Domestic Animals

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS-GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF BREEDING, NUTRITION, MANAGEMENT, &c.

The principal domestic animals reared for economical purposes in the United States, are Horned or neat cattle, the Horse, the Mule, Sheep, and Swine. A few Asses are bred, but for no other object than to keep up the supply of jacks for propagating mules. We have also goats, rabbits, and the house domestics, the dog and cat; the two former, only in very limited numbers, but both the latter much beyond our legitimate wants. There have been a few specimens of the Alpaca imported, and an arrangement is now in progress for the introduction of a flock of several hundred, which, if distributed among intelligent and wealthy agriculturists, as proposed, will test their value for increasing our agricultural resources. We shall confine ourselves to some general considerations, connected with the first-mentioned and most important of our domestic animals.

Their number as shown by the agricultural statistics collected in 1839, by order of our General Government, was 15,000,000 neat cattle; 4,335,000 horses and mules, (the number of each not being specified;) 19,311,000 sheep; and 26,300,000 swine. There is much reason to question the entire accuracy of these returns, yet there is doubtless an approximation to the truth. Sheep have greatly increased since that period, and would probably number, the present year, (1848,) not less than 30,000,000; and if our own manufactures continue to thrive, and we should moreover become wool exporters, of which there is now a reasonable prospect, an accurate return for 1850, will undoubtedly give us not less than 33,000,000 for the entire Union. There has been a great increase in the value of the other animals enumerated, but not in a ratio corresponding with that of sheep. This is not only manifest in their augmented numbers, but in the gradual and steady improvement of the species.

It may be safely predicted, that this improvement will not only be sustained, but largely increased; for there are some intelligent and spirited breeders to be found in every section of the country, whose liberal exertions and successful examples are doing much for this object. Wherever intelligence and sound judgment are to be found, it will be impossible long to resist the effects of a comparison between animals, which, on an equal quantity of the same food, with the same attention and in the same time, will return 50, 20, or even 10 per cent. more in their intrinsic value or marketable product, than the ordinary class. This improvement has been, relatively, most conspicuous in the Western and Southern states; not that the present average of excellence in their animals surpasses, or even reaches that of the North and East; but the latter have long been pursuing this object, with more or less energy, and they have for many years had large numbers of excellent specimens of each variety; while with few exceptions, if we exclude the blood-horse or racing nag, the former have, till recently, paid comparatively little attention to the improvement of their domestic animals. The spirit for improvement through extensive sections, is now awakened, and the older settled portions of the country may hereafter expect competitors, whose success will be fully commensurate with their own. Before going into the management of the different varieties, we will give some general principles and remarks applicable to the treatment of all.

The purpose for which animals are required, should be first determined, before selecting such as may be necessary either for breeding or use. Throughout the Northeastern states, cows for the dairy, oxen for the yoke, and both for the butcher, are wanted. In much of the West and South, beef alone is the principal object; while the dairy is neglected, and the work of the ox is seldom relied on, except for occasional drudgery.

Sheep may be wanted almost exclusively for the fleece, or for the fleece and heavy mutton, or in the neighborhood of markets, for large early lambs. The pastures and winter food, climate, and other conditions, present additional circumstances, which should be well considered before determining on the particular breed, either of cattle or sheep, that will best promote the interest of the farmer.

The kind of work for which the horse may be wanted, whether as a roadster, for the saddle, as a heavy team horse, or the horse of all work, must be first decided, before selecting the form or character of the animal.

The range of pig excellence is more circumscribed, as it is only necessary to breed such as will yield the greatest amount of valuable carcass, within the shortest time, and with the least expense.

PRINCIPLES OF BREEDING.

All breeding is founded on the principle, that like begets like. This is, however, liable to some exceptions, and is much more generally true when breeding down than when breeding up. If two animals (which can never be exactly similar in all respects) are requisite to the perpetuation of the species, it necessarily results, that the progeny must differ in a more or less degree from each parent. With wild animals, and such of the domestic as are allowed to propagate without the interference of art, and whose habits, treatment, and food are nearly similar to their natural condition, the change through successive generations is scarcely perceptible. It is only when we attempt to improve their good qualities, that it is essential carefully to determine, and rigidly to apply, what are adopted as the present scientific principles of breeding. We cannot believe that we have penetrated beyond the mere threshold of this art. Unless, then, we launch into experiments, which are necessarily attended with uncertainty, our duty will be, to take for our guide the most successful practice of modern times, until further discoveries enable us to modify or add to such as are already known and adopted. We may assume, then, as the present rules for this art,

1st. That the animals selected for breed, should unite in themselves all the good qualities we wish to perpetuate in the offspring.

2d. These qualities, technically called points, should be inbred in the animals as far as practicable, by a long line of descent from parents similarly constituted. The necessity for this rule is evident from the fact, that in mixing different species, and especially mongrels, with a long-established breed, the latter will most strongly stamp the issue with its own peculiarities. This is forcibly illustrated in the case of the Devon cattle, an ancient race, whose color, form, and characteristics are strikingly perpetuated, sometimes to the sixth or even a later generation. So far is this principle carried by many experienced breeders, that they will use an animal of indifferent external appearance, but of approved descent, (blood,) in preference to a decidedly superior one, whose pedigree is imperfect.

3d. All the conditions of soil, situation, climate, treatment, and food, should be favorable to the object sought.

4th. As a general rule, the female should be relatively larger than the male. This gives ample room for the perfect development of the f?tus, easy parturition, and a large supply of milk for the offspring, at a period in its existence, when food has a greater influence in perfecting character and form, than at any subsequent time.

5th. Exceptions to this rule may be made, when greater size is required than can be obtained from the female, and especially when more vigor and hardiness of constitution are desirable. For this purpose, strong masculine development in the sire is proper, and if otherwise unattainable, something of coarseness may be admitted, as this may be afterwards corrected, and nothing will atone for want of constitution and strength.

6th. Pairing should be with a strict reference to correcting the imperfections of one animal, by a corresponding excellence in the other.

7th. Breeding in-and-in, or propagating from animals nearly allied, may be tolerated under certain circumstances, though seldom; and only in extreme cases between those of the same generation, as brother and sister. When the animal possesses much stamina and peculiar merit, which it is desired to perpetuate in the breed, it may be done either in the ascending or descending line, as in breeding the son to the parent, or the parent to his own progeny. This has been practised with decided advantage, and in some cases has even been continued successively, as low as the sixth generation.

8th. It is always better to avoid close relationship, by the selection of equally meritorious stock-getters of the same breed, from other sources.

9th. Wholesome, nutritious food, at all times sufficient to keep the animals steadily advancing, should be provided, but they must never be allowed to get fat. Of the two evils, starving is preferable to surfeit. Careful treatment, and the absence of disease, must be always fully considered.

10th. Animals should never be allowed to breed either too early or too late in life. These periods cannot be arbitrarily laid down, but must depend on their time of maturity, the longevity of the breed, and the stamina of the individual.

11th. No violent cross, or mixing of distinct breeds, should ever be admitted for the purposes of perpetuation, as of cattle of diverse sizes; horses of unlike characters; the Merino and the long-wools, or even the long, or short, and the middle-wools. For carcass and constitution, these crosses are unexceptionable; and it is a practice very common in this country, and judicious enough where the whole produce is early destined for the shambles. But when the progeny are designed for breeders, the practice should be branded with unqualified reprehension.

GENERAL FORM AND CHARACTERISTICS.

Within certain limits, these may be reduced to a common standard. All animals should have a good head, well set up; a clean fine muzzle, and a blight, clear and full, yet perfectly placid eye. With the exception of the dog and cat, whose original nature is ferocity, and whose whole life, unless diverted from their natural instincts, is plunder and prey; and the jockey racehorse, which is required to take the purse, at any hazard of life or limb to the groom; a mild, quiet eye is indispensable to the profitable use of the domestic brute. The neck should be well formed, not too long, tapering to its junction with the head, and gradually enlarging to a firm, well-expanded attachment to the back, shoulders, and breast. The back or chine should be short, straight, and broad; the ribs springing out from the backbone nearly at right angles, giving a rounded appearance to the carcass, and reaching well behind to a close proximity to the hip; tail well set on, and full at its junction with the body, yet gradually tapering to fineness; thighs, fore-arms, and crops well developed; projecting breast or brisket; the fore-legs straight, and hind ones properly bent, strong and full where attached to the carcass, but small and tapering below; good and sound joints; dense, strong bones, but not large; plenty of fine muscle in the right places; and hair or wool, fine and soft. The chest in all animals should be full, for it will be invariably found, that only such will do the most work, or fatten easiest on the least food.

The Lungs.

From the last-mentioned principle, founded on long experience and observation, Cline inferred, and he has laid it down as an incontrovertible position, that the lungs should always be large; and Youatt expresses the same opinion. This is undoubtedly correct as to working beasts, the horse and the ox, which require full and free respiration, to enable them to sustain great muscular efforts. But later physiologists have assumed, perhaps from closer and more accurate observations, that the fattening propensity is in the ratio of the smallness of the lungs. Earl Spencer has observed, that this is fully shown in the pig, the sheep, the ox, and the horse, whose aptitude to fatten and smallness of lungs, are in the order enumerated.

This position is further illustrated by the different breeds of the same classes of animals. The Leicester sheep have smaller lungs than the South Down; and it has been found, that a number of the former, on a given quantity of food, and in the same time, reached 28 lbs. a quarter, while the South Downs with a greater consumption of food, attained in the same period, only 18 lbs. The Chinese pigs have much smaller lungs than the Irish, and the former will fatten to a given weight, on a much less quantity of food than the latter. (Playfair.) The principle would seem to be corroborated by the fact, that animals generally fatten faster in proportion to the quantity of food they consume, as they advance towards a certain stage of maturity; during all which time, the secretion of internal fat is gradually compressing the size, by reducing the room for the action of the lungs. Hence, the advantage of carrying the fattening beast to an advanced point, by which not only the quality of carcass is improved, but the quantity is relatively greater for the amount of food consumed. These views are intimately connected, and fully correspond, with the principles of

RESPIRATION IN ANIMALS.

From careful experiments, it has been found that all animals daily consume a much larger quantity of food than the aggregate of what may have been retained in the system, added to what has been expelled in the f?ces and urine, and what has escaped by perspiration. Boussingault, who combines the characteristics of an ingenious chemist, a vigilant observer, and a practical agriculturist, made an experiment with a "milch-cow and a full-grown horse, which were placed in stalls so contrived that the droppings and the urine could be collected without loss. Before being made the subjects of experiment, the animals were ballasted or fed for a month with the same ration that was furnished to them, during the three days and three nights which they passed in the experimental stalls. During the month, the weight of the animals did not vary sensibly, a circumstance which happily enables us to assume that neither did the weight vary during the seventy-two hours when they were under especial observation.

The cow was foddered with after-math, hay, and potatoes; the horse with the same hay and oats. The quantities of forage were accurately weighed, and their precise degree of moistness and their composition were determined from average samples. The water drunk was measured, its saline and earthy constituents having been previously ascertained. The excrementitious matters passed, were of course collected with the greatest care; the excrements, the urine, and the milk were weighed, and the constitution of the whole estimated from elementary analyses of average specimens of each. The results of the two experiments are given in the table on the next page.

The oxygen and hydrogen that are not accounted for in the sum of the products have not disappeared in the precise proportions requisite to form water; the excess of hydrogen amounts to as many as from 13 to 15 dwts. It is probable that this hydrogen of the food became changed into water by combining during respiration with the oxygen of the air."

* * *

FOOD CONSUMED BY THE HORSE IN 24 HOURS.

Forage. Weight in

the wet

state Weight in

the dry

state Elementary Matter in the Food.

Carbon. Hydrogen. Oxygen. Azote. Salts and

Earths.

lb. lb. oz. lb. oz. lb. oz. dwt. lb. oz. dwt. lb. oz. dwt. lb. oz. dwt.

Hay 20 17 ?4 ?7 11 ?0 10 ?7 ?6 ?8 ?8 ?0 ?3 ?2 ?1 ?6 14

Oats ?6 ?5 ?2 ?2 ?7 ?0 ?3 18 ?1 10 14 ?0 ?1 ?7 ?0 ?2 10

Water 43 ... ... ... ... ... ?0 ?0 ?8

Total 69 22 ?6 10 ?6 ?1 ?2 ?5 ?8 ?7 ?2 ?0 ?4 ?9 ?1 ?9 12

* * *

PRODUCTS VOIDED BY THE HORSE IN 24 HOURS.

Products. Weight in

the wet

state Weight in

the dry

state Elementary Matter in the Food.

Carbon. Hydrogen. Oxygen. Azote. Salts and

Earths.

lb. oz. dwt. lb. oz. dwt. lb. oz. dwt. lb. oz. dwt. lb. oz. dwt. lb. oz. dwt. lb. oz. dwt.

Urine ?3 ?6 15 ?9 ?9 14 ?0 ?3 10 ?0 ?0 ?7 ?0 ?1 ?2 ?0 ?1 ?4 ?0 ?3 10

Excrements 38 ?2 ?2 ?9 ?5 ?6 ?3 ?7 17 ?0 ?5 15 ?3 ?6 14 ?0 ?2 10 ?1 ?6 10

Total 71 ?8 17 10 ?3 ?0 ?3 11 ?7 ?0 ?6 ?2 ?3 ?7 16 ?0 ?3 14 ?1 10 ?0

Total matter of the food 69 ?0 ?0 22 ?6 ?0 10 ?6 ?0 ?1 ?2 ?5 ?8 ?7 ?2 ?0 ?4 ?9 ?1 ?9 12

Difference 27 ?3 ?3 12 ?3 ?0 ?6 ?6 13 ?0 ?8 ?3 ?4 11 ?6 ?0 ?0 15 ?0 ?0 12

* * *

WATER CONSUMED BY THE HORSE

IN 24 HOURS. WATER VOIDED BY THE HORSE

IN 24 HOURS.

lbs. oz. lbs. oz.

With the hay ?2 ?3 With the urine ?2 ?6

With the oats ?0 14 With the excrements 23 ?8

Taken as drink 35 ?3

Total consumed 38 ?4 Total voided 25 14

Water consumed 38 ?4

Water exhaled by pulmonary and cutaneous transpiration 12 ?6

* * *

FOOD CONSUMED BY THE COW IN 24 HOURS.

Fodder. Weight in

the wet

state Weight in

the dry

state Elementary Matter in the Food.

Carbon. Hydrogen. Oxygen. Azote. Salts and

Earths.

lb. oz. dwt. lb. oz. dwt. lb. oz. dwt. lb. oz. dwt. lb. oz. dwt. lb. oz. dwt. lb. oz. dwt.

Potatoes ?40 ?2 ?5 11 ?2 ?1 ?4 11 ?2 ?0 ?7 15 ?4 10 17 ?0 ?1 12 ?0 ?6 13

After-math hay ?20 ?1 ?2 16 11 ?0 ?7 11 11 ?0 11 ?7 ?5 10 17 ?0 ?4 17 ?1 ?8 ?6

Water 160 ?0 ?0 ... ... ... ... ... ?0 ?1 12

Total 220 ?3 ?7 28 ?1 ?1 12 10 13 ?1 ?7 ?2 10 ?9 14 ?0 ?6 ?9 ?2 ?4 11

* * *

PRODUCTS VOIDED BY THE COW IN 24 HOURS.

