, and hence remunerative to himself. We see 
 ;his acted on often hastily. If wool is down the sheep are slaughtered ; 
 f hops don't pay the cost of picking, and bailing, hop poles make 
 ;he kitchen fire burn ; if ship-loads of humanity, from foreign lands 
 ;rowd our labour markets, children become scattering, and school 
 louses voiceless ; but, how often after we have changed from wool to 
 ;he dairy, from hops to stocks, or from good old-fashioned little house, 
 md big family, and big heart, to the large house and empty rooms, 
 ;hat we regret the barrenness of results, aiad see the desirability of 
 )nly deliberate, carefully considered, well regulated change — transient 
 expedients and frequent changes for apparent temporary benefits, are 
 )f doubtful utility, while continuous persistent production in one 
 jhannel is, as a rule, best recognized and rewarded, and the farmer 
 ^ho places his product at the top of the market, must produce it and 
 •eproduce it until it secures position as of the highest standard of 
 ralue. It has taken Herkimer county almost half a century to estab- 
 ish her reputation for cheese, and that reputation is worth more or 
 ess to every farm in the county — it has taken Little Falls half the . 
 ifetime of Harry Eurrell to become the recognized cheese market of 
 jentral ISTew York, and that reputation is of value to this whole com- 
 nunity. And so it is with a cheese factory, creamery, or even private 
 Jairy that can each succeeding year market a product of high standard. 
 [t comes to be known, and to have charadter and position in the 
 narket. The same principle holds good in the concentration of the 
 whole production of the farm into one line as much as possible, and 
 eads the considerate man to go for a grand result in one direction 
 •ather than to pursue a multiplicity of directions without any siifficient 
 •esult. Quantity of product, as well as quality, gives force and 
 strength in marketing. This is illustrated in the preference in price 
 "or factories, of both butter and cheese, over private dairies, and is 
 )ne of several reasons why it is better for a community to join hands 
 n a creamery or cheese factory, and consolidate their product. 
 
 The importance of the style of production as related to the system 
 )f marketing, is apparent in the entire change which has taken place 
 n the method of the sale of cheese. The uniformity of the product 
 )f the American cheese factory system, has lessened the cost of the 
 
101 
 
 transfer of cheese from the producer to consumer, and brought your 
 English and American friend to your doors as buyers and customers. 
 By the extension of the butter factory or creamery system, there will 
 be similar results in that product, and a further illustration of the 
 fact that the highest standard and greatest uniformity of quality in 
 produce, leads to its easiest transfer, and the smallest possible exposure 
 of marketing. With uniformity of production and the constant ten- 
 dency toward increased facilities of intercommunication by telegraph 
 and rail, we shall see the strength and usefulness of home markets 
 increased. Each district will get more to have its specialty, and its 
 market centre to become the headquarters of that specialty, and to 
 draw to it an amount of trade and exchange in ratio to the importance 
 of its production. Business is then brought nearer the farm, property 
 is benefited, social intercourse and mental culture are facilitated, and 
 the circulation and life of the country kept up vigorous and active, 
 the better to ofiTset the feverish tendencies of the controlling centres 
 of population. In home markets, the producer and consumer, or 
 their agents, are nearer together ; the friction of exchange is lessened, 
 each is instructed in the needs of the other, and all are benefited. 
 
 The credit system, in marketing, has been subject to varying 
 fortunes, and other things being equal, increases with advancing 
 enlightenment and falls into disrepute with a relapse toward barbarism. 
 The savage, in his wigwam, listens to the foot-fall of the stranger 
 with suspicion, the frontiersman swings his rifle upon the rafters, 
 keeps his trusty dog on guard, and hfts his door-latch with uncer- 
 tainty, while here the householder in the Mohawk or Genesee valley, 
 or among the old New England hills, credits the knocking at his door 
 as the tap call of friend to friend, bids his daughter open the portal 
 of his own little world, to the entrance, perhaps of a stranger, and 
 gives him shelter and entertainment, and a God speed upon his 
 journey. 
 
 Now, suppose this man who accepts your hospitality or mine, vio- 
 lates the articles of good faith and respect toward each other's 
 rights, the unsigned compact which civilized men are all tacitly sup- 
 supposed to honour. What are you going to do about it ? Shall we 
 shut up like a box-shell turtle, or an oyster, vote all men rascals, and 
 refuse communication with any save under guard and passport ? 
 
 No, gentlemen, this would be infidelity, materialism, and the 
 stoppage of growth. We must do just as the tree would do with 
 imsound fruit — drop it. Such stock is not allowed to live out half 
 its days. Sometimes it is unsound at the core, gets some sap, keeps 
 
102 
 
 up a pretty fair show on the outside, and hangs on a good while, but 
 on the first touch or shake down it comes. Everybody says : " I 
 told you so," couldn't expect it to stand it a great while, and if the 
 core, and seeds, and stem will divide up 8 to 10 or 20 to 25 per cent., 
 perhaps it will be enough to clear up what there is in settlement. 
 
 But these exceptions only prove the rule. The good tree of society 
 puts down her roots, and gives the sap of her credit freely to her 
 healthy, developing children, in all the business, and interchange, 
 and ramiiication of society. The tree knows its fruit. Even squirrels 
 take no stock in unsound nuts, and rats desert a sinking ship, and 
 man, who has no rule of instinct, must use his God-given faculties 
 for his protection. Credit is the heart of the whole circulating 
 system of the exchanges of society, is always found largest and 
 strongest in the most vigorous organizations and centres of com- 
 merce, and no market can hope to become a centre of pulse and 
 motion without its expansions and contractions. Let me close with 
 the suggestion, that the man who produces liberally and sells freely, 
 shall in no wise lose his reward. 
 
 The Chemistry of the Cow. 
 By Edwasd J. 'WiCKSON, Utica, N. Y. 
 A theory which is not the logical outgrowth of fact is not a scien- 
 tific theory. To remove the element of actual knowledge is to forfeit 
 the name. Experiment and experience are our only true scientific 
 teachers. The, man who glories in his practicality may call himself a 
 scientific man, providing his practice is coupled with a thorough know- 
 ledge of the reason for its adoption. It is true that one possessed of this 
 knowledge, from the vantage ground it gives him, may point almost 
 with certainty to new facts which will soon be added to his science ; 
 as the experienced miner may strike at once the glittering quartz, 
 while the novice will return empty-handed or laden with worthless 
 pyrites. The agriculturist who makes the treatment of his lands or 
 of his stock conform to the teachings of his experience, and adds to 
 his own experience that of his neighbors, and who, in every case, so 
 far as possible, understands the causes which underlie his facts, is a 
 true scientific farmer. The man who manages his farm or his daiiy 
 so that the best results are attained, will find, on viewing his process 
 in the light of chemistry, that he has been availing himself of the 
 laws of a science which he has learned not from books, but from a 
 study of nature itself. In its relations to agriculture, the causes and 
 eflfects taught by chemistry will in every case accord with experience ; 
 
103 
 
 not the experience of an individual, perhaps, for that may be influ- 
 enced by latent conditions, but with an aggregate, a generalized 
 experience. 
 