Products. Weight in

the wet

state Weight in

the dry

state Elementary Matter in the Food.

Carbon. Hydrogen. Oxygen. Azote. Salts and

Earths.

lb. oz. dwt. lb. oz. dwt. lb. oz. dwt. lb. oz. dwt. lb. oz. dwt. lb. oz. dwt. lb. oz. dwt.

Excrements ?76 ?1 ?9 10 ?8 12 ?4 ?7 ?0 ?0 ?6 13 ?4 ?0 ?9 ?0 ?2 19 ?1 ?3 ?8

Urine ?21 11 12 ?2 ?6 17 ?0 ?8 ?7 ?0 ?0 16 ?0 ?8 ?3 ?0 ?1 ?3 ?1 ?0 ?6

Milk ?22 10 10 ?3 ?1 ?0 ?1 ?8 ?3 ?0 ?3 ?3 ?0 10 ?6 ?0 ?1 ?9 ?0 ?1 16

Total 120 11 11 16 ?4 ?9 ?6 11 10 ?0 10 12 ?5 ?6 18 ?9 ?5 11 ?2 ?5 10

?"?matter of food 220 ?3 ?7 28 ?1 ?1 12 10 13 ?1 ?7 ?2 10 ?9 14 ?0 ?6 ?9 ?2 ?4 11

Difference ?99 ?3 16 11 ?8 12 ?5 11 ?3 ?0 ?8 10 ?5 ?2 16 ?0 ?0 18 ?0 ?0 19

* * *

WATER CONSUMED BY THE COW

IN 24 HOURS. WATER VOIDED BY THE COW

IN 24 HOURS.

lbs. oz. lbs. oz.

With the potatoes ?23 12 With the excrements ?53 10

With the hay ??2 ?9 With the urine ?15 14

Taken as drink 132 ?0 With the milk ?16 ?3

Total consumed 158 ?5 Total voided ?85 11

Water consumed 158 ?5

Water passed off by pulmonary and cutaneous transpiration ?79 ?2

* * *

We here perceive a large loss of water, carbon, hydrogen, &c. Nearly all this loss of carbon and hydrogen escaped by respiration, while most of the water, oxygen, nitrogen, and salts, passed off in perspiration. In further illustration of the subject of respiration, Liebig says, "from the accurate determination of the quantity of carbon daily taken into the system in the food, as well as of that proportion of it which passes out of the body in the f?ces and urine, unburned, that is, in some form uncombined with oxygen, it appears that an adult taking moderate exercise, consumes 13.9 oz. of carbon daily." The foregoing are facts in the animal economy, capable of vast practical bearing in the management of our domestic animals. But before following out these principles to their application, let us briefly examine

The Effects of Respiration.

We have seen from the experiment of Boussingault, that there is a loss of 6 lbs. 6 oz. of carbon, and 8 oz. 3 dwt. of hydrogen in the food of the horse, and something less in that of the cow, every 24 hours, which has not been left in the system, nor has it escaped by the evacuations. What has become of so large an amount of solid matter? It has escaped through the lungs and been converted into air. The carbon and hydrogen of the food have undergone those various transformations which are peculiar to the animal economy, digestion, assimilation, &c., which it is not necessary, nor will our limits permit us here to explain; and they appear at last in the veinous blood, which in the course of its circulation is brought into the cells of the lungs. The air inhaled is sent through every part of their innumerable meshes, and is there separated from the blood, only by the delicate tissues or membranes which enclose it. A portion of the carbon and hydrogen escapes from the blood into the air-cells, and at the instant of their contact with the air, they affect a chemical union with its oxygen, forming carbonic acid and the vapor of water, which is then expired, and a fresh supply of oxygen is inhaled. This operation is again repeated, through every successive moment of animal existence.

Besides other purposes which it is probably designed to subserve, but which have hitherto eluded the keenest research of chemical physiology, one obvious result of respiration is, the elevation of the temperature of the animal system. By the ever-operating laws of nature, this chemical union of two bodies in the formation of a third, disengages latent heat, which taking place in contact with the blood, is by it diffused throughout the whole frame. The effect is precisely analogous to the combustion of fuel, oils, &c., in the open air.

Perspiration

Is the counteracting agent which modifies this result, and prevents the injurious effects, which, under exposure to great external heat, would ensure certain destruction. And this too, it will have been seen, is provided at the expense of the animal food. When from excessive heat, caused by violent exercise or otherwise, by which respiration is accelerated and the animal temperature becomes elevated, the papill? of the skin pour the limpid fluid through their innumerable ducts, which in its conversion into vapor, seize upon the animal heat and remove it from the system, producing that delicious coolness so grateful to the laboring man and beast in a sultry summer's day. These two opposing principles, like the antagonistic operations of the regulator in mechanics, keep up a perfect balance in the vital machine, and enable that entire division of the animal creation, distinguished as warm-blooded, including man and the brute, all the feathered tribes, the whale, the seal, the walrus, &c., to maintain an equilibrium of temperature, whether under the equator or the poles; on the peaks of Chimborazo, the burning sands of Zahara, or plunged in the depths of the Arctic Ocean.

The connection between the size of the lungs, and the aptitude of animals to fatten, will be more apparent from the fact, that the carbon and hydrogen which are abstracted, constitute two of the only three elements of fat. The larger size, the fuller play, and the greater activity of the lungs, by exhausting more of the materials of fat, must necessarily diminish its formation in the animal system; unless it can be shown, which has never yet been done, that the removal of a portion of the fat-forming principles accelerates the assimilation of the remainder.

The Food which supplies Respiration.

This, in the herbivorous animals, after they are deprived of the milk, which furnishes it in abundance, is the starch, gum, sugar, vegetable fats, and oils that exist in the vegetables, grain, and roots which they consume; and in certain cases where there is a deficiency of other food, it is sparingly furnished in woody and cellular fibre. All these substances constitute the principal part of dry vegetable food, and are made up of three elements, which in starch, gum, cane-sugar, and cellular fibre, exist in precisely the same proportions, viz: 44 per cent. of carbon, 6.2 of hydrogen, and 40.8 of oxygen.

Grape sugar, woody fibre, and vegetable and animal fats and oils are made up of the same elements, but in different proportions, the last containing much more carbon and hydrogen than those above specified. In the fattening animals, it is supposed the vegetable fats and oils are immediately transferred to the fat cells, undergoing only such slight modification as perfectly adapts them to the animal economy, while respiration is supplied by the other enumerated vegetable matters. If these last are taken into the stomach beyond the necessary demand for its object, they too are converted by the animal functions into fat, and are stored up in the system for future use. But if the supply of the latter is insufficient for respiration, it first appropriates the vegetable fat contained in the food; if this is deficient, it draws on the accumulated stores of animal fat already secreted in the system, and when these too are exhausted, it seizes upon what is contained in the tissues and muscle. When the animal commences drawing upon its own resources for the support of its vital functions, deterioration begins; and if long continued, great emaciation succeeds, which is soon followed by starvation and death.

The carnivorous animals are furnished with their respiratory excretions, from the animal fat and fibre which exist in their food, and which the herbivor? had previously abstracted from the vegetable creation.

Circumstances which augment Respiration.

These are, exercise, cold, and an abundant supply of food. Exercise, besides exhausting the materials of fat, produces a waste of fibre and tissue, the muscular and nitrogenized parts of the animal system; and it is obvious from the foregoing principles, that cold requires a corresponding demand for carbon and hydrogen to keep up the vital warmth. The consumption of food to the fullest extent required for invigorating the frame, creates a desire for activity, and it insensibly induces full respiration. The well-fed, active man, unconsciously draws a full, strong breath; while the abstemious and the feeble, unwittingly use it daintily, as if it were a choice commodity not to be lavishly expended. If the first be observed when sleep has effectually arrested volition, the expanded chest will be seen, heaving with the long-drawn, sonorous breath; while that of the latter will exhibit the gentle repose of the infant on its mother's breast.

The difference between the food of the inhabitants of the polar and equatorial regions, is strikingly illustrative of the demands both for breathing and perspiration. The latter are almost destitute of clothing, and subsist on their light, juicy, tropical fruits, which contain scarcely 12 per cent. of carbon, yet furnish all the elements for abundant perspiration; while the former are imbedded in furs, and devour gallons of train oil or its equivalent of fat, which contains nearly 80 per cent. of carbon, that is burnt up in respiration to maintain a necessary warmth.

The bear retires to his den in the beginning of winter, loaded with fat, which he has accumulated from the rich, oily mast abounding in the woods in autumn. There he lies for months, snugly coiled and perfectly dormant; the thickness of his shaggy coat, his dry bed of leaves, and well-protected den, effectually guarding him from cold, which in addition to his want of exercise, draw slightly upon respiration to keep up the vital heat. When the stores of carbon and hydrogen contained in the fat are expended, his hunger and cold compel him to leave his winter-quarters, again to wander in pursuit of food.

Many of the swallow tribes, in like manner, hybernate in large hollow trees, and for months eke out a torpid, scarcely perceptible existence, independent of food. Activity and full respiration, on the return of spring, demand a support, which is furnished in the myriads of flies they daily consume. The toad and frog have repeatedly been found in a torpid state, imbedded in limestones, sandstones, and the breccias, where they were probably imprisoned for thousands of years without a morsel of food; yet when exposed to the warmth of the vital air and the stimulus of its oxygen, they have manifested all the activity of their species. This they are enabled to sustain only by an enormous consumption of insects.

Dr. Playfair states, that in an experiment made by Lord Ducie, 100 sheep were placed in a shed, and ate 20 pounds of Swedes turnips each per day; another 100 were placed in the open air, and ate 25 pounds per day; yet the former, which had one-fifth less food, weighed, after a few weeks, three pounds more per head than the latter. He then fed five sheep in the open air, between the 21st November and 1st December. They consumed 90 pounds of food per day, the temperature being at 44°, and at the end of this time, they weighed two pounds less than when first exposed. Five sheep were then placed under a shed, and allowed to run about in a temperature of 49°. At first they consumed 82 pounds per day; then 70 pounds, and at the end of the time they had gained 23 pounds. Again, five sheep were placed under a shed as before, and not allowed to take any exercise. They ate at first, 64 pounds of food per day, then 58 pounds, and increased in weight 30 pounds. Lastly, five sheep were kept quiet and covered, and in the dark. They ate 35 pounds per day, and increased eight pounds.

Mr. Childers states, that 80 Leicester sheep in the open field, consumed 50 baskets of cut turnips per day, besides oil-cake. On putting them in a shed, they were immediately able to consume only 30 baskets, and soon after but 25, being only half the quantity required before, and yet they fattened as rapidly as when eating the largest quantity. The minimum of food, then, required for the support of animals, is attained when closely confined in a warm, dark shelter; and the maximum, when running at large, exposed to all weathers.

THE FEEDING OF ANIMALS.

This should be regulated by a variety of considerations. The young which may be destined for maturity, should be supplied with milk from the dam until weaning-time. No food can be substituted for the well-filled udder of the parent, which is so safe, healthful, and nutritious. If from any cause there is deficiency or total privation, it must be made up by that kind of food, meal-gruel, &c., which, in its composition, approaches nearest in quality to the milk. At a more advanced age, or the time for weaning, grass, hay, roots, or grain, may be substituted, in quantities sufficient to maintain a steady but not a forced growth. Stuffing can only be tolerated in animals which are speedily destined for the slaughter. Alternately improving and falling back, is injurious to all stock. An animal should never be fat but once. Especially is high feeding bad for breeding animals. Much as starving is to be deprecated, the prejudicial effects of repletion are still greater. The calf or lamb intended for the butcher, may be pushed forward with all possible rapidity. Horses or colts should never exceed a good working or breeding condition.

Purposes fulfilled by different Kinds of Food.

The objects designed to be answered by food, are to a certain extent the same. All food is intended to meet the demands of respiration and nutrition, and fattening to a greater or less degree. But some are better suited to one object than others, and it is for the intelligent farmer to select such as will most effectually accomplish his particular purposes.

The very young animal requires large quantities of the phosphate of lime for the formation of bone; and this is yielded in the milk in larger proportions than from any other food. The growing animal wants bone, muscle, and a certain amount of fat, and these are procured from the grasses, roots, and grain; from the former when fed alone, and from the two latter when mixed with hay or grass.

Horses, cattle, and sheep need hay to qualify the too watery nature of the roots, and the too condensed nutritiveness of the grain. Animals that are preparing for the shambles, require vegetable oils or fat, starch, sugar, or gum. The first is contained in great abundance in flax and cotton-seed, the sun-flower, and many other of the mucilaginous seeds. Indian corn is the most fattening grain. The potato contains the greatest proportion of starch, and the sugar-beet has large quantities of sugar, and both consequently are good for stall-feeding. The ripe sugar-cane is perhaps the most fattening of vegetables, if we except the oily seeds and grain. The Swedes turnip is a good food to commence with fattening cattle and sheep; but where great ripeness in animals is desired, they should be followed with beets, carrots or potatoes, and grain.

The table of the average composition of the different crops, which we subjoin from Johnston, shows the comparative qualities of various kinds of food, and it will be found a valuable reference for their nutritive and fattening qualities. He says, "In drawing up this table, I have adopted the proportions of gluten, for the most part, from Boussingault. Some of them, however, appear to be very doubtful. The proportions of fatty matter are also very uncertain. With a few exceptions, those above given have been taken from Sprengel, and they are, in general, stated considerably too low. It is an interesting fact, that the proportion of fatty matter in and immediately under the husk of the grains of corn, is generally much greater than in the substance of the corn itself. Thus I have found the pollard of wheat to yield more than twice as much oil as the fine flour obtained from the same sample of grain. The four portions separated by the miller from a superior sample of wheat grown in the neighborhood of Durham, gave of oil respectively: fine flour, 1·5 per cent.; pollard, 2·4; boxings, 3·6; and bran, 3·3 per cent. Dumas states that the husk of oats sometimes yields as much as five or six per cent. of oil." The columns under starch, &c., and fatty matter, denote the value for respiration or sustaining life, and the fattening qualities; that under gluten, the capacity for yielding muscle and supporting labor; and saline matter indicates something of the proportions which are capable of being converted into bones.

Water. Husk or

woody fibre. Starch, gum,

and sugar. Gluten, albumen,

legumen, &c. Fatty

matter. Saline

matter

Wheat, 16 15 55 10 to 15 2 to 4 J. 2·0

Barley, 15 15 60 12?? 2·5 J. 2·0

Oats, 16 20 50 ?14·5? 5·6 J. 3·5

Rye, 12 10 60 14·5 3·0 1·0

Indian corn, 14 ?15? 50 12·0 5 to 9 D. 1·5

Buckwheat, ?16? ?25? 50 14·5 0·4? 1·5

Beans, 16 10 40 28·0 2 + 3·0

Peas, 13 ?8 50 24·0 2·8? 2·8

Potatoes, ?75? ?5? ?12? ?2·25 0·3 0·8 to 1

Turnips, 85 3 10 1·2 ? 0·8 to 1

Carrots, 85 3 10 2·0 0·4 1·0

Meadow hay, 14 30 40 7·1 2 to 5 D. 5 to 10

Clover hay, 14 25 40 9·3 3·0 9

Pea straw, 10 to 15 25 45 12·3? 1·5 5

Oat do. 12 45 35 1·3 0·8 6

Wheat do. 12 to 15 50 30 1·3 0·5 5

Barley do. do. 50 30 1·3 0·8 5

Rye do. do. 45 38 1·3 0·5 3

Indian corn do. 12 25 52 3·0 1·7 4

This table, it will be perceived, is far from settling the precise relative value of the different enumerated articles. An absolute, unchanging value can never be assumed of any one substance, as the quality of each must differ with the particular variety, the soil upon which it is grown, the character of the season, the manner of curing, and other circumstances. An approximate relative value is all that can be expected, and this we may hope ere long to obtain, from the spirit of analytical research, which is now developed and in successful progress. More especially do we need these investigations with American products, some of which are but partially cultivated in Europe, whence we derive most of our analyses. And many which are there reared, differ widely from those produced here, as these also differ from each other. What, for instance, is the character of meadow hay? We know that this varies as four to one, according to the particular kinds grown; and our Indian corn has certainly a less range than from five to nine.

The Changes in the Food of Animals.

Potatoes, when first ripe, are estimated to be worth, for feeding purposes, nearly twice as much as when old; and the relative value of the different kinds, varies greatly at the same age and under similar conditions of growth. Perrault ascertained by careful experiment, that hay, clover, and lucerne lost much of their nutritive qualities by drying, and in lucerne this loss amounted to about thirty-five per cent. This is an important consideration in the feeding of green and dry forage. Oats are among the best feed, both for young and working animals; but it has been found that they are greatly improved for the latter, and perhaps for both, by allowing the new crop to remain till the latter part of winter, before feeding.

The improvement by steaming and cooking food, is seldom sufficiently appreciated. Food properly managed, can never be made worse by cooking for any stock; although it has not been considered so essential for working, and generally, for ruminating animals, as for swine, and such as were stall-feeding. But the alteration produced in cooking, by fitting it for a more ready assimilation, must, as a general rule, add much to the value of the food, and the rapid improvement of the animal.

The effect of slight fermentation, or souring the food, produces the same result. Animals accustomed to this acid food, will reject what is unprepared when they can get at the former; and we have no doubt, from our own experience, that there is a saving in thus preparing it, from 20 to 40 per cent. A mixture of food should be supplied to all animals. Like man, they tire of any constant aliment. For such, especially, as are fattening, and which it is desirable to mature with the greatest rapidity, a careful indulgence of their appetite should be studied. They should be provided with whatever they most crave, if it be adapted to the secretion of fat. Cutting, crushing, and grinding the food; cooking, souring, and mixing it, are each by themselves an improvement for feeding; and frequently two or more of these preparations combined, are of great utility in effecting the object proposed.

The Profit of Feeding.

It is evident, that this consists in a valuable return from the animal of the food consumed. In the horse, this can only be received in labor or breeding; in the ox, from labor and flesh; in the cow, from the milk, the flesh, and her young. In the sheep, it may be returned in its fleece, its carcass, or its progeny; and in the swine only by its progeny and flesh. The manure we expect from all; and if this be not secured and judiciously used, few animals about the farm will be found to yield a satisfactory profit for their food and attention; though it is evident, it should form but a small part of the return looked for.

Animals are only profitable to the farmer, when they yield a daily income, as in their milk or labor; or annually, by their young or fleece; unless it be in a course of regular improvement, either in their ordinary growth or preparation for the butcher. The animal must consume a certain amount of food merely to keep up its stationary condition, and to supply the materials for waste, respiration, perspiration, and the evacuations. These must first be provided for in all cases, before the farmer can expect any thing for the food.

Frequent observation has shown, that an ox will consume about two per cent, of his weight of hay per day, to maintain his condition. If put to moderate labor, an increase of this quantity to three per cent., will enable him to perform his work, and still maintain his flesh. If to be fattened, he requires about 4? per cent. of his weight daily, in nutritious food. A cow to remain stationary and give no milk, eats two per cent. of her weight daily; and if in milk, she will consume three per cent. If these statements are correct, which it is certain they are in principle, though they may not be entirely in degree, it will require the same food to keep three yoke of cattle in idleness, as two at work; and the food of every two that are idle, will nearly support one under the most rapid condition of fatting. Two cows may be kept in milk, with the same feed that will keep three without.

No practice is more impolitic, than barely to sustain the stock through the winter, or a part of the year, as is the case in too many instances, and allow them to improve only when turned on grass in summer. Besides subjecting them to the risk of disease, consequent upon their privation of food, nearly half the year is lost in their use, or in maturing them for profitable disposal; when if one-third of the stock had been sold, the remainder would have been kept in a rapidly improving condition, and at three years of age, they would probably be of equal value, as otherwise at five or six. It is true that breed has much to do with this rapid advancement, but breed is useless without food to develop and mature it.

* * *

The value of our neat cattle exceeds that of any other of the domestic animals in the United States. They are as widely disseminated, and more generally useful. Like sheep and all our domestic brutes, they have been so long and so entirely subject to the control of man, that their original type is unknown.

They have been allowed entire freedom from all human direction or restraint for hundreds of years, on the boundless pampas of South America, California, and elsewhere; but when permitted to resume that natural condition, by which both plants and animals approximate to the character of their original head, they have scarcely deviated in any respect, from the domestic herds from which they are descended. From this it may be inferred, that our present races do not differ, in any of their essential features and characteristics, from the original stock.

Various Domestic Breeds.

Cultivation, feed, and climate, have much to do in determining the form, size, and character of cattle. In Lithuania, cattle attain an immense size, with but moderate pretensions to general excellence, while the Irish Kerry and Scotch Grampian cows but little exceed the largest sheep; yet the last are compact and well-made, and yield a good return for the food consumed. Every country, and almost every district, has its peculiar breeds, which by long association have become adapted to the food and circumstances of its position, and when found profitable, they should be exchanged for others, only after the most thorough trial of superior fitness for the particular location, in those proposed to be introduced.

More attention has been paid to the improvement of the various breeds of cattle in England, than in any other country; and it is there they have attained the greatest perfection in form and character for the various purposes to which they are devoted. We have derived, directly from Great Britain, not only the parent stock from which nearly all our cattle are descended, but also most of those fresh importations, to which we have looked for improvement on the present race of animals.

A few choice Dutch cattle, generally black and white, and of large size, good forms, and good milkers, with a decided tendency to fatten, have been occasionally introduced among us, but not in numbers sufficient to keep up a distinct breed; and in the hands of their importers, or immediate successors, their peculiar characteristics have soon become merged in those herds by which they were surrounded. Some few French and Spanish cattle, the descendants of those remote importations, made when the colonies of those kingdoms held possession of our northern, western, and southern frontiers, still exist in those sections; and although possessing no claims to particular superiority, at least in any that have come within our notice, yet they are so well acclimated, and adapted to their various localities, as to render it inexpedient to attempt supplanting them, except with such as are particularly meritorious.

Native Cattle.

This is a favorite term with Americans, and comprehends every thing in the country, excepting such as are of a pure and distinct breed. It embraces some of the best, some of the worst, and some of almost every variety, shape, color, and character of the bovine race. The designation has no farther meaning, than that they are indigenous to the soil, and do not belong to any well-defined or distinct variety.

The best native cattle of the Union are undoubtedly to be found in the Northeastern states. Most of the early emigrant cattle in that section were from the southern part of England, where the Devon cattle abound; and though not at the present time bearing a close resemblance to that breed, unless it has been impressed upon them by more recent importations, yet a large number have that general approximation in character, features, and color, which entitles them to claim a near kindred with one of the choicest cultivated breeds. They have the same symmetry, but not in general the excessive delicacy of form, which characterizes the Devons; the same intelligence, activity, and vigor in the working cattle, and the same tendency to fattening; but they are usually better for the dairy than their imported ancestors. Some valuable intermixtures have occasionally been made among them. Among these, there have been many brindled cattle widely disseminated, of great merit as workers, and not often surpassed for the dairy and shambles.

The Herefords have in a few instances been introduced among the eastern cattle, and apparently with great improvement. The importation made by Admiral Coffin, of four choice Hereford bulls and cows, which were presented to the State Agricultural Society of Massachusetts, nearly thirty years since, is especially to be mentioned, as resulting in decided benefit wherever they were disseminated. Some of the old Yorkshire, or as they are sometimes styled, the long-horned Durhams, have been introduced, though these have been isolated individuals and never perpetuated as a separate breed. A few small importations have been made of the Short Horns and Ayrshires, but neither of these have been bred in the New England states in distinct herds, to any extent.

Their native breed has hitherto, and generally with good reason, possessed claims on the attention of their owners, which, with some slight exceptions, it has not been in the power of any rivals to supplant. With entire adaptedness to the soil, climate, and wants of the farmer, an originally good stock has, in frequent instances, been carefully fostered, and the breeding animals selected with a strict reference to their fitness for perpetuating the most desirable qualities. As a consequence of this intelligent and persevering policy, widely, but not universally pursued, they have a race of cattle, though possessing considerable diversity of size and color, yet coinciding in a remarkable degree in the possession of those utilitarian features, which so justly commend them to our admiration.

In proceeding southwestwardly through New York, New Jersey, and elsewhere, we shall find in this branch of stock, a greater diversity and less uniform excellence; though they have extensive numbers of valuable animals. Here and there will be found a choice collection of some favorite foreign breed, which emigrants have brought from their native home, as did the Pagan colonists their penates or household gods; the cherished associates of early days, and the only relics of their father-land. Such are an occasional small herd of polled or hornless cattle, originally derived from Suffolk or Galloway, excellent both for the dairy and shambles; the Kyloe, or West Highland, (Scottish,) a hardy animal, unrivalled for beef; the Welsh runt; the Irish cattle; the crumpled-horn Alderney, and some others.

The Devon

Is among the oldest distinctly cultivated breeds in this country, as it undoubtedly is of England, and probably it is the most universal favorite. This popularity is well deserved, and it is based upon several substantial considerations. They are beautifully formed, possessing excessive fineness and symmetry of frame, yet with sufficient bone and muscle to render them perfectly hardy; and they are among the most vigorous and active of working cattle. They have great uniformity of appearance in every feature, size, shape, horns, and color. The cows and bulls appear small, but the ox is much larger; and both he and the dam, on cutting up, are found to weigh much beyond the estimates which an eye accustomed only to ordinary breeds, would have assigned to them. The flesh is finely marbled or interspersed with alternate fat and lean, and is of superior quality and flavor.

The cows invariably yield milk of great richness, and when appropriately bred, none surpass them for the quantity of butter and cheese it yields. Mr. Bloomfield, the manager of the late Lord Leicester's estate at Holkham, has, by careful attention, somewhat increased the size, without impairing the beauty of their form, and so successful has he been in developing their milking properties, that his average product of butter from each cow, is 4 lbs. per week for the whole year. He has challenged England to milk an equal number of cows of any breed, against 40 pure Devons, to be selected out of his own herd, without as yet having found a competitor. Although this is not a test of their merits, and by no means decides their superiority, yet it shows the great confidence reposed in them by their owner. The Devon ox, under six years old, has come up to a nett dead weight of 1,593 lbs.; and at three years and seven months, to 1,316 lbs., with 160 lbs. of rough tallow.

Description. The Devon is of medium size, and so symmetrical, as to appear small. The color is invariably a deep mahogany red, with usually a white udder and strip under the belly; and the tuft at the end of the tail is red while they are calves, but white in the older animal. The head is small, broad in the forehead, and somewhat indented. The muzzle is delicate, and both the nose and the rings around the eye, in the pure breed, are invariably of a bright, clear orange. The cheeks and face are thin and fleshless; the horns clear, smooth, and of a yellowish white, handsomely curved upward. The neck is small and delicate at its junction with the head, but is well expanded in its attachment to the breast and shoulders. The last has the true slant for activity and strength, in which it excels all other breeds of equal weight. The barrel is round and deep, with a projecting brisket. The back is broad and level; the flank full; hips wide; the rumps long; the quarters well developed, and capable of holding a great quantity of the most valuable meat. The tail is on a level with the back, and gracefully tapers like a drum-stick, to the tuft on the end. The legs are of peculiar delicacy and fineness, yet possess great strength. The skin is of medium thickness, of a rich orange hue, pliable to the touch, and covered with a thick coating of fine, soft, curly hair. The Devon is intelligent, gentle, and tractable; is good for milk, and unsurpassed for the yoke and for fattening. No animal is better suited to our scanty or luxuriant hill pastures than the Devon, and none make a better return for the attention and food received. They ensure a rapid improvement when mixed with other cattle, imparting their color and characteristics in an eminent degree. Several importations have been made into this country within the last 30 years, of the choicest animals, and though not yet numerous in the United States, we possess some of the best specimens that exist.

The Short Horns, or Durhams.

Are decidedly the most showy among the cattle species. They are of all colors between a full, deep red, and a pure creamy white; but generally have both intermixed in larger or smaller patches, or intimately blended in a beautiful roan. Black, brown, or brindled, are colors not recognised among pure-bred Short Horns. Their form is well-spread, symmetrical, and imposing, and capable of sustaining a large weight of valuable carcass. The horn was originally branching and turned upward, but now frequently has a downward tendency, with the tips pointing towards each other. They are light, and comparatively short; clear, highly polished, and waxy. The head is finely formed, with a longer face but not so fine a muzzle as the Devon. The neck is delicately formed without dewlap, the brisket projecting; and the great depth and width of the chest giving short, well-spread fore-legs. The crops are good; back and loin broad and flat; ribs projecting; deep flank and twist; tail well set up, strong at the roots and tapering. They have a thick covering of soft hair, and are mellow to the touch, technically termed, handling well. They mature early and rapidly for the quantity of food consumed, yielding largely of good beef with little offal. As a breed, they are excellent milkers; though some families of the Short Horns surpass others in this quality. They are inferior to the Devons, in their value as working oxen, and in the richness of their milk.

A Short-Horn Bull.

The Short Horns are assigned a high antiquity, by the oldest breeders in the counties of Durham and Yorkshire, England, the place of their origin, and for a long time, of their almost exclusive breeding. From the marked and decided improvement which they stamp upon other animals, they are evidently an ancient breed, though much the juniors of the Devon and Hereford. Their highly artificial style, form, and character, are unquestionably the work of deeply studied and long-continued art; and to the same degree that they have been moulded in unresisting compliance with the dictation of their intelligent breeders, have they departed from that light and more agile form of the Devon, which conclusively and beyond the possibility of contradiction, marks the more primitive race.

THE IMPORTATION OF SHORT HORNS INTO THIS COUNTRY.

This is claimed to have been previous to 1783. They are the reputed ancestors of many choice animals existing in Virginia, in the latter part of the last century, and which were known as the milk breed; and some of these, with others termed the beef breed, were taken into Kentucky by Mr. Patton, as early as 1797, and their descendants, a valuable race of animals, were much disseminated in the West, and known as the Patton stock.

The first authentic importations we have recorded, are those of Mr. Heaton, into Westchester, N. Y., in 1791 and '96, from the valuable herds of Messrs. Culley and Colling, which consisted of several choice bulls and cows. These were for many years bred pure, and their progeny was widely scattered. (American Herd Book.) They were also imparted into New York, by Mr. Cox, in 1816; by Mr. Bullock, in 1822; by the late Hon. S. Van Rensselaer in 1823; and immediately after, by Mr. Charles Henry Hall, of Harlem. Some small importations were made into Massachusetts between 1817 and '25, by several enterprising agriculturists, Messrs. Coolidge, Williams, and others; into Connecticut by Mr. Hall and others; into Pennsylvania by Mr. Powell; and into Ohio and some other states, by various individuals early in the present century.