 In reviewing, briefly, some of the many points in the wonderful 
 and interesting chemistry of the cow, I shall endeavor, after discuss- 
 ing her composition, to give chemical reasons for what has already 
 been discovered to be the best treatment of hei', and why certain 
 kinds of food may best enable her to pay the varied tribute you 
 require. 
 
 First, let us attempt a simple analysis of the cow as a portion of 
 matter, losing sight, for the moment, of laer living organism. The 
 chemical elements which are employed in the construction of the 
 animal are, for the most part, four in number, and these four are cor- 
 respondingly abundant in the structure of the vegetable kingdom. 
 The first is known as carbon. You see it most frequently as charcoal ; 
 it occurs in a state of purity in the diamond. If you should burn this 
 table in the charcoal heap, so as to exclude, as far as possible, the action 
 of the air, you would obtain, speaking in round numbers, fifty parts 
 of carbon out of every hundred parts as you now see it. Subject the 
 cow to a similar treatment, after removing the sui-plus water as the 
 sap has parted from this dry wood, and the result would not be widely 
 difi'erent. The three other elements, aside from carbon, are gases, 
 which, when pure, are tasteless, odorless and colorless. They are 
 known as oxygen, hydrogen and idtrogen. Of these, oxygen is the 
 most active combining agent we know of, and it is the most abundant 
 substance on the globe. Without it there could be no light and no 
 life. It unites chemically with hydrogen to form water ; it is diluted 
 with nitrogen in the air we breathe. Hydrogen is the lightest known 
 form of matter. By its agency the balloon rises through the air ; 
 combined with carbon, in street gas, in the diSerent oils and in the 
 candle, it aflbrds an artificial illumination. Nitrogen is most valua- 
 ble for what it prevents. Remove it from the air, and the sharp 
 oxygen would destroy the life it -now supports, and would make fire 
 a master instead of a servant. These four elements are the great 
 formers of all animal substances. Besides them, we find lime and 
 phosphorus in the bones, traces of sulphur in the horns and hair, and 
 iron in the blood. With these few familiar elements nature makes 
 up the cow. To produce the various parts, so difi'erent in appearance 
 and in action, she changes the amount of each component, and to 
 each compound thus formed chemists assign a specific name. When 
 fifty-three parts of carbon, twenty-two of oxygen, fifteen of nitrogen. 
 
104 
 
 seven of hydrogen, combine with traces of sulphur and phosphorus, 
 a substance is formed called albumen, and this substance is distributed 
 in different proportions through the blood, the muscles and the bones 
 of the animal. If we change the proportions of the combining ele- 
 ments slightly, the result is fihrine, which forms the basis of the lean 
 portion of the flesh. Another change in the proportions, with the 
 absence of phosphorus, gives the formula for caseine, the curd of 
 milk, while further changes afford gelatine, existing largely in the 
 skin, muscles and membranes, and keratine, the peculiar compound 
 forming horns and hair. To fully explain how these slight changes 
 in amounts, when the same elements are used, produce compounds so 
 widely different, as we notice their appearance or perceive their 
 aclions in the animal economy, the chemist is as yet unable. For 
 many years this has been attributed to a mysterious principle or 
 force existing in the animal called life, and this life, it was thought, 
 the chemist could never fully understand or imitate. Later experi- 
 ments, however, seem to declare that compounds formed in the living 
 animal are governed by the same laws which determine the combina- 
 tion of dead matter. . Take a piece of alum, for instance. It exists 
 ready formed in the earth, as albumen exists ready formed in the ani- 
 mal. It is a compound made of as many elements as albumen. 
 Chemical manufacturers make alum by the ton, by joining its com- 
 ponents under conditions necessary for their union ; and chemists 
 claim to-day that animal compounds, when the conditions are fuUy 
 determined, may be formed in the same manner and in accordance 
 with the same laws. To establish this theory, they point to simpler 
 transformations from the dead to the so-called living which they have . 
 accomplished ; but more facts are necessary before we can add their 
 predictions to our accepted science. 
 
 That the cow lives in accordance with the laws of chemistry can 
 not be doubted. That she adds to her body and sustains it by chemi- 
 cal processes is true also. It is safe to call a cow a laboratory, a 
 laboratory for the manufacture of chemical products, and that the 
 chemistry she practices is not falsely theoretical nor visionary, the 
 pleasant homes of Herkimer county with their well-dressed and well- 
 fed inmates can testify. Let us then view the cow as a laboratory. 
 When she was free, when she could move her intricate and beautiful 
 apparatus from place to place, taxing it only to sustain herself and to 
 furnish life and sustenance for the reproduction of her kind, there 
 was probably little disarrangement, and the laws which governed her 
 met with no obstacles in accomplishing desired results. But now 
 
105 
 
 she is placed under bonds. Her capabilities are taxed to their utmosi 
 It becomes necessary that she should no longer have full liberty t 
 follow her instincts in selecting the materials for her manufacture, o 
 in warming and lighting her factory. How essential it would seer 
 that those who undertake to substitute a treatment of their own fo 
 that which nature prompts the cow to exercise, should understan 
 well everything pertaining to her. Can not they excel by makin 
 that treatment, in manj?- points, as natural as possible ? 
 
 One of the most important agencies employed by the chemist i 
 his processes is heat, and a furnace is found in every well furnishe 
 laboratory. Were it not for the oxygen in the air no heat could b 
 generated. The oxygen entering through the draft supports th 
 decomposition of the carbon and hydrogen in the coal, combines wit 
 the separated elements and passes out through the flue. We find i: 
 the cow a furnace similar to that in the laboratory. It supports 
 life-long flame, for when the warm breath can be no longer detecte 
 something which we call its life is gone. The lungs are the furnace 
 in the animal structure. By them the air is drawn from without an 
 placed in contact with the blood derived from the food. The bloo 
 seizes the oxygen, combustion takes place, and while the burning i 
 still in process it is driven to every part of the body to warm it, anc 
 as we say, to enliven it. When the blood takes the oxygen from th 
 air it fills its place with its own surplus carbon and the new con: 
 pound, no longer life-giving, is expelled from the lungs as the poisor 
 ous gases and smoke are drawn away through the chimney. Sue' 
 is the process of respiration which your cow shares with othe 
 animals. It is a chemical interchange of component parts, and th 
 heat resulting from the recombination is not the only benefit derive^ 
 from the operation. When the blood changes its proportion of eh 
 ments by the assumption of more oxygen than it possessed before 
 new substances are formed and these substances are carried to th 
 parts which most require them, and know best how to use then 
 We see then how essential the possession of abundant oxygen is t 
 the cow to enable her to accomplish her internal manufacturt 
 Abundant oxygen means simply plenty of good fi'esh air. Agricu 
 tural writers and intelligent farmers are continually urging th 
 importance of thorough and perfect ventilation in buildings in whic 
 cows are kept. Experience has taught its value. A study of th 
 chemical oflices performed by fresh air in the animal economj 
 strengthens the assertions of experience by demonstrating how it : 
 become a necessity. 
 