Fig. 2.

Short-Horned Cow.

Since the first importations, larger accessions from the best English herds have been frequently made; and with the nice regard for pedigrees which the introduction of the herd book, and careful purity in breeding has produced, the Short Horns have become the most extensive pure-bred family of cattle in the United States.

During the speculative times of 1835 to 1840, they brought high prices, frequently from $500 to $1000, and sometimes more. The following years of financial embarrassment, reduced their market price below their intrinsic value; but the tide is again turning, and they are now in demand, but still at prices far below their utility and merits. They have from the first, been favorites in the rich, corn valleys of the West, their early maturity and great weight giving them a preference over any other breed. The only drawback to this partiality, is their inability, from their form and weight, to reach remote eastern markets in good condition; an objection now in a great measure remedied, by the recent remission of duties on foreign beef in the English market, which makes them of nearly equal value where fed, to pack for exportation. On light lands and scanty pastures, they will probably never be largely introduced. All heavy animals require full forage within a limited compass, so as to fill their stomachs at once, and quietly compose themselves to their digestion.

The weights reached by the Short Horns in England, as given by Mr. Berry, have been enormous. Two oxen, six years old, weighed nett, 1820 lbs. each. A heifer of three years, and fed on grass and hay alone, weighed 1260 lbs. A four-year-old steer, fed on hay and turnips only, dressed 1890 lbs. A cow reached the prodigious weight of 1778 lbs. A heifer, running with her dam, and on pasture alone, weighed at seven months, 476 lbs. An ox, seven years old, weighed 2362 lbs. From their comparatively small numbers in this country, most of them have been retained for breeders; few, as yet, have been fattened, and such only as were decidedly inferior. Such animals as have been extensively produced by crossing this breed upon our former stocks, have given evidence of great and decided improvement; and the Short Horns, and their grade descendants are destined, at no distant day, to occupy a large portion of the richest feeding grounds in the United States.

Fig. 3.

Hereford Cow

Herefords.

This is the only remaining pure breed, which has hitherto occupied the attention of graziers in this country. Like the Devons, they are supposed to be one of the most ancient races of British cattle. Marshall gives the following description. "The countenance pleasant, cheerful, open; the forehead broad; eye full and lively; horns bright, taper, and spreading; head small; chap lean; neck long and tapering; chest deep; bosom broad, and projecting forward; shoulder-bone thin, flat, no way protuberant in bone (?) but full and mellow in flesh; chest full; loin broad; hips standing wide, and level with the chine; quarters long, and wide at the neck; rump even with the level of the back, and not drooping, nor standing high and sharp above the quarters; tail slender and neatly haired; barrel round and roomy; the carcass throughout deep and well spread; ribs broad, standing flat and close on the outer surface, forming a smooth, even barrel, the hindmost large and full of length; round-bone small, snug, and not prominent; thigh clean, and regularly tapering; legs upright and short; bone below the knee and hock small; feet of middle size; flank large: flesh everywhere mellow, soft, and yielding pleasantly to the touch, especially on the chine, the shoulder, and the ribs; hide mellow, supple, of a middle thickness, and loose on the neck and huckle; coat neatly haired, bright and silky; color, a middle red, with a bald face characteristic of the true Herefordshire breed."

Fig. 4.

Hereford Bull.

Youatt further describes them as follows: "They are usually of a darker red; some of them are brown, and even yellow, and a few are brindled; but they are principally distinguished by their white faces, throats, and bellies. In a few the white extends to the shoulders. The old Herefords were brown or red-brown, with not a spot of white about them. It is only within the last fifty or sixty years that it has been the fashion to breed for white faces. Whatever may be thought of the change of color, the present breed is certainly far superior to the old one. The hide is considerably thicker than that of the Devon, and the beasts are more hardy. Compared with the Devons, they are shorter in the leg, and also in the carcass; higher, and broader, and heavier in the chine; rounder and wider across the hips, and better covered with fat; the thigh fuller and more muscular, and the shoulders larger and coarser.

They are not now much used for husbandry, although their form adapts them for the heavier work; and they have all the honesty and docility of the Devon ox, and greater strength, if not his activity. The Herefordshire ox fattens speedily at a very early age, and it is therefore more advantageous to the farmer, and perhaps to the country, that he should go to market at three years old, than be kept longer as a beast of draught.

They are not as good milkers as the Devons. This is so generally acknowledged, that while there are many dairies of Devon cows in various parts of the country, a dairy of Herefords is rarely to be found. To compensate for this, they are even more kindly feeders than the Devons. Their beef may be objected to by some as being occasionally a little too large in the bone, and the fore-quarters being coarse and heavy; but the meat of the best pieces is often very fine-grained and beautifully marbled. There are few cattle more prized in the market than the genuine Herefords."

There have been several importations of the Herefords into the United States, which by crossing with our native cattle, have done great good; but with the exception of a few fine animals at the South, we are not aware of their being kept in a state of purity, till the importation of the splendid herd. within the last six years, by Messrs. Corning and Sotham of Albany, N. Y. These Herefords are among the very best which England can produce, and come up fully to the description of the choicest of the breed. Mr. Sotham, after an experience of several years, is satisfied with the cows for the dairy; and he has given very favorable published statements of the results of their milking qualities, from which it may be properly inferred, that Youatt drew his estimates from some herds which were quite indifferent in this property. They are peculiarly the grazier's animal, as they improve rapidly and mature early on medium feed. They are excelled for the yoke, if at all, only by the Devons, which, in some features, they strongly resemble. Both are probably divergent branches of the same original stock.

The Ayrshire

Is a breed that has been much sought after of late years, from their reputation for fine dairy qualities. The milk is good both in quantity and quality, yielding, according to a recent statement of Mr. Tennant, of Scotland, who owns a large herd, fifteen quarts per day during the best of the season, twelve of which made a pound of butter. The product of the latter averages about 170 pounds per annum to each cow. Another authority says, on the best low-land pasture, a good cow yields nearly 4000 quarts per year. This is a large quantity, and implies good cows and extra feed.

Mr. Cushing, of Massachusetts, who imported several select animals, without regard to their cost, informed us, after three or four years' trial, that he did not perceive any superiority in them, over the good native cows of that state, for dairy purposes. A large number have been imported in detached parcels, and scattered through the country. They are good animals, but seem to combine no valuable properties in a higher degree than are to be found in our own good cattle, and especially such as are produced from a cross of the Short Horn bull of a good milking family, on our native cows. They are evidently a recent breed, and do not therefore possess that uniformity of appearance and quality, which attaches to one of long cultivation.

Mr. Aiton, of Scotland, gives the following account of them. "The dairy breed of Scotland have been formed chiefly by skilful management, within the last 50 years; and they are still improving and extending to other countries. Till after 1770, the cows in Cunningham were small, ill-fed, ill-shaped, and gave but little milk. Some cows of a larger breed and of a brown and white color, were about that time brought to Ayrshire from Teeswater, and from Holland, by some of the patriotic noblemen of Ayrshire; and these being put on good pasture, yielded more milk than the native breed, and their calves were much sought after by the farmers."

We may fairly infer from the foregoing, which is deemed indisputable authority; from the locality of their origin, in the neighborhood of the Short Horns; and from their general resemblance, both externally and in their general characteristics to the grade animals, that they owe their principal excellence to this long-established breed.

MANAGEMENT OF CALVES.

The safest and least troublesome manner of raising calves, is at the udder of the dam; and whenever the milk is converted into butter and cheese, we believe this to be the most economical. The milk of one good cow is sufficient, with a run of fresh, sweet pasture, to the feeding of two calves at the same time; and if we allow the calves to arrive at three or four months of age before weaning, we may safely estimate, that one good cow will yield a quantity of milk in one season, fully equivalent to bringing up four calves to a weaning age.

By keeping the calf on the fresh milk, whether he take it directly from the udder, or warm from the pail, all risk of disordered bowels is avoided. The milk is precisely adapted to the perfect health and thrift of the young, and whenever we substitute for it any other food, we must watch carefully that not the slightest mismanagement produces disorder, lest more is lost by disease or want of improvement, than is gained by the milk of which they are robbed.

The first milk of the cow after calving, is slightly purgative, which is essential to cleanse the stomach of the calf. It is, moreover, perfectly worthless for two or three days, for any other purpose except for swine. The calf will seldom take all the milk at first, and whatever is left in the bag should be thoroughly removed by the hand. If the calf is destined for the butcher, he must have all the milk he wants for at least six weeks, and eight or ten is better; and if the cow does not furnish enough, he ought to be fed gruel or linseed tea. He must be closely confined in a snug, but clean and airy stable, and the darker this is, and the more quiet he is kept, the more readily he will fatten.

If designed to be reared, the safest and least troublesome method, is to keep the calf on new milk. If saving the milk be an object, it is still doubtful whether it is not better that he should have a part of it fresh from the cow, and depend for his remaining food on a good grass or clover pasture, meal, or roots.

Some farmers never allow the calf to approach the dam, but take it when first dropped, and put a handful of salt in its mouth, which is daily repeated till he is put to grass. This has a purgative effect, similar to the first milk. Flaxseed is then prepared, by boiling a pint in four to six quarts of water, and diluted with hay tea till it is rather thicker than milk, and fed at blood heat.

Hay tea is made, by boiling a pound of sweet, well-cured clover, in one and a half gallons of clean water.

As the calf becomes older, oat, barley, rye, or Indian meal may be scalded and added to the flaxseed.

When the skim-milk is of little consequence, a better way is to withdraw him from the cow after three or four days, then scald the milk, adding a little oat meal, and cool to the natural temperature of the milk, and feed it. Oats, either crushed or ground, is the best and safest grain for all young stock. The milk should not stand more than half a day before feeding to young calves. As they advance in age, it may be fed rather older, but should never be allowed to become sour; nor should it ever be fed cold. Connected with this feed, should be a good range of short, sweet pasture, and shelter against both sun and storms. If expedient, at about 10 weeks old, he may be safely weaned, but four months' nursing is better for the calf.

If allowed too much milk for several months, it is injurious to the future development of the young. It does not distend the stomach properly, nor call into use its ruminating habits. Calves thus brought up, have often proved light-bellied, indifferent feeders, and decidedly inferior animals. When the calf is removed from the cow, they should be effectually separated from sight and hearing, as recognition creates uneasiness, and is an impediment to thrift in both.

If there be any deficiency of suitable pasture for the calf, a small rack and trough should be placed under the shed in his range, and fine hay put in the former, and wheat bran or oat meal with a little salt in the latter.

Diseases and Remedies.

For disordered bowels, mix 2 dr. rhubarb, 2 oz. castor oil, and ? dr. ginger, with a little warm milk or gruel; or give 2 oz. castor oil alone; or 3 oz. of Epsom salts.

For scours and diarrh?a, a homely remedy is, to administer half a pint of cider, with an equal quantity of blood drawn from the calf's neck.

Or, add a little rennet to its food.

A good remedy is, 1 oz. powdered canella bark; 1 oz. laudanum; 4 oz. prepared chalk; and one pint water. Mix together, and give a wine-glass full or more, according to the size of the calf, three times a day.

Costiveness is removed by giving pork broth.

Or, give 3 to 4 oz. Epsom salts, dissolved in 3 pints of water, injected into the stomach; and repeat part of this dose every 3 or 4 hours, till the desired effect is produced.

Calves, like all young stock, should be allowed to change their feed gradually, from new milk to skimmed, or from the latter to other food. Their stomachs are delicate, and need gentle, moderate changes, when necessary to make them at all. Much depends on the care and attention they receive. It is well to have a little resin within its reach.

A comfortable shelter, with a dry, warm bed, suitable food, regularly given three times a day, at blood heat, and keeping the stomach in proper order, will do much to bring them forward rapidly, and with a small expenditure of food.

The calf requires to be supplied through the winter with an abundance of fine, sweet hay and roots, the latter either chopped or mashed by a roller, with the addition of a trifle of meal or oats, and a full supply of salt and pure water.

When there are larger animals on the premises, the calves ought to be kept by themselves. They should be sustained on their winter feed through the following spring, until the grass furnishes a good bite on a well-compacted sod. The change from hay to grass must be gradual, unless the latter is considerably matured. The extreme relaxation of the bowels from the sudden change, frequently produces excessive purging. A slight and temporary relax from the early spring grass, is not objectionable.

Breeding.

The young animals should never be put to breeding under 15 months old, so as to bring their first calf at two years old nor then, unless they have large size and good feed. Much depends on the progress towards maturity, and the supply of food in selecting the proper time for breeding. Some are as ready for this at a year and a half as others are at three. Early breeding gives delicacy and symmetry to the form of the heifer, but it checks its growth; and when it is found to put her back too much, she may be allowed to rest for a few months, or even a year, to brings her up to the desired standard. These remarks apply principally to choice breeders, or as they are sometimes termed, fancy stock. For ordinary milch cows which have been moderately fed, three years is a proper age to come in, after which they must be milked as regularly, and as late before drying as possible.

Breaking Steers

Should be commenced when two or three years old. Some begin with the calf, accustoming him to a light yoke and occasional training. This practice will do as a pastime for trustworthy boys, as it makes them gentle and manageable afterwards, but is hardly worth a man's time. If always carefully handled when young, they will be found tractable.

They should at first be placed behind a pair of well-broke cattle, nor should they be put to hard labor until quite grown, strong, and perfectly accustomed to the yoke. If properly managed, cattle may be trained with all the docility, intelligence, and much of the activity of the horse. That they are not, is more frequently the fault of their masters.

Management of Oxen.

To procure perfect working cattle, it is necessary to begin with the proper breed. Many parts of the country furnish such as are well suited to this purpose. A strong dash of Devon or Hereford blood is desirable, when it needs to be improved. A well-formed, compact, muscular body; clean, sinewy limbs; strong, dense bones; large, well-formed joints, with a mild expressive eye, are essential for good working oxen.

After breaking, they must be led along gently, and taught before they are required to perform their task; and never put to a load which they cannot readily move, nor dulled by prolonging exertion beyond that period when it becomes irksome. A generous diet is necessary, to keep up the spirit and ability of cattle, when there is hard work to be done. The horse and mule are fed with their daily rations of grain when at hard service, and if the spirit of the ox is to be maintained, he should be equally well fed, when as fully employed. Great and permanent injury is the result of niggardly feeding and severe toil, exacted from the uncomplaining animal. His strength declines, his spirit flags, and if this treatment be continued, he rapidly becomes the stupid, moping brute, which is shown off in degrading contrast with the more spirited horse, that performs, it may be, one half the labor, on twice his rations.

The ox should be as little abused by threats and whipping, as by stinted feed and overtasked labor. Loud and repeated hallooing, or the severe use of the lash, is as impolitic as it is cruel and disgraceful. We never witness this barbarity without wishing the brutes could change places, long enough at least to teach the biped that humanity by his own sufferings which his reason and sensibility have failed to inspire. Clear and intelligible, yet low and gentle words are all that are necessary to guide the well-trained, spirited ox. The stick, or whip, is needed rather to indicate the precise movement desired, than as a stimulant or means of punishment. The ox understands a moderate tone more perfectly than a boisterous one, for all sounds become indistinct as they increase.

It is of great advantage to have oxen well trained to backing. They may soon be taught, by beginning with an empty cart on a descent; then on a level; then with an increasing load, or uphill, till the cattle will back nearly the same load they will draw.

Some oxen have a bad trick of hauling or crowding. Changing to opposite sides, longer or shorter yokes, and more than all, gentle treatment, are the only remedies, and those not unfrequently fail. Cattle will seldom contract this habit, in the hands of a judicious, careful driver. The yokes should be carefully made, and set easy, and the bows fitted to the necks and properly attached to the yoke. Cattle are liable to sore necks if used in a storm; and when subject to this exposure, they must be well rubbed with grease, where the yoke chafes them, and respite from work should be allowed till the necks heal.

Management of Bulls or Vicious Animals.

If inclined to be vicious, the bulls should have rings thrust through the cartilage of their nose when young. They are to be found at the agricultural warehouses; and are made of round iron, three-eighths of an inch diameter, with a joint in one side to open, and when thrust through the nose, are fastened in a moment, by a rivet previously prepared.

Fig. 5.

Cattle-Handler.

Fig. 5 is a cattle-handler, consisting of a bar of iron A, eight inches long, with a ring for a man's hand, which turns on a swivel at B, and at the other end is a pair of calliper-shaped legs, one stationary, and the other opening on a joint. The fixed leg is inserted against one side of the nostril, and the other is pressed upon the opposite side, and there fastened by a slide, C, when the animal is firmly held for administering medicine or performing any operation.

Fig. 6. ?????? Fig. 7.

For taming savage Animals.

Figs. 6 and 7, for taming a bull; b, in Fig. 6, is a cap screwed on to the tip of the horn; a c, an iron rod hanging on a pivot in the cap, with a chain reaching to the ring in the nose. The effect of his attempting to hook, is illustrated by the various positions of the chain in Fig. 7. If the rod at a, is pushed in either direction, it jerks up the nose in a manner that cures him of his inclination.

Fig. 8.

Cattle-Tie.

Fig. 8, shows a cattle-tie.-This is a much more convenient and comfortable mode of fastening cattle in the stable, than the common stanchions.

The proper time for turning off Cattle.

This must depend on their previous feeding and management, the breed, and the purposes required. The improved breeds and many of their crosses, will mature for the butcher as fully at three or four, as inferior cattle at five to seven years old. If pushed rapidly with proper food, they will of course be ripe much sooner than if stinted. When cattle have to be purchased for work, or cows for the dairy, it becomes an object to keep them as long as they can be made profitable, and yet be turned off for fattening at a fair price. We have seen active and spirited oxen in the yoke at 16 or 17; but they seldom do as well after 12 or even 10 years. Old cattle are liable to more diseases than young; are less hardy; and they recover more slowly when exposed to scanty feed or hard usage. They also fatten with more difficulty, and their meat is inferior. When they can be sold advantageously to the feeder, and replaced without inconvenience, it is found to be most profitable to turn them off at seven or eight years. They will by that time have attained full maturity; they will feed rapidly, and make the largest amount of good beef. If there are extraordinary milkers among the cows, or superior workers among the oxen, it is better to keep them as long as they maintain their full vigor.

Fattening Cattle.

Such as are designed for the shambles the ensuing fall or winter, may be allowed to do their spring's labor; or if cows, they may be milked into summer after calving, or go farrow during the previous year. They should early be put on the best summer feed, and it is better to be occasionally changed, to give variety and freshness, and keep the animal in good appetite. Let the fattening animals have the best, and after they have cropped it a while, give them a fresh field; and the other animals or sheep can follow and clear off the remaining herbage, preparatory to shutting it up for a new growth. Some prefer an extensive range of rich feed, which is unchanged throughout the season; and when it is not necessary to divide the pasture with the other animals, this is a good practice.

Fig. 9.

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Fig. 10.

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Fig. 11.

Three cuts of improved forms, Nos. 9, 10, and 11. The above cuts illustrate the forms which the most improved beef-cattle should possess.

The selection of Animals for Stall Fattening.

This is a nice point, and none without a practised eye and touch, can choose such as will make the best return for the food consumed. The characteristics of choice animals, heretofore enumerated, are particularly essential in those intended for profitable fattening. But the most important of all, is that firm mellowness, and quick elasticity of touch, which unerringly mark the kindly feeder and profitable bullock. When other means for ascertaining fail, it is a safe rule to select the best-conditioned animals, out of a herd of grass-fed; for if all were of equal flesh and health, when turned out, those which have thriven most on their summer pasture, will generally fatten quickest on their fall and winter keep. Only the best should be selected. The remainder, after consuming the coarser forage, may be at once disposed of for early use. From repeated trials, it is found that the carcass of stall-fed animals will barely return the value of the materials consumed, and their manure is generally the only compensation for the time and attention bestowed. None but choice, thrifty beasts will pay for their food and attention, and all others will make their best returns, by an immediate disposal, after the surplus fodder is gone.

Fig. 12.

Points of Cattle Illustrated.

Explanation.-A, forehead; B, face; C, cheek; D, muzzle; E, neck; F, neck vein; G, shoulder point; H, arm; I, shank; J, gambril, or hock; K, elbow; L, brisket, bosom, or breast; M, shoulder; N, crops; O, loin; P, hip, hucks, hocks, or huckles; Q, crupper bone, or sacrum; R, rump, or pin-bone; S, round bone, thurl, or whirl; T, buttock; U, thigh, or gaskit; V, flank; W, plates; X, back, or chine; Y, throat; Z, chest.

Stall-Feeding.

This ought to be commenced early in the season. An ox may be fed in a box-stall, or if accustomed to a mate, they do better by tying together with sufficient room, yet not so near as to allow of injuring each other. The building should be warm, but not hot; well ventilated, yet having no current of cold air passing through; and as dark as possible. The stall ought to be kept clean and dry, and a deep bed of clean straw is of decided advantage.

The ox should be first fed the inferior and most perishable roots with his grain and dry forage, and his food should be gradually increased in richness, as he advances towards maturity. The food and water should be given three times a day, from thoroughly cleaned mangers or troughs. The animal likes a change of food, in which he should be indulged as often as may be necessary. If he refuses his food, a temporary privation, or variety is essential. When the food is changed, he should be moderately fed at first, till he becomes accustomed to it, as there is otherwise danger of cloying, which is always injurious. The moment the animal has done feeding, the remainder of the food ought to be at once removed. He then lies down, and if undisturbed, rests quietly till the proper hour induces him again to look for his accustomed rations. Regularity in the time of feeding, is of the utmost consequence. An animal soon becomes habituated to a certain hour, and if it be delayed beyond this, he is restless and impatient, which are serious obstacles to speedy fattening.

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Fig. 13.

Ox cut up.

Fig. 13-Shows the London method of cutting up the carcass-Fig. 1, is the loin; 2, rump; 3, aitch or adz-bone; 4, buttock; 5, hock; 6, thick flank; 7, thin flank; 8, fore-rib; 9, middle rib; 10, cuck-rib; 11, brisket; 12, leg of mutton piece; 13, clod or neck; 14, brisket.

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Fig. 14.

Skeleton of an Ox.

1. Temporal bone.-2. Frontal bone, or bone of the forehead.-3. Orbit of the eye.-4. Lachrymal bone.-5. Malar, or cheek bone.-6. Upper jaw bone.-7. Nasal bone, or bone of the nose.-8. Nippers, found on the lower jaw alone.-9. Eight true ribs.-10. Humerus, or lower bone of the shoulder.-11. Sternum.-12. Ulna, its upper part forming the elbow.-13. Ulna.-14. Radius, or principal bone of the arm.-15. Small bones of the knee.-16. Large metacarpal, or shank bone.-17. Bifurcation at the pasterns, and the two larger pasterns to each foot.-18. Sesamoid bones.-19. Bifurcation of the pasterns.-20. Lower jaw and the grinders.-21. Vertebr?, or bones of the neck.-22. Navicular bones.-23. Two coffin bones to each foot.-24. Two smaller pasterns to each foot.-25. Smaller or splint-bone.-26. False ribs, with their cartilages.-27. Patella, or bone of the knee.-28. Small bones of the hock.-29. Metatarsals, or larger bones of the hind leg.-30. Pasterns and feet.-31. Small bones of the hock.-32. Point of the hock.-33. Tibia, or proper leg-bone.-34. Thigh-bone.-35. Bones of the tail.-36, 37. Haunch and pelvis.-38. Sacrum.-39. Bones of the loins.-40. Bones of the back-41. Ligament of the neck and its attachments.-42. Scapula, or shoulder-blade.-43. Bones of the back.-44. Ligament of the neck.-45. Dentata.-46. Atlas.-47. Occipital bone, deeply depressed below the crest or ridge of the head-48. Parietal bone, low in the temporal fossa.-49. Horns, being processes or continuations of the frontal bone.

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DISEASES IN CATTLE.

Hoven, or Swelling of the Paunch,

Is a temporary ailment, caused by eating too freely of fresh and generally wet clover, or other succulent food. The animal gorges the first stomach with so much food, that its contents cannot be expelled. Inflammation of the membrane takes place, and decomposition of the food soon follows. This is known by the distension of the paunch, and difficulty of breathing, and unless speedily relieved, suffocation and death will ensue. Both sheep and cattle are subject to it.

Remedies.[1]-In its early stages, when not too severe, it has been removed by administering some one of the following remedies.

A pint of gin poured down the throat.

From one to two pints of lamp or other oil.

Strong brine.

New milk with one-fifth its bulk of tar mixed.

An egg-shell full of tar forced down the throat, followed by a second, if the first fails.

A tablespoonful of volatile spirit of ammonia, diluted with water.

A wine-glass full of powder, mixed with cold lard and forced in balls into the stomach.

A teaspoonful of unslaked lime dissolved in a pint of warm water, shaken and given immediately.

A pint of tolerably strong lye.

[1] Besides his own experience, the writer has drawn from the N. E. Farmer, the Albany Cultivator, the American Agriculturist, and other reliable American and English works, some of the remedies for diseases herein mentioned.

The Proper Mode of giving the above Remedies

Is for a person to hold the horn and cartilage of the nose, while another seizes and draws out the tongue as far as possible, when the medicine is thrust below the root of the tongue. If liquid, it must be inserted by the use of a bottle.

The probang is used when the former remedies are ineffectual. This consists of a tarred rope, or a flexible whip-stalk, three-fourths of an inch in diameter, with a swab or bulbous end. Two persons hold the head of the animal, so as to keep the mouth in a line with the throat, while a third forces it into the stomach, when the gas finds a passage out. A stiff leather tube with a lead nozzle pierced with holes, is best for insertion, through which the gas will readily escape.

Some one of the above purgatives should be given after the bloat has subsided, and careful feeding for some days must be observed.

Light gruels are best for allaying inflammation, and restoring the tone of the stomach.

When no other means are available, the paunch may be tapped with a sharp penknife, plunging it 1? inches forward of the hip bone, towards the last rib in the left side. If the hole fills up, put in a large goose-quill tube, which to prevent slipping into the wound, may remain attached to the feather, and the air can escape through a large hole in the upper end.

Prevention is vastly better than cure, and may be always secured, by not allowing hungry cattle to fill themselves with clover, roots, apples, &c. When first put upon such feed, it should be when the dew and rain are off, and their stomachs are already partially filled; and they should then be withdrawn before they have gorged themselves.

Fig. 15.

Fig. 16.

The Stomach Pump.

This is a convenient instrument for extracting poisonous substances from the stomach. It is also highly useful for administering medicines and injections, and if fitted with several tubes, one may suffice for animals of any size. It consists of a syringe, a, with a side opening at b, and another at the bottom d, as shown in Fig. 16. For injections, Fig. 15 is used, and the end of the syringe is placed in a vessel containing the fluid, when a probang or injection-tube is screwed on to the side opening at b, through which the fluid is forced into the stomach or rectum, as may be required. The probang should be a tube of thick but elastic leather, and it may be passed into the mouth, through an aperture in a block, placed on edge between the teeth, which is easily done while a person holds the head of the animal firmly.

Choking

Is frequently relieved by some of the following expedients.

The use of the probang or whip-stock, mentioned under the head of remedies for Hoven, by which the root is forced into the stomach.

A soft root may be crushed so as to allow of swallowing, by holding a smooth block against it, and striking with a mallet on the opposite side.

If within arms-length, the root may be removed by hand.

It is said this can be done, by tying up the fore-leg with a small cord, close to the body, and giving the animal a sudden start with a whip; or by jerking the fore-leg out forward.

Or pour down the throat a pint bottle full of soft soap, mixed with sufficient hot water to make it run freely.

Prevention consists in cutting the roots; not feeding them when the animals are very hungry, and not disturbing them while eating.

Inflammation of the Stomach.

This is frequently produced by a sudden change from dry to green food, and some other causes.

Epsom salts, castor oil, sulphur, and carbonate of soda, in sufficient quantity to purge freely, are good remedies.

It may be prevented by changing the food gradually.

Mange, or Scab.

This is denoted by the animal rubbing the hair off about the eyes and other parts. The skin is scaly or scabby, sometimes appearing like a large seed-wart.

Remedies.-Rub the spots with sulphur and lard, after scraping and washing with soap.

When the skin is cracked, take sulphur, 1 lb.; turpentine, ? lb.; unguentum, (or mercurial ointment,) 2 ounces; linseed oil, 1 pint. Melt the turpentine and warm the oil, and when partly cooled, stir in the sulphur; when cold, add the unguentum, mixing all well. Rub this thoroughly with the hand on the parts affected.

We have no doubt this, like scab in sheep and itch in the human species, will be found, on close investigation, to be caused by minute insects located in the skin. Salt and water ought, in that case, to be a good remedy.

Hollow Horn, or Horn Ail.

This is not unfrequently hollow stomach, and very often follows stinted fare, hard usage, and exposure to cold. We have noticed this as most prevalent among oxen that have done a severe winter's work.

Symptoms.-Bloody urine; swollen udder; shaking the head; eyes and head swollen; standing with the head against a fence or barn; eyes dull and sunken, and horns cold.

Remedies.-Bleed and physic, shelter and feed properly.

Take a half pint of good vinegar, two tablespoonfuls of salt, one teaspoonful of pepper, and mix and pour into each ear, holding the head on one side for two minutes.

Bore with a large gimlet on the under side of the horn, three or four inches from the head; and if hollow, bore nearer the head and let out all the matter, and syringe two or three times a day with salt and water, or soap-suds, or salt and vinegar.

Spirits of turpentine rubbed in around the base of the horns, will arrest the disease in its incipient stages.

Pour a spoonful of boiling hot brimstone into the cavity between the horns.

Pour a teakettle of boiling water on the horns, holding so as to prevent injury to the other parts.

Soot and pepper given internally are good.

Jaundice, or Yellows.

This is owing to gall-stones or calculi, which occasionally accumulate in large numbers, and is sometimes owing to increased or altered quality of the bile. It is manifested by the yellowness of the eye and skin, and high color of the urine, and poor appetite.

Remedies.-Bleed, and purge with Epsom salts.