106 
 
 The chemist in his laboratory creates nothing and destroys nothing. 
 He can transpose and exchange portions of matter. He can take 
 the raw material, and, varying his conditions, draw from the air a 
 necessary element, or he can cast upon the air what he wishes to 
 remove. The result may be a product very different from the 
 material furnished him. What analogy do we find in our organic 
 laboratory ? You furnish your cow a vegetable substance, she 
 returns it to you an animal substance. You feed her what you would 
 starve upon, she not only lives, but affords a surplus which satisfies 
 your appetite, and throws a second surplus into youf pocket. Is she 
 not a practical and profitable chemist? Like the chemist in his lab- 
 oratory, the cow in her use of food, which is her raw material, can 
 create nothing, and destroy nothing. What we call her life, is her 
 ability to furnish conditions for the chemical interchange and rear- 
 rangement of the elements which compose her food. How this 
 interchange is accomplished the chemist can not certainly declare. 
 It was thought for many years that as a substance underwent a pro- 
 cess of digestion, besides being reduced to a minute division, each 
 atom of matter was torn from its combination and each atom by itself 
 passed into the furnace, or breathing apparatus, and then recombined 
 in the blood. Another theory, possessing much proof of its accuracy 
 declares that there are compounds in the vegetable which in digestion 
 do not lose their combination, but pass directly to the blood, ready 
 formed as we may say. It would seem as though the animal availed 
 itself of the advantage of vegetable growth, not only using the ele- 
 ments of the vegetable, but using them as the vegetable has joined 
 them. From this theory of the operation of the functions of diges- 
 tion doubtless arose the idea of special feeding, or feeding with a view 
 to the increase of a special product. If the cow can, to enlarge upon 
 the illustration of another, take bricks ready baked from the vegeta- 
 ble in the construction of her building ; if she is not obliged to 
 resolve them into the clay of which they are formed before they are 
 fitted for her use, then the theory of special feeding is a scientific the- 
 ory, and the cow should be abundantly supplied from whatever vege- 
 table brick-yard contains the most ready-made material she most 
 requires. Chemical analyses of milk show that its composition varies 
 in different samples taken from different cows, or from the same cow 
 at different times ; and this difference seems to accord with a differ- 
 ence in the material furnished her as food. It would seem natural 
 ,that such should be the case. That watery, succulent food should 
 produce a large amount of thin milk, with little " scum " rising on 
 
it to horrify our city cousins. That richer food, abounding in oi 
 substance, should lessen the quantity of milk, but charge it with 
 greater weight of butter globules. That the fibrin abundant in sor 
 kinds of food should produce a corresponding amount of curd 
 caseine. As yet experiments do not fully substantiate this seeming 
 plausible theory. A newspaper paragraph, the origin of which I ca 
 not trace, speaking of this matter, says : 
 
 " A series of experiments prosecuted not long since in Germany li 
 to the conclusion that, contrary to the usual impression on the subje( 
 very considerable changes in the composition of food may be ma( 
 without inducing corresponding changes in the relative constit 
 ents of the milk of the cow. No influence on the amount < 
 caseine could be traced to the food. The influence of food on tl 
 amount of fat is seen to be very small. Increase of the fatty el 
 ments of the food did not specially affect the amount of butter; tl 
 variations in the percentage amount of caseine and fat are to be atti 
 buted to irregularities in the fat production in the gland. The farm^ 
 must, therefore, not hope by variations in the food to produce a ' bi 
 ter-cow ' or a ' cheese-cow.' " 
 
 If this is true, there must be bounds which our chemistry of foe 
 can not pass, or conditions which it does not yet xmderstand. It 
 known that some substances can carry themselves from the food in 
 the milk witout losing their characteristics. The onion, or garlic, f 
 instance, manifests its presence unmistakably. Color may also 1 
 imparted by the food. To do this there must be a transposition of 
 compound from the food into the milk, for to break up the compour 
 is to destroy its identity. An argument in favour of special feedir 
 can be found in the experience of those who have practiced feedii 
 bone meal to calves and to cows at a time when it becomes necessai 
 for them to store up an unusual amount of bone material. This boi 
 meal is beneficial, because it can be placed in the animal structure : 
 almost the same form in which it enters the stomach. It may be th 
 the theory of feeding to accomplish a special result is true within ce 
 tain limits, the limits being the capabilities of the animal. Thei 
 capabilities vary in different breeds and in individuals ; and, as oi 
 laboratory may excel another in the character and adaptation of i 
 apparatus, so one cow may possess, in a greater degree than anothe 
 the ability to furnish conditions which shall produce milk, water 
 oily or curdy. Experience has taught, I believe, that a change : 
 food or a mixed food is best for cows, and chemistry would prescril 
 it also. There is a great demand in the animal for different materit 
 
108 
 
 and besides the offices which food performs in the mannfacture of 
 milk, another important duty is required of it. As the process of 
 respiration goes on, as we noticed before, oxygen is taken from the 
 air, and its place is filled with carbon before it is exhaled. Now this 
 carbon which is thrown out of the system is wasted, notwithstanding 
 the necessary w-ork it has accomplished in the combustion which 
 warms the animal. The animal must, then, store up a surplus amount 
 of carbon as fuel. The carbon used in respiration may be derived 
 from several animal substances. It will use first what is most availa- 
 ble or most easily converted. If you deny an animal food, if, in 
 short, you starve it, the fat will disappear first, next the lean, then the 
 strong muscles and bones will lose their strength and hardness imtil 
 life is extinct. The animal is literally burned up, because of the con- 
 tinual demand for carbon in the furnace ; a demand which ceases not 
 with the supply of food, but with life alone. Thus we see that of 
 the fixed constituents of the body the fat yields its carbon most rea- 
 dily. But there are substances in the food which afi'ord better fuel 
 than fat, and these are starch and sugar. They are better, because 
 their composition is simpler. While, then, you are feeding hay, oil- 
 cake, seed, meal or grain, all of which contain matter to build up the 
 animal or enrich its products, to secure the full benefits of this food 
 you may supply the waste of respiration by feeding starch and sugar, 
 and these substances occur most abundantly in what are called the 
 " root crops." Such would seem to be the part which roots play in 
 "chemistry of the cow." The chemical theory which pronounces 
 them valuable must be true, for experience recommends their use. 
 Other good effects which they may produce it is not necessary to men- 
 tion here. 
 