If taken in season, 2 ounces of ground mustard may be mixed with a liquid, and given twice a day.

Green food is a good preventive.

Mad Itch.

This disease exists in some of the Western states, and shows itself by jerking of the head, and itching around the nose and base of the horns. They will lick their sides and backs, and jerk and hiccup till they fill themselves with wind; afterwards they froth at the mouth, and in 24 hours die raving mad.

Remedy.-Give as much soot and salt as the animal will eat; soon after, give ? or 1 lb. of brimstone or sulphur; and 8 hours after, as many salts.

Bloody Murrain, or Red Water.

This disease first shows itself in a cough, then heaving of the flanks, with bloody, black, and f?tid evacuations, tenderness over the loins, and coldness of the horns. Tumors and biles sometimes appear. The animal holds down the head, moans, is restless, and staggers when walking.

Causes.-We have lost several animals by this fatal disease, and are not aware of having cured any when severely attacked. In repeated instances, we have seen large flukes taken out of the liver, strongly resembling the common leech, which abounds in many of our swampy lands. It is certain that on new, low swamps and clay lands, cattle are most liable to it; and when they have been subject to repeated attacks in such localities, clearing and draining have checked it.

Youatt attributes it to certain kinds of forage, which are peculiar to the above situations. We are rather inclined to ascribe it to exposure, to excessive dampness, and especially to miasma; for although the brute creation are perhaps less sensitive to these influences than man, yet, as they are governed by the same unvarying laws of nature, when subjected to conditions totally unsuited to their economy, they must suffer equally in kind, though probably not in degree, with the more refined human frame. But it is evident the disease, its causes, and remedies, are as yet imperfectly understood.

Remedies.-However intelligent men may differ as to its causes, all agree that the animal should first be bled, and then thoroughly purged. In obstinate cases, this last is a difficult matter. We have given repeated doses of powerful cathartics without producing any effect; and whenever the medicine is inoperative, death speedily follows.

Large doses of common salt, or Epsom salts dissolved in water, are good purgatives, and if the animal neglects drinking after taking them, he should be drenched with copious draughts of water. These should be repeated every few hours, if ineffectual.

Injections are sometimes useful, when medicine fails to act. These may be made of soap and water; or take 2 or 3 gills of oats boiled, 3 drachms saltpetre, 1? oz. linseed oil, mix and use them when warm.

The opening of the bowels may be followed with a pint of linseed oil, as an additional and gentle laxative.

When the animal begins to recover, gentle astringents and tonics may be given.

Preventives.-We have more confidence in preventives than in remedies. Good keep, shelter, dryness, and clean pastures, will generally prevent attack. The cattle should at all times be supplied with two or three troughs under cover, on the sides and bottoms of which tar should be plentifully spread. Let equal portions of salt and slaked lime be in one; salt and wood ashes in another; and salt and brimstone in a third. Many farmers have entirely avoided this disease while using one or more of these, when they annually lost many by it previously.

Hoof Ail

Is indicated by lameness, fever, and a soft swelling just above the hoof.

Remedies.-Carefully wash the foot in warm soap-suds, and while still damp, apply between the claws on the affected part from one to three grains of corrosive sublimate. If it does not fully adhere, it must be mixed with hog's lard, but it should be so applied as to be out of the reach of the animal's tongue, as it is a powerful poison, and the extreme irritability of the feet will induce him to lick them.

The claw is efficiently cleansed, by drawing a cord briskly through it, when either of the above applications, or blue vitriol put on two or three times a day, or spirits of turpentine, will effect a cure.

It is sometimes cured by putting the animals in the stanchions, and applying a sharp chisel three-fourths of an inch from the toe, and striking it with a mallet till it is cut off. If it does not bleed freely, cut off shavings till it does. If the animal is refractory, let a person hold up the opposite foot. Keep them in the stable two or three days, and out of the mud for a week.

Loss of Cud

Is loss of appetite, prostration, and general ill-health.

Remedies.-Give a warm bran mash, with good hay, and warm water with salt.

An aloe tincture, made with brandy and ginger, is good.

Afterwards give good, dry, nourishing food; and bitter infusions, chamomile flowers, hoarhound, oak bark, &c., in beer.

Scours, or Diarrh?a.

A common remedy, is to boil the bark of white oak, white pine, and beech, and give a strong infusion in bran. If they refuse to eat it, pour it down. The oak is astringent, and the pine and beech soothing and healing.

Warbles

Are grubs, the egg of which is deposited in the back of cattle by the gad-fly, (?strus bovis.) They are discernible by a protuberance or swelling on the back. They may be pressed out by the thumb and finger; or burnt out by plunging a hot wire in them; or a few applications of strong brine will remove them.

Wounds

In cattle are readily healed, when the animal's blood is in good order, by applying a salve made of 1 oz. green copperas; 2 oz. white vitriol; 2 oz. salt; 2 oz. linseed oil; 8 oz. molasses. Boil over a slow fire 15 minutes in a pint of urine, and when almost cold, add 1 oz. oil of vitriol, and 4 oz. spirits turpentine. Apply it with a feather to the wound, and cure soon follows.

Milk, or Puerperal Fever,

Is a common disease with cows in high condition, at the time of calving. It may, in almost every case, be avoided, by keeping them in moderate feed and flesh.

Remedies.-Bleed freely, say 6 to 10 quarts, according to the circulation of the blood; then give 1 to 1? lbs. of Epsom salts, according to the size of the beast, to be repeated in half lb. doses every six hours, till she purges freely.

Injections should always be given when purgatives are tardy in their operation.

Caked Bag

May be removed by simmering the bark of the root of bitter-sweet in lard, till it becomes very yellow. When cool, apply it to the swollen udder once in 8 or 10 hours; or wash it several times a day in cold water.

A pint of horseradish, fed once a day, cut up with potatoes or meal, is useful for the same purpose.

This is also a tonic, helps the appetite, and is good for oxen subject to heat.

Garget

Is a more intense degree of inflammation than exists in caked bag and sore, swollen teats, and shows itself in hard bunches on the udder.

The cow should be bled, and take a large dose of physic; then wash the udder as in caked bag.

Repeated doses of sulphur is a good remedy.

Garget, or scoke root, given of the size of a large finger, grated and fed in their food, is a general application with farmers. The garget plant grows from three to six feet high, with a purple stalk, and strings of berries hanging down between the branches.

Sore Teats

May be healed by rubbing with goose oil, cream, new milk; or make the same applications for it as for caked bag. The bag and teats should be well cleansed with warm soft water, if to be followed by any ointment.

The following application is recommended by Youatt: One ounce of yellow wax and three of lard; melt together, and when cooling, rub in one quarter ounce of sugar of lead, and a drachm of alum finely powdered.

Warts

Are of two kinds; the first, on the outer skin, may be removed by rubbing with camphorated olive oil. The others penetrate into the flesh, and may be removed by a ligature of fine twine, or silk, or india-rubber drawn into a string, and tied tightly around the wart, which falls off in a few days.

Remedies.-Nitrate of silver, (lunar caustic,) applied to the wart, will remove it, but it produces a sore.

Apply a strong wash of alum.

Rub with the juice of milk-weed.

Poultice with grated carrot.

Cut off the wart with sharp scissors, when the cow is dry. It will bleed little, and soon heal.

Sore Necks on Working Oxen.

These occur when worked in wet weather, or with bad yokes. The remedy is, rub with a healing application. The preventive is, good yokes; the application of grease; or a decoction of white or yellow oak bark applied to the affected parts. Or, a better preventive is a canvass or leather cap to protect the neck entirely from the storm.

The Bite of Poisonous Snakes

May be cured by shaking together equal parts of olive oil and hartshorn, and rubbing the wound and adjacent parts three or four times a day. For a full-grown animal, one quart of olive oil and an ounce of hartshorn should be administered internally, in addition to the above.

For Stings of Bees, Hornets, &c.

Apply warm vinegar and salt, rubbing the parts thoroughly.

For a Forming Tumor.

Rub thoroughly with strong brine, or a solution of sal ammoniac dissolved in eight times its weight of water. If the tumor comes to a head, open it near the bottom with a lancet; or place a seton in it so as to admit the escape of purulent matter.

Lice and Vermin

Sometimes abound on cattle during the latter part of winter and spring. These are generally the result of mange, which is itself the effect of ill-feeding and ill-condition. They are removed with the cause. We doubt if they can be permanently kept off, where the animal is losing flesh and health.

Remedies.-Restore the health and condition, and sprinkle sand, ashes, or dirt plentifully around the roots of the horns, and along the ridge of the neck and back.

A liberal application of train or other oil has nearly a similar effect.

Never apply an ointment containing corrosive sublimate or other poison, as it may be licked by the animal or its fellows, who may thus become seriously poisoned.

The Trembles,

Producing milk sickness (a most fatal disease) in the human family, from eating the milk or flesh of animals affected by it. This disease, which exists principally in the region of the Wabash River, is supposed by Dr. Drake to be owing to the poison oak, (Rhus Toxicodendron,) or poison vine, (Radicans,) which the animals eat.

Symptoms.-The animal mopes, is feverish and costive, but apparently preserves its appetite. The next stage of the disease is faintness and vertigo, which is shown when the animal is put upon exertion, being followed by excessive trembling and entire prostration.

Remedy.-Almost every cathartic has been tried in vain. Indian corn, both dry and green, has been fed to all animals accustomed to eating it, and when they can be induced to feed upon it freely, purging is generally secured. Rest of the animal is absolutely essential while the disease continues, and is itself an effectual remedy in mild cases.

* * *

Besides the diseases enumerated, there are occasional epidemics, such as black tongue, black foot, or foot root, &c., which carry off great numbers of animals. Remedies for these are frequently not discovered, and the epidemic is allowed to run its course unchecked. The only preventives are such care, food, and management as the experienced herdsman knows to be best suited to the maintenance of the health and thrift of his stock.

Note.-Some ailments will be found under the head of diseases of the other animals mentioned in this work, the general resemblance of which to each other will justify nearly a similar treatment.

If intelligent farriers are at hand, they may sometimes be called in with advantage; though we acknowledge our distrust of the quackery of most of those passing under this title. There is little science or intelligent study in the composition of this class, the world over; and much of their practice is the merest empiricism. The owner should see to it, if he employs one of whose attainments he is doubtful, that neither medicines nor operations be used, unnecessarily severe or hazardous to the animal. Especially, should the diabolical practice be interdicted, of the abundant and indiscriminate use of poisons, boiling oils, turpentine, and tar, and the hot iron applied to the sensitive wound or naked flesh. If certain or effectual remedies for the removal of disease cannot he applied, such as augment the suffering or endanger the life of the poor dumb things, may at least be avoided.

* * *

Cows for the Dairy.

From what has been said on the various characteristics of the different breeds of cattle, it must be evident, that no very definite criteria of excellence can be given for all good dairy cows. But there are certain points in a good milker, that can hardly be mistaken.

She should be descended from the best milking stock; her head should be small or of medium size, muzzle fine, and nostrils flexible and expanded; face long, slender, and dishing; cheeks thin; eyes full, mild, and prominent; horns delicate and waxy, and they may be either branching, lopped, crumpled, or hornless; long, thin, lively ear, and the inside of an orange color; neck thin and small at its junction with the head; deep chest, but not too heavy before; back level and broad; well ribbed; belly large; low flank; wide thighs, but thin; short legs, and standing well apart; large milking veins; loose, capacious udder, coming well out behind; good teats; loose, mellow skin, of a deep yellow; and a fine, thick coat of glossy hair; and she must be of a good disposition, and free from tricks.

Yet, with all the skill of a well-practised taste in the selection of animals, the dairyman will frequently find his theories and results at sad variance. One may sometimes select a fine animal, with every appearance of good milking qualities, which is but a medium cow at the pail; and another, that hardly seems worthy of notice, and which sets at defiance many established milking points, and all preconceived notions of symmetry, may yet prove a good milker. A cow that runs to flesh while in milk, is generally an indifferent animal for the dairy. Perfection in a cow, consists in converting all she eats into milk while yielding it, and when dry, in turning all she consumes into valuable meat.

Management of Dairy Cows.

A cow may have her first calf when between two and three years of age, according to her size and development. After calving, she should be stinted in her food for two or three days, and not fed freely for a week. Avoid fat in a breeding cow. Too high feeding is the cause of milk-fever, caked bag, garget, and a host of evils; and very poor feed is almost equally objectionable.

The average time of a cow with young, is from 40 to 41 weeks; but they sometimes go only 34, and occasionally overrun 44.

A dry, unoccupied stall or yard is best for her to calve in; and if there is any serious delay or difficulty in the operation, she may be assisted by placing the f?tus in the right position, and gently pulling it, with every throe of the dam. After the calf has drawn all he wants at morning and evening, the bag should be thoroughly and quickly emptied of all the milk. If strong and vigorous, the calf is the best doctor for garget or caked bag. He may be allowed to suck the cow or not, at the option of the owner; there are reasons for and against the practice, as will be seen under the head of rearing calves, and each person must determine in his own case on which side the balance lies.

Milking.

This is an important operation, and on its proper performance depends much of the success of the dairyman. A cow regularly, gently, yet quickly and thoroughly milked, will give much more than if neglected. If a herd of cows be separated into two divisions, each yielding the same quantity of milk, and one is given to a good milker, and the other to a shiftless or lazy one, the latter will speedily reduce his milk much below the quantity obtained by the former; and if the milkers then exchange cows, they will be found to change quantity too, those before affording the least, soon giving the most. An indifferent milker ought never to be tolerated in a herd, good ones are cheaper at double the price. It is best to milk at intervals of about 12 hours; which may be done when pastures are convenient, or cows are soiled or fed in the yard. But as this is not often the case in the season of green food, they should be milked early in the morning and turned into pasture, to fill themselves before the sun is oppressive; and if they are to be kept up at night, let them browse in the pasture as long as possible, before they are brought to the yard.

MILK

Is produced from the females of all the warm-blooded animals, which are enumerated among the mammali?. The milk of several animals is employed for domestic purposes, among different nations. That of the camel is used by the Arabs; the milk of the ass by the Spaniards, the Maltese, and the inhabitants of the Levant; that of the mare by the Cossacks, the Kirgheez, and other Tartars; and that of the goat, the ewe, and the cow, by most of the ancient, and with few exceptions, by every modern European nation. Within the last century, however, the use of all excepting cow's milk has been almost entirely discarded, among the most highly civilized people.

If we except some few Welsh and Swiss, or other emigrants, who resort to the goat and ewe for their dairy materials, for the first few years of their residence here, the cow is the only animal which is employed in America for producing milk. For this, she is pre-eminently fitted, and the modern improvement of this invaluable animal has carried her product of milk almost as far as can be reasonably looked for from a given amount of food; and although this is of about the average richness of the goat and ewe, and before that of the ass, the quantity she yields is frequently as 60 to 1, in favor of the cow, over the first two competitors. As a milk-giving animal, the cow is the best fitted for the purposes of civilized man; and she is made to contribute, not only to his health, his comfort, and his economy, but to many of his choicest luxuries. Milk contains every element of nutrition necessary to animal existence; and man can subsist, with unimpaired health and strength, if limited to this food alone.