 A question of treatment is suggested by the consideration of the 
 carbon employed in warming the animal. Of course the greater 
 amount of heat required to warm it, the more carbon is wasted, and 
 the more food prevented from placing itself in the flesh or in the 
 milk. Chemistry would teach, then, that the air in which the cow 
 lives should be comfortably warm as well as pure. A man could 
 hardly better expect his cow to lay up value while she is obliged to 
 burn all her food in warming her machinery, than he could expect to 
 increase his bank account by spending all he could acquire to warm 
 his house with the windows open. Common sense alone would 
 declare that everything which occasions waste should be guarded 
 against. Unkind or irregular treatment, over-exertion and a hundred 
 other apparently trivial causes have effected a loss of flesh, or of milk, 
 
or have prevented the functions of the animal from accomplishing t 
 ends which nature requires of them. That these may sometimes ! 
 through the disposition, does not throw them beyond the rule 
 chemistry, for the most careful students of animal chemistry assv 
 us that anything which acts unpleasantly upon the disposition has 
 eifect upon the very fibre of the animal. They show that not or 
 is the customary increase prevented but that an actual loss is oc( 
 sioned. In our chemistry of food we have noticed only these sr 
 stances which seemed calculated to produce a good effect upon t 
 animal ; as much could be said of food when by some condition of 
 an opposite result attends its use. Of injurious substances whi 
 may exist in the material furnished the animal the latest discovered 
 a fungus which is found in stagnant water and which preserves 
 living identity as it passes through the laboratory of the cow a 
 reappears in the blood and in the milk. Its presence occasions d 
 ease in the animal, and as it is carried from the animal in the milk 
 may in turn be transferred from the milk to all who use it. Speaki 
 of tliis fungus, President Willard has said : 
 
 " Although it was known that the milk from cows drinking t 
 putrid or foul water of sloughs and rnud-holes had caused much trc 
 ble at cheese factories, still dairymen hardly appreciated the fi 
 extent of the trouble, or were aware of the precise nature of the inju 
 caused by such water. If the lives of these foul organisms are v 
 destroyed when taken up by cows in their drink, but pass into circ 
 lation, tainting the blood, entering the secretions and establishing th( 
 
 filthy abode in the milk, there to increase and multiply in vast numbe 
 causing the milk to be a mass of filth, then it is reasonable to suppc 
 that persons partaking of this milk, even when freshly drawn, are 1 
 ble to have their blood also inoculated, and thereby contract diseast 
 But this subject of the condition of sustaining materials, and t 
 life or deatli it may contain, deserves a closer and fuller treatm€ 
 than I could give it here. Each one for himself, with all the mea 
 in his power, should make it a study. The matter contains no m; 
 tery which thorough study and experiment can not make clear, 
 dosing this hurried review of the chemistry of the cow, I can not l 
 state again that our knowledge in chemistry is attained only throu 
 experiment and experience. Try and try again for facts, is the li 
 guage of the laboratory. A thousand years of alchemy in the seai 
 for the philosopher's stone, may be termed a thousand false theor 
 working for a fact. The history of our hundred years of chemistry 
 better. We maj'' call it a tliousand facts evolving a theory. 
 
310 
 
 Cheese Making as a Science. 
 By T. D. Curtis, Utica, N. Y. 
 
 The subject which I have chosen is so comprehensive that I shall 
 be able to treat it only in a very general manner. 
 
 " Cheese-making as a science," can not be exhausted in a single 
 paper, however complete the knowledge of the writer, or however 
 much time and attention he might bestow upon it. Like the fungi 
 which our chemical friends tell us develop themselves in the cheese 
 until its entire mass is broken down, this subject grows naturally on 
 one's hands until it comprehends all the details of cheese-making. 
 But I only propose to take a general view of cheese-making as a sci- 
 ence, in contra-distiuction to cheese-making as an art, and more espe- 
 cially to show the necessity for more scientific processes. On the 
 start, however, I find the distinction between art and applied science 
 so very shadowy that I am at a loss how and where to draw the line 
 betweeii them. The first definition of art, as given by "Webster, is : 
 " The employment of means to' accomplish some desired end ; the 
 adaptation of things in the natural world to the uses of life ; the appli- 
 cation of knowledge or power to practical purposes." 
 
 This is, perhaps, applicable to the present condition of cheese-mak- 
 ing, which involves an intelligent adaptation of means to ends, with- 
 out necessarily comprehending how the end is reached by the means. 
 It is satisfied with the simple fact of attaining the end, without under- 
 standing the laws involved in the operation, or being able to modify 
 the means or vary its application, should the end not be quite such 
 as is expected. It is content to go through with a certain kind of 
 routine, and take the result as a necessity, whether it is what is desired 
 or not. This, it seems to me, clearly enough defines the process of 
 cheese-making as practiced by most of our manufacturers. They 
 practice the art according to certain rules, formulas, prejudices, 
 customs and even superstitions, without venturing to vary the opera- 
 tion in the least particular, for fear of injuring the product. Then, 
 if the product is not right, they feel perfectly justified, and can say 
 they were never more particular, and never took more pains. The 
 result is unaccountable, and must be owing to something in the milk, 
 for which the cheese-maker is not responsible. Perhaps the whole 
 difiiculty has grown out of a lack of knowledge of the real condi- 
 tion of the milk, .which has undergone ouly natural changes that 
 might have been turned to advantage, or, at least, counteracted by 
 some simple variation of the process, did the cheese-maker possess 
 the requisite knowledge. 
 
Ill 
 
 Science, according to "Webster, means " knowledge duly arrange 
 and referred to general truths and principles on which it is founded 
 and applied science " is a knowledge of facts, events or phenomen 
 as explained, accounted for, or produced by means of powers, caus^ 
 or laws." 
 
 The cheese-maker, therefore, who plies his vocation as a sciem 
 thoroughly understands and comprehends every step in the proces 
 He has a proper regard for all the changes, conditions and eircur 
 stances, counteracting or taking advantage of them, as may be nece 
 sary to ' reach a definite and satisfactory result. He never goes 
 blind, doing to-day just as he did yesterday, because he knows r 
 better — but does to-day as the present circumstances and conditio] 
 dictate without any reference to what he did yesterday ; and ye 
 though doing something different every day, he invariably reach( 
 the same result, and produces a rich, mellow, buttery, and swee 
 flavored cheese. 
 
 I am well aware that many doubt the possibility of reducing chees 
 making to a science. Nevertheless, I have faith that ultimate! 
 cheese-making will be recognized as properly belonging to the domai 
 of science as much as any other branch of chemistry. The who 
 process is chemical, and the only mechanical appliances are for tl 
 purposes of convenience or for assisting the chemical changes. "W 
 may not, perhaps, be able to rank cheese-making among the exai 
 sciences, like mathematics, but I do not see why we may not redu( 
 it to as great accuracy as any other chemical operation. True, ^^ 
 have a very complex and delicate material to deal with — one con tail 
 ing in itself the elements of great and rapid changes. In its ult 
 mate analysis, it contains a large number of ingredients every one ( 
 which is ready to fly off" and recognize new aflinities, when the 
 present themselves, without even the license of an Indiana divorci 
 Still we know what milk is, as a whole, and may readily possess ou 
 selves of a knowledge of the nature and characteristics of every or 
 of its component ingredients. With this knowledge, we have onl 
 to keep all dangerous aflinities out of the way — to lead it not inl 
 temptation — and bring it into contact with only such substances s 
 will form such combinations as we desire. We must, by the us 
 of simple tests or reagents, first ascertain whether our milk is pun 
 and what foreign substances, if any, are present. Then we must u£ 
 such other material as will neutralize and render harmless any ingred 
 ent not of itself harmless. The better way is to use such care as wi 
 give us only pure milk to work with ; and not only pure milk, bi 
 
112 
 
 milk in a wholesome condition — for conditions are sometimes as fatal 
 as the presence of an active poison. Take, for illustration, the familiar 
 phenomena of poisoning with Bologna sausage. No test has ever 
 been successful in detecting the presence of any poison simple or 
 compound. Yet the condition of the molecules of the sausage a,re 
 such that by contact with the molecules of the human system, as they 
 enter into the circulation, they decompose them and cause the victim 
 to slowly waste away until nothing but skin and bones, tendons and 
 a little fat, are left. The body is reduced to a condition analogous to 
 that of a dried mummy, and when death relieves the patient, the 
 carcass is as stiff as if frozen, and resists decomposition. This extra- 
 ordinary effect is the result of a peculiar arrangement of the atoms 
 of the sausage — a condition which is destroyed by either alcohd'or 
 boiling water, without imparting any poisonous quality to the water 
 or the alcohol. The whole is the result of a mere condition ; and, 
 doubtless, poisoned cheese, which we sometimes read of, is the result 
 of a similar condition. 
 
 "We, therefore, need to have a full understanding of conditiofts as 
 well as of ingredients. In other words, we need to have a scientific 
 knowledge, not only of milk in general, but of the identical batch 
 before us, which we are to work up into cheese. And, as the presence 
 of any foreign substance or influence may greatly disturb our opera- 
 tions and vary our results, if not ruin our product, it is essential that 
 we should have a pure atmosphere to work in. It will not do to 
 have the walls and ceilings of the room hung with mould, and the air 
 loaded with the spores of fungi. If we do, they will settle in our vat, 
 seize upon the nitrogen of the milk, and develop a crop of products 
 quite different from what we aim at. It may be that we want to 
 produce a fungus growth in our curd, but we have a choice in the 
 varieties. If not, we might let our milk stand in a mouldy atmosphere 
 and make itself into cheese. 
 
 It may be that the spores of the blue mould, and the cells which 
 constitute the active principle of rennet, are identical, to all appear- 
 ance, as some of the chemists tell us. But the fact that the ferments 
 which collect in badly cleaned vessels and utensils have such a per- 
 nicious effect, while the cells of the rennet operate to our satisfaction, 
 is demonstration enough that they are not identical ; at least, not in 
 condition, if they are in fact. Besides, it is a well known fact in 
 chemistry that cells which appear identical produce different effects 
 on the particles of matter with which they come in contact. They 
 do not unite with them ; but they repel some while they attract others 
 
113 
 
 and impart to them, by some sort of secret magnetism, their own 
 peculiar motion, which develops in them the peculiar qualities of the 
 impregnating cell. This, in turn, inoculates its neighbor, and thus 
 the dance of life goes on to the point of utter exhaustion, when death 
 stops the dizzy whirl, and nothing but decomposed organic matter 
 remains. In this way a dozen cells, looking exactly alike xmder the 
 microscope, may produce a dozen different varieties of development. 
 They all belong to the fungus family, but are different branches of it, 
 and each possesses its own characteristics and disposition. So, you 
 may depend upon it, the cells that drop from your ceiling into your 
 milk vat produce their like, and the cells of the rennet which you stir 
 in produce theirs, and the two are not friendly to each other, however 
 nearly they may be related. There are such things as family quar- 
 rels ; and it is very desirable to keep them out of the cheese vat. 
 
 Again, the same kind of cell may produce a different kind of growth 
 under different conditions. The same cell which develops lactic acid 
 may, also, by a change of conditions, develop acetic acid ; and still 
 another change produces vinous fermentation and alcohol. Now, 
 does the action of the rennet cells necessarily produce acid of any 
 kind ? Has this point ever been determined ? I think not. I believe 
 we may have perfect coagulation and separation of the whey without 
 acidity. But, to have this, we must entirely exclude the oxygen of 
 the atmosphere. It is possible that it will some time be discovered 
 that, in the process of cheese-making, we develop at least two kinds 
 of fungi, perhaps nearly identical in appearance, and having a sort of 
 parallel relation to each other, but still quite different. First, and 
 most natural, is the acid development, ranging all the way through 
 the lactic, the acetic and the vinous fermentation. This we can have 
 without the assistance of rennet ; and one or all of these kinds of fer- 
 mentation we think necessary. But who knows, when he is working 
 a vat, whether he is making lactic acid, vinegar or alcohol? Had he 
 the requisite scientific knowledge and the proper tests at hand, could 
 he not tell ? Would not even an intelligent use of the microscope 
 show him ? Knowing what he was doing and what was wanted, 
 would not a knowledge of the different effects of different tempera- 
 tures enable him to develop the desired acid in the desired propor- 
 tion ? The brewers seem to understand this matter of developing 
 acids better than the cheese-makers do. Why ? Because they have 
 introduced more science into their business. Wells says, in his text- 
 book on Chemistry, that vinous or alcoholic fermentation is ordinarily 
 limited to the range of temperature from 50° to 86°; and about 60° 
 
114 
 
 is the tempei-ature employed by beer brewers. Lactic fermentation 
 is best promoted by a temperature ranging from 86° to 94°. But, in 
 the first stages of decomposition, the temperature of 95° produces 
 butyric fermentation and develops butyric acid out of the caseine ; 
 while, in an advanced stage, at 100°, milk enters rapidly into vinous 
 fermentation, and alcohol is the product. What point is most favora- 
 ble to acetic fermentation, I have, in the limited time I have devoted 
 to the subject, been unable to ascertain; but perhaps our mutual 
 friend, Hon. Harris Lewis, can tell us. 
 
 The decomposition of milk undoubtedly begins as soon as it is 
 drawn from the cow. The change is slow at first, because the fungus 
 seeds are few ; but as they gradually settle in the liquid and germi- 
 nate, decomposition goes on with accelerated speed. But if we keep 
 milk entirely from the air, it will remain sweet an indefinite length 
 of time. Or, if we heat it to the boiling point, so as to destroy the 
 vitality of the fungus spores, and bottle it air tight, it will keep sweet 
 a great length of time. This shows us conclusively that the acid 
 development comes from the atmosphere. The fungus seeds appear 
 to be the acid-makers. Knowing this fact, we ought to be able to 
 control and direct their work by scientific methods. But, so far from 
 this, everything is now left to chance ; and no cheese-maker knows 
 whether his curd is in the lactic state, is turning to vinegar, or getting 
 into an intoxicated condition, though sober himself. 
 