The Constituents of Milk

Are butter, which varies from 2 to 6 per cent.; casein or cheese, usually 4 to 5, but sometimes varying from 3 to 15 per cent.; (the last excessive quantity, yielded only by the first milk after calving;) milk-sugar, 4 to 6; salts or saline matter, 0.2 to 0.6; and water, 80 to 89.

There is much diversity in the product and quality of milk from cows of the same breed, the same food, and other circumstances and conditions, apparently equal. Thus, of a herd of 22, chiefly Ayrshire, one gave 84 quarts in one week, which afforded 3? lbs. of butter; two others in the same time gave 86, yielding 5? lbs.; and a fourth gave 88 quarts, making 7 lbs.

The amount of butter, however, which a given quantity of milk will produce, is not the only criterion of the value of the milk, except for this purpose alone. Some cows will yield more butter, others will produce more cheese; while for consumption, another may partially compensate, in the increased quantity of milk-sugar, and the saline matters, for a deficiency of both the other ingredients. But for dairy purposes, butter and cheese are the only measure of the value of milk; and a cow is esteemed good or indifferent, as she gives one or the other in the greatest abundance.

Circumstances which modify the Quantity and Character of Milk.

Besides the accidental variation in the quantity and quality of milk in different animals, before adverted to, there are many reliable causes which influence both. Of these, parentage has a most decided and uniform influence, frequently modified, however, in the particular individual, by some personal and controlling causes. But a cow, whose maternal ancestry on both sides are choice milkers, is almost certain to resemble them.

Food influences the quantity, rather than the quality. Boussingault tried numerous experiments, with cows fed on various kinds of food, and found the difference hardly appreciable in the quality of milk. Its true benefit is to be looked for in the increased quantity, through which, the valuable ingredients are distributed in nearly the same proportion, as when the product is materially lessened. By quality we mean to be understood, the amount of the ingredients, valuable for nutrition only; for it is certain, that there is a rich aromatic flavor, not only in milk, but in butter and cheese, which is afforded in various articles of food, and especially by the fresh green herbage which abounds in the pastures from spring to autumn.

Activity or rest has a great effect on both quantity and quality. The less action, and the more quiet and rest, the greater the amount of milk and butter. But exercise is absolutely essential to the production of cheese. Butter may be made from cows confined in a stable, but cheese can only be profitably made from animals at pasture. It is supposed by physiologists, that the exercise in gathering their food, rather than any peculiarity in its character, is necessary to convert the nitrogenized tissues into the nitrogenized principle of caseum or cheese.

The time from calving, has also its effect. The first milk drawn from a cow after calving, has been found to yield over 15 per cent. of casein, while in its ordinary state it gives only three to five and a half. As the quantity of milk diminishes in a farrow cow, the quality improves within certain limits. Pregnancy affects the quality injuriously, and especially towards its latter stages; and a cow that is predisposed to giving milk, should be dried off a few weeks before its expiration, as it is then unfit for use.

Fat cows give poorer milk than such as are moderately lean; and young animals do not come up to the maximum of their quality, till after their third or fourth calving.

The milk first drawn from the udder, will yield only an eighth, and sometimes even a much less proportion of cream, than the strippings; and the milk which is drawn three times a day, is greatly inferior to such as is taken but once, though the latter is less abundant.

Excitement, or fretfulness; change of locality, or to a different herd, with new companions; separation from her calf; periodical heat; annoyance from flies, or worry from dogs; exposure to storms, severe cold, or an oppressive sun, and many similar causes, diminish the quantity of milk and butter; but some of these may reasonably be expected to increase the proportion of its casein.

Dr. Playfair found that the quantity of butter in the evening milk, after the cow had been at pasture all day, was 3.7 per cent., while the casein was 5.4; after lying quietly all night, the milk from the same cow, on the following morning, contained 5.6 per cent. of butter, and only 3.9 of casein. In stabling the cow, the butter was invariably in greater proportion than when allowed to ramble in the pasture; and the casein, with a single exception, was equally diminished.

Fig. 17.

Lactometer, or Cream Guage.

Fig. 17, is a number of glass tubes of equal size, set in a frame called a lactometer or cream guage. If milk from different cows be set in these, the depth of the cream will indicate their comparative richness.

Cream.

If milk be immediately set away in shallow vessels, after being taken from the cow, the cream rises to the surface, carrying with it most of the butter contained in the milk, and much of its casein also. Hence, the great nutritive properties of buttermilk, which retains the casein in very large proportions, much of it being rejected by the butter in its separation from the cream.

A temperature below 34°, will prevent the cream from rising in any considerable quantity, and preserve the milk unaltered for some weeks. Coagulating the milk from any cause, will equally prevent the separation of the cream. The elevation of temperature within certain limits, hastens the separation. Thus, at 50°, the cream will mostly have risen in 36 hours; at 55°, in 24; at 68°, in 18 or 20; and at 77°, in 10 or 12 hours.

Heating the milk near the boiling point, and then setting it away and allowing it to remain undisturbed, will soon cause the cream to rise. In the celebrated Orange dairy, near Baltimore, Md., this system was practised, by which, not only most of the cream was secured for butter, but in consequence of its rapid separation, the skimmed milk was sent to market within a few hours after being drawn; and the scalding imparted to it an agreeable flavor and apparent richness, which it did not really possess.

The celebrated clouted cream of Devonshire, England, and the butter made from it, contains an unusual quantity of casein, the consequence of heating the milk. "It is prepared by straining the warm milk into large shallow pans into which a little water has previously been put, allowing these to stand from six to twelve hours, and then carefully heating them over a slow fire, or on a hot plate, till the milk approaches the boiling point. The milk, however, must not actually boil, nor must the skin of the cream be broken. The dishes are now removed into the dairy, and allowed to cool. In summer the cream should be churned on the following day; in winter it may stand over two days. The quantity of cream obtained is said to be one-fourth greater by this method, and the milk which is left is proportionably poor."-[Johnston.]

BUTTER.

Electricity

Has much to do with the changes in milk, as in all other substances. Glass milk-pans might, therefore, be supposed to be the best vessels for keeping the milk unchanged and sweet.

It may possibly not afford any practical result, yet intelligent experiments for introducing a stream of electricity might well be justified, to aid in the separation of the butteraceous particles in the operation of churning.

Sour Cream.

Cream, for the purpose of churning, is usually allowed to become sour. It ought to be at least one day old, but may with advantage be kept several days in cool weather, if it be previously well freed from milk, and be frequently stirred to keep it from curdling. This sour cream is put into the churn, and worked in the usual way until the butter separates. This is collected into lumps, well beat and squeezed free from the milk, and in some dairies is washed with pure cold water as long as the water is rendered milky. In other localities the butter is not washed, but after being well beat, is carefully freed from the remaining milk by repeated squeezings and dryings with a clean cloth. Both methods, no doubt, have their advantages. In the same circumstances, the washed butter may be more easily preserved in the fresh state, while the unwashed butter will probably possess a higher flavor.

Sweet Cream

May be put into the churn and the butter be obtained, but in most cases it requires more labor and longer time, without, in the opinion of good judges, affording in general a finer quality of butter. In all cases the cream becomes sour during the agitation, and before the butter begins distinctly to form.

Clouted Cream

The churning of the clouted cream of this and other countries, forms an exception to the general rule just stated, that more time is required in the churning of sweet creams. Clouted cream may be churned in the morning after it is made, that is, within twenty-four hours of the time when the milk was taken from the cow; and from such cream it is well known that the butter separates with very great ease. But in this case, the heating of the cream has already disposed the oily matter to cohere, an incipient running together of the globules has probably taken place before the cream is removed from the milk, and hence the comparative ease with which the churning is effected. There is something peculiar in butter prepared in this way, as it is known in other countries by the name of Bohemian butter. It is said to be very agreeable in flavor, but it must contain more cheesy matter than the butter from ordinary cream.

Churning the whole Milk

Is a much more laborious method, from the difficulty of keeping in motion such large quantities of fluid. It has the advantage, however, of giving a larger quantity of butter. At Rennes, in Brittany, the milk of the previous evening is poured into the churn along with the warm morning's milk, and the mixture is allowed to stand for some hours, when the whole is churned. In this way it is said that a larger quantity of butter is obtained, and of a more delicate flavor.

In the neighborhood of Glasgow, according to Mr. Aiton, the milk is allowed to stand six, twelve, or twenty-four hours in the dairy, till the whole has cooled, and the cream has risen to the surface. Two or three milkings, still sweet, are then poured together with their cream, into a large vessel, and are left undisturbed till the whole has become quite sour, and is completely coagulated. The proper sourness is indicated by the formation of a stiff brat upon the surface which has become uneven. Great care must be taken to keep the brat and curd unbroken until the milk is about to be churned, for if any of the whey be separated, the air gains admission to it and to the curd, and fermentation is induced. By this fermentation, the quality of the butter may or may not be affected, but that of the buttermilk is almost sure to be injured.

In Holland the practice is a little different. The cream is not allowed to rise to the surface at all, but the milk is stirred two or three times a day, till it gets sour, and so thick that a wooden spoon will stand in it. It is then put into the churn, and the working, or the separation of the butter is assisted by the addition of a quantity of cold water. By churning the sour milk in one or other of these ways, the butter is said to be "rich, sound, and well-flavored." If it be greater in quantity, it is, according to Sprengel, because the fatty matter carries with it from the milk a larger quantity of casein than it does in most cases from the cream alone.

Sourness of the Cream.

Fig. 18.

For the production of the best butter, it is necessary that the cream should be sufficiently sour before it is put into the churn. Butter made from sweet cream (not clouted) is neither good in quality, nor large in quantity, and longer time is required in churning. It is an unprofitable method.

Fig. 18 is a Cylindrical Thermometer Churn, of any required size, with false metal bottom to hold cold or hot water for bringing the cream to the proper temperature. A thermometer, permanently set in the side, indicates the heat.

Quickness in Churning.

The more quickly milk or cream is churned, the paler, the softer, and the less rich the butter. Cream, according to Mr. Aiton, may be safely churned in an hour and a half, while milk ought to obtain from two to three hours. The churning ought always to be regular, slower in warm weather, that the butter may not be soft and white, and quicker in winter, that the proper temperature may be kept up.

A barrel-churn, lately introduced into this country, being placed in a trough of water of the proper temperature, readily imparts the degree of heat required by the milk or cream without the necessity of adding warm water to the milk, and churns the whole in ten or twelve minutes. It is said also to give a larger weight of butter from the same quantity of milk. If the quality be really as good by this quick churning, the alleged inferiority in the quality of butter churned quickly in the common churn cannot be due to the mere rapidity of churning alone.

Over-churning.

When the process of churning is continued after the full separation of the butter, it loses its fine yellowish, waxy appearance, and becomes soft and light-colored. The weight of the butter, however, is considerably increased; and hence, in Lancashire, over-churning is frequently practised in the manufacture of fresh butter for immediate sale.

Temperature of the Milk or Cream.

Much also depends upon the temperature of the milk or cream when the churning is commenced. Cream when put into the churn should never be warmer than 55° Fahrenheit It rises during the churning from 4° to 10° F. above its original temperature. When the whole milk is churned, the temperature should be raised to 65° F., which is best done by pouring in hot water into the churn while the milk is kept in motion. In winter, either of these temperatures may be easily attained. In cold weather it is often necessary to add hot water to the cream to raise it even to 55°. But in summer, and especially in hot weather, it is difficult, even in cool and well-ordered dairies, (without the use of ice,) to keep the cream down to this comparatively low temperature. Hence, if the cream be then churned, a second-rate butter, at best, is all that can be obtained.

The alleged advantages of Churning the entire Milk.

The proper temperature can be readily obtained both in winter and summer. A hundred gallons of entire milk, will give, in summer, five per cent. more butter than the cream from the same quantity of milk. Butter of the best quality can be obtained without difficulty, both in winter and summer. No special attention to circumstances, or change of method, is at any time required. The churning in winter and summer is alike simple and easy. The butter is not only of the best quality while fresh, but is also best for long-keeping, when properly cured or salted.

Cleanliness in all the operations of the Dairy.

This is peculiarly necessary to the manufacture of good butter. Cream is remarkable for the rapidity with which it absorbs and becomes tainted by any unpleasant odors. It is very necessary that the air of the dairy should be sweet, that it should be often renewed, and that it should be open in no direction from which bad odors can come. (Johnston and other authorities.)

The statement of J. T. Lansing, who received the first premium for butter from the New York State Agricultural Society, is as follows:-

Keep the cows stabled through the inclement season; feed them from three to four times per day with good hay or green stalks; when near coming in, add some oats, barley, or corn cracked. In summer, good pasture, with living water accessible at all times, and plenty of salt.

Treatment of milk and cream before churning.-Strain the milk in tin pans; place them in a cool cellar for the cream to rise. When sufficiently risen, separate the cream from the milk; put in stone jars, well prepared before churning.

The mode of churning in summer.-Rinse the churn with cold water; then turn in the cream, and add to each jar of cream put in the churn, full one-fourth of the same quantity of cold water. The churn used is a patent one, moved by hand with a crank, having paddles attached, and so constructed as to warm the milk (if too cold) with hot water, without mixing them together. The milk and cream receive the same treatment in winter as in summer; and in churning, use hot instead of cold water, if necessary.

The method of freeing the butter from the milk, is to wash the butter with cold water, till it shows no color of the milk, by the use of a ladle.

Salting the butter.-Use the best kind of Liverpool sack-salt; the quantity varies according to the state in which the butter is taken from the churn; if soft, more; if hard, less; always taking the taste for the surest guide. Add no saltpetre, nor other substances.

The best time for churning is the morning, in hot weather, and to keep the butter cool till put down.

The best mode of preserving butter, in and through the summer and winter, is as follows:-The vessel is a stone jar, clean and sweet. The mode of putting it down is to put in a churning of butter, and put on strong brine; let it remain on until the next churning is ready to put down, and so on till the jar is filled; then cover it with fine salt the same to remain on till used.

Mr. McWilliams, of Orange county, the celebrity of whose butter is unsurpassed, thus details his method of butter-making:

"Our practice is not to churn the milk until it becomes thick or loppered, the milk and cream is then churned together. The temperature of the milk is about fifty degrees. In warm weather about a quart of cold water is put in each pan before the milk is strained, so as to keep it sweet as long as possible. The cellar-floor is brick. This in warm weather is daily cleansed with cold water. A drain from the cellar carries off the water thus applied. The churn is filled about half full with milk, with the addition of two pails of cold water before starting the churn. In cold weather the same quantity of warm water is applied. When the churning is finished, which usually occupies about two hours of time, there are then two more pails of cold water applied to raise the butter and cool it.

The butter is then taken out of the churn and put in a large tray; this is immediately filled with cold water, and the butter carefully washed; after which the water is thrown off. The butter now undergoes the process of salting; it is then placed in a cool situation, where it stands about an hour, and is worked carefully over. This finished, it is placed in the same situation as before, where it stands three or four hours, and is again worked over; again replaced for five or six hours, when it is worked over for the third time. It is now replaced, where it stands till the next morning, and worked over for the fourth time. A small quantity of nitre is then put in the butter. Thus finished, it is placed in firkins holding about eighty-five pounds.