 Let us now pass to the development produced by the rennet. How 
 much do we know about this? How much are the chemists and 
 microscopists able to tell us about it ? Their lore on this branch of 
 the subject is still musty and mouldy. It is but a short time since they 
 held that the active properties of rennet were acid. They have 
 since discovered that the virtue of rennet lies in numerous little cells 
 capable of rapidly reproducing themselves when the conditions are 
 favorable. These conditions are found in milk ; but, temperature 
 again comes in. That must be right. What degree is the most 
 favorable ? Does any one of my hearers know ? Nature puts the 
 point at blood heat, never allowing the air to strike the milk ; and 
 it is reasonable to suppose that the cheese made in the stomach of 
 the young is of the finest kind. It readily digests, and, if diges- 
 tion is perfect, there is not much doubt that the cheese is free 
 from acid. It soon passes into a liquid form, when it is almost like 
 pure blood, which it soon becomes, when it is alkaline instead of sour. 
 
 We know as yet but little of how the rennet converts the milk into 
 curd, or what part it plays with the acids in the curing of cheese. 
 
115 
 
 That it continues to act, so long as its cells find food for their develop- 
 naent, appears to be quite certain. If we put in a large quantity of 
 rennet, the milk soon coagulates, and we find the cheese cures rapidly, 
 and is soft and salvy. If we put in but little rennet, coagulation is 
 slow, the cheese cures slowly, and is dry and apparently poor in 
 quality. To produce the proper texture, we must hit the happy mean 
 in the use of rennet, and accidentally develop the acids in the right 
 proportion. I say " accidentally," because we know little or nothing 
 about it, but dip and press our curd when we suppose it has the 
 requisite degree of firmness. Each one has certain signs by which 
 he is more or less governed. But whf) ever saw two batches that 
 looked, felt or smelled exactly alike ? The temperature is about the 
 only thing we are certain of, and this we are not very exact about. 
 We may raise every batch to the same point, whether it ought to be 
 or not, but in the matter of holding the heat, or allowing it to sink, 
 there is great carelessness and indefiniteness. 
 
 In short, though we manufacture such mountains of cheese, and 
 much of it is really of fine quality, we know very little, as yet, about 
 cheese-making. We do our work in a loose, hap-hazard, and most 
 unscientific manner, and the marvel is that we succeed so well. Some 
 thoroughly scientific and practical man needs to take hold of the 
 subject, and pursue his experiments untiringly until we know how to 
 do everything understandingly. Then we can work economically, 
 and with a degree of certainty, as to results, that would now seem 
 marvelous. But what encouragement is there for the man of science 
 to spend his time in making investigations and experiments for the 
 benefit of the cheese-maker ? In a despotic country, the government 
 might consider the dairy interest of sufiicient importance to employ 
 a savant to look into it, and labour for its promotion. We do not do 
 things in this way in this country. Government has all it can do to 
 make places for the politicians and collect the taxes. If anything is 
 done to put cheese-making on a scientific basis, it must be done by 
 the dairymen themselves. Under the auspices of some such organiza- 
 tion as this, they must establish an experimental factory. I have 
 before and elsewhere made this same suggestion. I repeat it here 
 with but little hope and not the least expectation that it will be 
 adopted. I believe such a factory could be made to pay all its own 
 expenses. Let the milk be bought outright of the patrons. Then it 
 would be nobody's business what was done with it. But a small por- 
 tion would be needed for experimental purposes, -and that need 
 seldom be wasted. The rest could be made into cheese in accordance 
 
116 
 
 with the best light obtained on the subject of cheese-making, and 
 sold in the market. A thorough chemist and microscopist would 
 need to be employed ; and he should be assisted by an intelligent and 
 practical superintendent. The other help would not need to be better 
 than what is ordinarily employed in our factories. When we get 
 waked up enough to our own interests to go to work in this sensible 
 and scientific way to obtain practical and scientific knowledge, we 
 shall not be long in putting cheese-making among the sciences — or, at 
 least, among the human occupations having a scientific basis. 
 
 • Abortion. 
 By M. Quinbt, of St. Johnsvillb, N. Y. 
 
 It is unnecessary for me to give all the conclusions of the commis- 
 sioners that were appointed to investigate this malady. They are 
 summed up as follows : 
 
 " 14th. Abortion is a disease which is extremely local in character, 
 and confined for the most part to particular farms. 
 
 " 15th. The large majority of farms, even in the infected districts, 
 are free from the disease, while upon a few farms the percentage of 
 abortion is high, and the disease destructive in its effects. 
 
 " Farms affected, and those unaffected, often lie in close proximity, 
 with no marked difference in physical situation, or in the treatment 
 which the cattle receive, to account for the difference in the preva- 
 lence of abortion." 
 
 They give no theory, and are unable to explain all the phenomena 
 attending it. A great difficulty seems to be' to show why it should 
 affect one farm, and the one adjoining be exempt. I propose to offer 
 an explanation, showing why one is affected and the other not. I 
 am aware that when a mystery has baffled the ingenuity of the whole 
 community to solve, and tliat community has, at the same time, 
 offered many theories that are not accepted, it is very difficult to get 
 even an examination of a new one. I hope, therefore, that you may 
 have much patience, examine with candor, and judge without, preju- 
 dice. 
 
 Seth Green says, in his work on Trout Culture, " We know that 
 the semen of the male is full of animalculse. These will live for ten 
 of fifteen minutes. There is a hole for the reception of animalculse 
 in each egg. The egg always sinks into the water with the hole at 
 the top. It receives one of these animalculse only by this opening, 
 and closes." 
 
 The study of animal physiology discloses enough similar to the 
 
117 
 
 above for our purpose of illustration. That is, nearly all fully- 
 developed, healthy male animals, of the higher orders, secrete incal- 
 culable numbers of animalculae like the male fishes, which are retained 
 in the body till opportunity offers to deposit a part or all in the pro- 
 per receptacle. Each or any one so deposited, with the favorable 
 circumstances attending it, is capable of continuing life in a new 
 being. 
 
 The greatest difference between fish and other animals seems to be 
 in the fact that the female discharges her eggs, and they are after- 
 ward fecundated by the male. But, aside from this, I -wish to show 
 there is much analogy. When this fact in the natural history of 
 fishes was understood, it was at once concluded by some thinkers 
 that if the female fish was taken at just the time she was about to 
 discharge her eggs, and gently stripped, as in milking, her eggs would 
 be extended ; and then, if the male was manipulated in the name 
 way, the eggs would be impregnated as effectually, and more cer- 
 tainly, than when deposited by the parent fish. Success attended 
 their efforts. When the Yankees got hold of this they, in their haste, 
 learned another fact ; and that is, that the eggs must be fully devel- 
 oped, and that the milt of the male must also be fully mature. 
 
 Hon. Stephen Ainsworth, in speaking of artificial impregnation, 
 ; ays : " On the other hand, it must be just as clear to every one that 
 if the spawn are taken artificially, before they are mature, before the 
 albumen is perfectly elaborated, etc., it must be more or less liable to 
 die the first month it commences to feed, from its naturally weak 
 condition." " The longer time tlie spawn are taken before they are 
 ripe, the less in number will impregnate and hatch ; and the more of 
 those that do hatch will die in spite of all the most skillful grower 
 can do for them. * * * If taken so immature that only thirty 
 per cent can be hatched, they will nearly all die within thirty days 
 after they begin to feed; certainly if strong feed be given them." 
 Mr. Ainsworth seems to havs no difficulty to account for the failure 
 of the undeveloped fish. We ought not to have any with the calves. 
 
 The failure of these fish, in this stage of development, affords cases 
 similar to the abortion in the cows; and to the same cause I would 
 attribute nine eases in every ten, viz., unripe, immature, imperfect 
 development of the animalculse, when deposited in the proper recep- 
 tacle. Now whatever theory we adopt, relative to the formation of 
 these life germs, we must admit that there is a time when their exist- 
 ence has just commenced. That, however small when mature, that 
 they do not spring into perfect maturity at once ; that they have a 
 
118 
 
 beginning, progress and maturity ; and if they are discharged from the 
 male before they do mature, they either fail to impregnate at all, or 
 do it with the life germ so feeble from the immaturity that it cannot 
 live to develop an independent healthy being. Among all the ani- 
 mals, there seems to be no one more liable to exhaust his supply of 
 mature animalculse than the bull in our large dairies, as they are 
 generally managed. However rapid the production and accumula- 
 tion of these germs, they must occasionally exhaust the whole. No 
 animal seems more disposed to effectually do so than the bull. When 
 every particle of mature secretions is discharged, and another tempta- 
 tion is presented, there is no hesitation with him; these organs are 
 called upon for a supply of fluid, immature, as it must be necessarily. 
 This state of things in some dairies is repeated continually for weeks 
 together. The muscles of the body are strengthened by proper use ; 
 but, when overtaxed, destroyed. On the same principle the male 
 organs, being continually stimulated to undue action, do not retain 
 the semen to mature, and the secretions cannot be healthy. With 
 some, virility is entirely destroyed, as in case of young animals. 
 Half developed, half formed animalculee only are produced ; and 
 when this excess is repeated till enfeebled action is fully established, 
 we must expect abortion as the result of such enfeebled secretions. 
 It does not appear to have been thought possible that, as long as we 
 could get it mature enongh to produce conception, even though it 
 was an abortion, it could be anything less than perfect. In consider- 
 ing all material healthy and perfect, that will, or does impregnate, is 
 at the foundation of much erroneous theorizing. The commissioners 
 seem to take this view. (See report for 1869.) " Tour commissioner 
 desires to be understood in this question. He does not, in either 
 report, assert or intend to imply that the age of the bull is likely to 
 influence, in one way or another, the probability of a cow once 
 impregnated carrying her calf to term. The foetus, conceived by a 
 young bull, would be just as likely to live as that conceived by an 
 older one. The ovum once having been impregnated by healthy 
 material, is under care of the dam, to whom we must thereafter look 
 for any stoppage in the natural process of gestation." The commis- 
 sioners do not express a thought that it is possible that unhealthy or 
 undeveloped material can impregnate. 
 
 The germ might be somewhat developed, like the fish eggs, that 
 live for a time, and yet fail half way. When the strong bull has rest, 
 after even excess, for a few hours only, for some of these half developed 
 animalculse to fully mature and ripen, the result would be the full- 
 
119 
 
 term calf. Occasionally he does get a few hours' rest, and occasion- 
 ally some of the cows go the fall term. When a young bull, or 
 stallion, has been used to excess, and become sterile in consequence, 
 it can be accounted for on this principle. Instead of retaining these 
 germs — as they often are, for months after they are matured, as in 
 animals never urged to excess — the habit of discharging them when 
 immature, is fully established, and continued long after the stimulus 
 has ceased to operate. The whole system becomes demoralized, and 
 discharges are continuous and involuntary. 
 
 "We find analogy in the vegetable kingdom in the seed. The germ 
 of the tree, shrub or plant is inclosed in a coating of some kind, to 
 retain and perfect it, till deposited in its proper receptacle, moist 
 earth. The kernel of wheat, or grain of mustard, when perfected 
 and ripened, is endowed with and will retain the living principle for 
 years, and, when received by the universal mother, will absorb the 
 nourishment necessary to develop into an independent being. But 
 how is it with the unripe seed that has not yet matured vitality to 
 live beyond a few weeks, after separation from the parent stem ? It 
 must die, although surrounded by congenial elements. The seeds 
 that are separated when possessing only vitality sufficient for a short 
 time, would sprout and wither like the animal seed half ripened, that ' 
 thrives for a few weeks, only to perish. 
 
 In propagating plants, shrubs, or even trees, it is all important 
 that they are sufficiently ripened to retain life till self-supporting. 
 N"urserymen, in propagating some varieties of the grape, find it neces- 
 sary to place the slips in certain conditions — bottom heat — for a time, 
 to develop roots before the leaves ; otherwise the slip dies in a few 
 days or weeks after the leaves are expanded. The little rootlets 
 are needed to supply the exhalations from the leaves. The unripe 
 animal germ, or animalcule, may thrive for a time ; but, without 
 the rootlets or absorbents sufficiently developed in the male recep- 
 tacle to sustain it, it must fall. The cause of failure, whatever 
 it is, operates only in districts where there are large dairies. In 
 the greater part of Greene county, in this State, as in some other 
 river counties, pressed hay is sold extensively. No dairies of over a 
 dozen cows are found. Abortions are never heard of. The bull is 
 never taxed as where there are large dairies. Where large dairies are 
 just established it does not show itself. Every bull is hardy, strong 
 and fully developed. It takes time, and perhaps several generations, 
 to breed animals with this weakness, producing such disastrous 
 results. Let such exhaustive service be called for from a perfectly 
 
120 
 
 healthy and vigorous animal. Although the foetus of all may be car- 
 ried to the end of the term, the hardiness of the parent is not trans- 
 mitted to all alike. It is conceded that qualities are transmitted to 
 offspring ; and nothing is more likely to follow than the condition 
 of the parent at the time of service. Now, when the healthy con- 
 dition is exhausted, and, by continual irritation, fever is produced, 
 and followed by a feeble state at the time, we must expect the calves 
 of such getting to be more susceptible to such influences than those 
 begotten in perfect health. Let dairymen keep such calves — begotten 
 when weakened — because they are fine in form, and they have bulla 
 already weak in points where the greatest strength and vigor is 
 needed for what is required. The animal that inherits enfeebled 
 constitution, consequently unhealthy, or that state susceptible of dis- 
 ease, will be likely to transmit to still greater extent this condition to 
 his progeny. When several generations have been bred by this 
 excessive exhaustion, we have constitutions of both sexes so weakened 
 that we ought not to expect anything to mature. It is much easier 
 to exhaust and run down than to build up. We cannot build up . 
 strength and vigor readily by starting from an excessively weak point. 
 As a remedy, then, I would recommend returning to first principles — 
 ■ this remedy recommends itself, it never has failed — get back to those 
 involved in small dairies. Put restrictions on all excess. Procure a 
 bull from a herd where there has been no excess for at least' several 
 generations previously, lest he inherit the weakness causing failure. 
 Keep him excluded from the cows, not by shutting him in a dark, 
 close, unhealthy cellar, but in the open air. Break him to the halter, 
 and never let him serve with more than one leap per day, when daily 
 service is likely to be required. 
 
 To show what is generally considered moderation, I will quote from 
 Country Gentleman,Nov. 9 : 
 
 "Use of Bulls. — In answer to the inquiry of A. C. P., of Royal 
 Oak, Mich., for the best success in breeding, it would be well not to 
 let any bull serve more than thirty cows in sixty days, and unless-very 
 strong not more than twenty. Bulls vary much in vigor, and circum- 
 stances also vary. The services might be very unevenly demanded 
 during the period named. Under proper management, a yearling 
 bull will be considered, by most breeders, sufficient for a herd of 
 twenty to thirty cows, and one two years old or over for a herd of 
 sixty to a hundred, for the mere getting them with calf, but the calves 
 will show it if the bull is overtaxed." 
 
 The way " the calves will show it," is not mentioned ; it is pre- 
 
121 
 
 sumed it is some sort of weakness. I would say, if this two year old 
 should have been bred from this weakening process, and then serve, 
 in the usual way, one hundred cows in sixty days, that some of the 
 calves would indeed " show it," in abortions of one month, six months, 
 or even full term. Can not a weakly, inferior specimen of full term 
 be called an abortion also ? and are not some of the ten thousand dea- 
 cons annually put out of the way, equally so ? It is quite certain that 
 more vitality would be expended in serving thirty cows in sixty days, 
 in the usual excessive way, than would be required to serve effectuallj' 
 one hundred as proposed. A dozen could be served, in what is often 
 taken for one. 
 
 Should the limits named be considered extreme, I will give the 
 suggestions of Dr. Gray, of Utica, who is authority in such matters, 
 and who patiently went over the whole subject, as here presented. 
 Said he, " To convince the majoi-ity of dairymen that you are correct, 
 you must give them further test. From the manner you have 
 explained it, some few will be satisfied that there is something in it 
 worthy of further experiment. Let them procure a bull absolutely 
 free from all suspicion of this weakness. Let him serve with one leap 
 only, once a week, such cows as are in the habit of aborting." On 
 my remarking that most dairymen would consider the limit unneces- 
 sarily strict, he said : " If you go into an experiment to test a thing, 
 why not do it thoroughly, and have no half way work about it ?" I 
 am told that just this principle has been tried, and the results were 
 the same. But every such case, when thoroughly scrutinized, has 
 turned out not quite certain. It was not quite sm-e that the bull's 
 immediate parent was not subjected to excess. Many times tlie man- 
 agement was entrusted to hired men or boys, who are apt to be more 
 indulgent than the proprietor, and report as having carried out his 
 orders, when facts would be just the reverse. One man reported that 
 his grade bull had been kept stabled ; was quite sure that all excess 
 had been carefully avoided, till some of the calves of the neighbors 
 betrayed the sire by the very marks of nearly all his progeny ; show- 
 ing that while he thought his bull was accumulating strength and 
 vigor, in quiet, his stable was opened, the bull used and returned, com- 
 paratively exhausted for his own purposes the next day. Any exper- 
 iments instituted to test this theory, to be worth anything, must be 
 guarded more strictly than this one. 
 
 Another dairyman had come into possession of a farm and dairy of 
 thirty cows, where abortion had prevailed extensively for several years 
 previous. A change was made in the bull — procuring a grade — and 
 
122 
 
 his services limited to one leap. Abortion ceased, and it has not been 
 in the herd since. This comes nearer practicing the remedy than any 
 case I have found ; and yet it is not stated whether this restricted ser- 
 vice was limited to one per day or otherwise. "We want, as Dr. Gray 
 says, reliable reports. 
 
 I am told, also, that it has sometimes prevailed for years in a yard, 
 and ceased all at once, without any assignable cause. N-ow, by fol- 
 lowing out this theory, it is as easily accounted for as effects follow- 
 ing causes the most plain. A change of bull is, first, most probable. 
 If procured from abroad, from some healthy district, where all are 
 vigorous alike, it is clear, and we have another link in the chain of 
 proof. If it was raised on the place, it would be supposed that the 
 sire of such bull had an interval of rest sufficient to fully develop the 
 germ from which he was conceived. Such resting spells must occur 
 before the commencement of the season. Early spring calves are just 
 the ones selected to raise, usually. Here we see the means why those 
 who do it, are exempt, for a time at least, from this malady. Yet this 
 is not reliable. Success is the result of chance. The first calf in 
 spring may be 'brought forth a month in advance of time. Conse- 
 quently, his existence might have commenced at the very weakest 
 point in the parent, of the whole season. "When such happens to be 
 selected for stock, we must not expect to be exempted from conse- 
 quences. Some near neighbors, with quite extensive dairies, have 
 escaped for twenty years, and are afflicted for the first time, the pre- 
 sent winter, with several cases. Have raised bulls, have bought them, 
 and escaped by the chance system till now. Paid no regard to selec- 
 tions ; allowing them to run at large with the cows, but generally had 
 two bulls, where many others had but one. It must be evident to all, 
 that even the limit of Dr. Gray greatly exceeds what nature designed. 
 When the sexes are created equal, it is plain, if left in a state of 
 nature, there would be no possibility, or even inclination, for one to 
 take the place of hundreds. The wild bull of the prairie is quite a 
 different animal from the pampered stall-fed domestic. As different 
 as the fair flower of the prairie is from its descendant, when man, by 
 his stimulating appliances, has converted its simple stamens into beau- 
 tiful corollas, depriving the seed germs of their fructifying influence ; 
 thereby aborting nature in her attempts to continue species by seed. 
 This excessive amativeness is artificial. "We have stimulated this pro- 
 pensity till we have found limits, as in the flower, beyond which 
 nature will not go. "When two centuries of culture of the potato had 
 driven out most of the coarser and hardier varieties, and left the ten- 
 
123 
 
 der and delicate, it was found that farther progress in the good quali- 
 ties of this vegetable was vetoed. The life principle did not keep 
 pace with other qualities. It failed, alarming the whole country. 
 Fearing its extinction. Dr. Goodrich, the great benefactor, saw the 
 necessity of returning to first principles and breeding from pure stock, 
 procuring his male element at least from its native mountains in South 
 America, for a cross with our cultivated varieties. His success — 
 could he have lived to see results — would have surpassed his most 
 sanguine expectations. It added millions to the wealth of the country. 
 And yet, he did not gain perfection ; it was only a vast improvement. 
 He had only half of the original pure type to work with. In this 
 example we have an important lesson, teaching us, when we are 
 beyond nature's sanction, to go back. If possible, to thcf point of the 
 first deviation, and regain proportionately, as we go back, what we 
 have lost, bearing in mind that this malady under discussion is never 
 found, except when the cause here assigned is present, and absolute 
 exemption from it is only where the principles of the remedy sug- 
 gested are fully carried out. 
 
FICHED:.