Previous to packing, the firkin is scalded with hot water, rinsed and cooled with cold water, then rubbed all around with fine salt; this prevents the butter from adhering to the sides of the firkin. When the firkin is full, a linen cloth is placed over the top of the butter; on this cloth a covering of salt is put one inch deep, and cold water enough added to it to form a brine. It then stands till it is to be sent to market, when the cloth and salt are removed, the firkin turned down, the top of the butter in the keg washed with cold water, and the pickle drained off. The firkin is now neatly headed up and sent to market."

The salt added to the butter should be from 1-24th to 1-28th of its weight, or about two-thirds of an ounce to a pound, and this must be of the best quality. All the buttermilk must be thoroughly extracted by repeated washings; and when completed, the butter should be immediately packed, and not a particle of air allowed to come in contact with it till opened for the table.

CHEESE.

The Circumstances affecting the Quality of Cheese.

"All cheese consists essentially of the curd, mixed with a certain portion of the fatty matter, and of the sugar of milk. But differences in the quality of the milk, in the proportion in which the several constituents of milk are mixed together, or in the general mode of dairy management, give rise to varieties of cheese almost without number. Nearly every dairy district produces one or more qualities of cheese peculiar to itself.

Natural Differences in the Milk

It is obvious that whatever gives rise to natural differences in the quality of the milk, must affect also that of the cheese prepared from it. If the milk be poor in butter, so must the cheese be. If the pasture be such as to give a milk rich in cream, the cheese will partake of the same quality. If the herbage or other food affect the taste of the milk or cream, it will also modify the flavor of the cheese.

Milk of Different Animals.

So the milk of different animals will give cheese of unlike qualities. The ewe-milk cheeses of Tuscany, Naples, and Languedoc, and those of goats' milk made on Mont Dor and elsewhere, are celebrated for qualities which are not possessed by cheeses prepared from cows' milk in a similar way. Buffalo milk also gives a cheese of peculiar qualities, which is manufactured in some parts of the Neapolitan territory."

Other kinds of cheese are made from mixtures of the milk of different animals. Thus the strong-tasted cheese of Lecca and the celebrated Roquefort cheese are prepared from mixtures of goat with ewe milk, and the cheese of Mont Cenis from both of these mixed with the milk of the cow.

Creamed or Uncreamed Milk.

Still further differences are produced, according to the proportion of cream which is left in or is added to the milk. Thus, if cream only be employed, we have the rich cream-cheese which must be eaten in a comparatively recent state. Or, if the cream of the previous night's milking be added to the new milk of the morning, we may have such cheese as the Stilton of England, or the small, soft, and rich Brie cheeses, so much esteemed in France.

If the entire milk only be used, we have such cheeses as the Cheshire, the Double Gloucester, the Cheddar, the Wiltshire, and the Dunlop cheeses of Britain, the Kinnegad cheese of Ireland, and the Gouda and Edam cheeses of Holland. Even here, however, it makes a difference, whether the warm milk from the cow is curdled alone, as at Gouda and Edam, or whether it is mixed with the milk of the evening before, as is generally done in Cheshire and Ayrshire. Many persons are of opinion that cream, which has once been separated, can never be so well mixed again with the milk, that a portion of the fatty matter shall not flow out with the whey and render the cheese less rich.

If the cream of the evening's milk be removed, and the skimmed milk added to the new milk of the next morning, such cheeses as the Single Gloucester are obtained. If the cream be taken once from all the milk, the better kinds of skimmed-milk cheese, such as the Dutch cheese of Leyden, are prepared; while if the milk be twice skimmed, we have the poorer cheeses of Friesland and Groningen. If skimmed for three or four days in succession, we get the hard and horny cheeses of Essex and Sussex, which often require the axe to break them up.

Buttermilk Cheese.

But poor or butterless cheese will also differ in quality according to the state of the milk from which it is extracted. If the new milk be allowed to stand to throw up its cream, and this be then removed in the usual way, the ordinary skimmed-milk cheese will be obtained by adding rennet to the milk. But if, instead of skimming, we allow the milk to stand till it begins to sour, and then remove the butter by churning the whole, we obtain the milk in a sour state, (buttermilk.) From this milk the curd separates naturally by gentle heating. But being thus prepared from sour milk, and without the use of rennet, buttermilk cheese differs more or less in quality from that which is made from sweet skimmed-milk. The acid in the buttermilk, especially after it has stood a day or two, is capable of coagulating new milk also; and thus, by mixing more or less sweet milk with the buttermilk before it is warmed, several other qualities of mixed butter and sweet-milk cheese may readily be manufactured.

Whey Cheese.

The whey which separates from the curd, and especially the white whey, which is pressed out towards the last, contains a portion of curd, and not unfrequently a considerable quantity of butter also. When the whey is heated, the curd and butter rise to the surface, and are readily skimmed off. This curd alone will often yield a cheese of excellent quality, and so rich in butter, that a very good imitation of Stilton cheese may sometimes be made with alternate layers of new-milk curd and this curd of whey.

Mixtures of Vegetable Substances with the Milk.

New varieties of cheese are formed by mixing vegetable substances with the curd. A green decoction of two parts of sage leaves, one of marigold, and a little parsley, gives its color to the green cheese of Wiltshire; some even mix up the entire leaves with the curd. The celebrated Schabzieger cheese of Switzerland, is made by crushing the skim-milk cheese after it is several months old to fine powder in a mill, mixing it then with one-tenth of its weight of fine salt, and one-twentieth of the powdered leaves of the mellilot trefoil, (trifolium melilotus cerulea,) and afterwards with oil or butter, working the whole into a paste, which is pressed and carefully dried.

Potato Cheeses,

As they are called, are made in various ways. One pound of sour milk is mixed with five pounds of boiled potatoes and a little salt, and the whole is beat into a pulp, which, after standing five or six days, is worked up again, and then dried in the usual way. Others mix three parts of dried boiled potatoes with two of fresh curd, or equal weights, or more curd than potato, according to the quality required. Such cheeses are made in Thuringia, in Saxony, and in other parts of Germany. In Savoy, an excellent cheese is made by mixing one of the pulp of potatoes with three of ewe-milk curd; and in Westphalia, a potato cheese is made with skimmed milk.

Preparation of Rennet.

Rennet is prepared from the salted stomach or intestines of the sucking calf, the unweaned lamb, the young kid, or even the young pig. In general, however, the stomach of the calf is preferred, and there are various ways of curing and preserving it.

The stomach of the newly killed animal contains a quantity of curd derived from the milk on which it has been fed. In most districts, it is usual to remove by a gentle washing the curd and slimy matters which are present in the stomach, as they are supposed to impart a strong taste to the cheese. In Cheshire, the curd is frequently salted separately for immediate use. In Ayrshire and Limburg, on the other hand, the curd is always left in the stomach and salted along with it. Some even give the calf a copious draught of milk shortly before it is killed, in order that the stomach may contain a larger quantity of the valuable curd.

Salting the Stomach.

In the mode of salting the stomach, similar differences prevail. Some merely put a few handfuls of salt into and around it, then roll it together, and hang it near the chimney to dry. Others salt it in a pickle for a few days, and then hang it up to dry; while others pack several of them in layers, with much salt both within and without, and preserve them in a cool place, till the cheese-making season of the following year. They are then taken out, drained from the brine, spread upon a table, sprinkled with salt which is rolled in with a wooden roller, and then hung up to dry. In some foreign countries, the recent stomach is minced very fine, mixed with salt and bread into a paste, put into a bladder, and then dried. In Lombardy, the stomach, after being salted and dried, is minced and mixed up with salt, pepper, and a little whey or water into a paste, which is preserved for use.

In whatever way the stomach or intestine of the calf is prepared and preserved, the almost universal opinion seems to be, that it should be kept for 10 or 12 months, before it is capable of yielding the best and strongest rennet. If newer than 12 months, the rennet is thought to make the cheese heave or swell, and become full of eyes or holes.

Making the Rennet.

In making the rennet, different customs also prevail. In some districts, a bit of the dried stomach is put into half a pint of lukewarm water, with as much salt as will lie upon a shilling, is allowed to stand over night, and in the morning the infusion is poured into the milk. For a cheese of 60 lbs. weight, a piece of the size of a dollar will often be sufficient, though of some skins as much as 10 square inches are required to produce the same effect. It is, however, more common to take the entire stomach, and to pour upon them from one to three quarts of water for each stomach, and to allow them to infuse for several days. If only one has been infused, and the rennet is intended for immediate use, the infusion requires only to be skimmed and strained. But if several be infused, or as many as have been provided for the whole season, about two quarts of water are taken for each, and, after standing not more than two days, the infusion is poured off, and is completely saturated with salt. During the summer it is constantly skimmed, and fresh salt added from time to time. Or a strong brine may at once be poured upon the skins, and the infusion, when the skins are taken out, may be kept for a length of time. Some even recommend, that the liquid rennet should not be used until it is at least two months old. When thus kept, however, it is indispensable that the water should be fully saturated with salt.

In Ayrshire, and in some other countries, it is customary to cut the dried stomach into small pieces, and to put it, with a handful or two of salt and one or two quarts of water, into a jar, to allow it to stand for two or three days, afterwards to pour upon it another pint for a couple of days, to mix the two decoctions, and when strained, to bottle the whole for future use. In this state it may be kept for many months.

In making rennet, some use pure water only, others prefer clear whey, others a decoction of leaves, such as those of the sweetbrier, the dog-rose, and the bramble, or of aromatic herbs and flowers; while others again, put in lemons, cloves, mace, or brandy. These various practices are adopted for the purpose of making the rennet keep better, of lessening its unpleasant smell, of preventing any unpleasant taste it might give to the curd, or finally of directly improving the flavor of the cheese. The acidity of the lemon will, no doubt, increase also the coagulating power of any rennet to which it may be added.

The rennet thus prepared is poured into the milk previously raised to the temperature of 90° or 95° F., and is intimately mixed with it. The quantity which it is necessary to add varies with the quality of the rennet, from a tablespoonful to half a pint for 30 or 40 gallons of milk. The time necessary for the complete fixing of the curd varies also from 15 minutes to an hour or even an hour and a half. The chief causes of this variation, are the temperature of the milk, and the quality and quantity of the rennet employed.

Different Qualities of Cheese.

The temperature of new or entire milk, when the rennet is added, should be raised to about 95° F.; that of skimmed milk need not be quite so high. If the milk be warmer the curd is hard and tough, if colder, it is soft and difficult to obtain free from the whey. When the former happens to be the case, a portion of the first whey that separates may be taken out into another vessel, allowed to cool, and then poured in again. If it prove to have been too cold, hot milk or water may be added to it; or a vessel containing hot water may be put into it before the curdling commences; or the first portion of whey that separates may be heated and poured again upon the curd. The quality of the cheese, however, will always be more or less affected, when it happens to be necessary to adopt any of these remedies. To make the best cheese, the true temperature should always be attained as nearly as possible, before the rennet is added.

Mode in which the Milk is warmed.

If, as is the case in some dairies, the milk be warmed in an iron pot upon the naked fire, great care must be taken that it is not singed or fire-fanged. A very slight inattention may cause this to be the case, and the taste of the cheese is sure to be more or less affected by it. In Cheshire, the milk is put into a large tin pail, which is plunged into a boiler of hot water, and frequently stirred till it is raised to the proper temperature. In large dairy establishments, however, the safest method is to have a pot with a double bottom, consisting of one pot within another, after the manner of a glue-pot; the space between the two being filled with water. The fire applied beneath, thus acts only upon the water, and can never, by any ordinary neglect, do injury to the milk. It is desirable in this heating, not to raise the temperature higher than is necessary, as a great heat is apt to give an oiliness to the fatty matter of the milk.

The time during which the Curd stands.

This is also of importance. It should be broken up as soon as the milk is fully coagulated. The longer it stands after this, the harder and tougher it will become.

The quality of the Rennet.

This is of much importance, not only in regard to the certainty of the coagulation, but also to the flavor of the cheese. In some parts of Cheshire, it is usual to take a piece of the dried membrane and steep it overnight with a little salt for the ensuing morning's milk. It is thus sure to be fresh and sweet, if the dried maw be in good preservation. But where it is customary to steep several skins at a time, and to bottle the rennet for after-use, it is very necessary to saturate the solution completely with salt, and to season it with spices, in order that it may be preserved in a sweet and wholesome state.

The quantity of Rennet added.

This ought to be regulated as carefully as the temperature of the milk. Too much renders the curd tough; too little causes the loss of much time, and may permit a larger portion of the butter to separate itself from the curd. It is to be expected also, that when rennet is used in great excess, a portion of it will remain in the curd, and will naturally affect the kind and rapidity of the changes it afterwards undergoes. Thus, it is said to cause the cheese to heave or swell out from fermentation. It is probable, also, that it will affect the flavor which the cheese acquires by keeping. Thus it may be, that the agreeable or unpleasant taste of the cheeses of certain districts or dairies may be less due to the quality of the pastures or of the milk itself, than to the quantity of rennet with which it has there been customary to coagulate the milk.

The way in which the Rennet is made.

This, no less than its state of preservation and the quantity employed, may also influence the flavor or other qualities of the cheese. For instance, in the manufacture of a celebrated French cheese, that of Epoisse, the rennet is prepared as follows:-Four fresh calf-skins, with the curd they contain, are well washed in water, chopped into small pieces, and digested in a mixture of 5 quarts of brandy with 15 of water, adding at the same time 2? lbs. of salt, half an ounce of black pepper, and a quarter of an ounce each of cloves and fennel seeds. At the end of six weeks, the liquor is filtered and preserved in well-corked bottles, while the membrane is put into salt-water to form a new portion of rennet. For making rich cheeses, the rennet should always be filtered clear.

On Mont d'Or, the rennet is made with white wine and vinegar. An ounce of common salt is dissolved in a mixture of half a pint of vinegar with 2? pints of white wine, and in this solution a prepared goat's stomach or a piece of dried pig's bladder is steeped for a length of time. A single spoonful of this rennet is said to be sufficient for 45 or 50 quarts of milk. No doubt the acid of the vinegar and of the wine aid the coagulating power derived from the membrane.

The way in which the Curd is treated.

It is usual in our best cheese districts, carefully and slowly to separate the curd from the whey, not to hasten the separation, lest a larger portion of the fatty matter should be squeezed out of the curd, and the cheese should thus be rendered poorer than usual. But in some places, the practice prevails of washing the curd with hot water, after the whey has been partially separated from it. Thus at Gouda in Holland, after the greater part of the whey has been gradually removed, a quantity of hot water is added, and allowed to remain upon it for at least a quarter of an hour. The heat makes the cheese more solid and causes it to keep better.

In Italy, the pear-shaped caccio-cavallo cheeses and the round palloni cheeses of Gravina, in the Neapolitan territory, are made from curd, which after being scalded with boiling whey, is cut into slices, kneaded in boiling water, worked with the hand till it is perfectly tenacious and elastic, and then made into shapes. The water in which the curd is washed, after standing twenty-four hours, throws up much oily matter, which is skimmed off and made into butter.

The Separation of the Whey

Is a part of the process, upon which the quality of the cheese in a considerable degree depends. In Cheshire, more time and attention is devoted to the perfect extraction of the whey than in almost any other district. Indeed, when it is considered that the whey contains sugar and lactic acid, which may undergo decomposition, and a quantity of rennet which may bring on fermentation, by both of which processes the flavor of the cheeses must be considerably affected, it will appear of great importance that the whey should be as completely removed from the curd as it can possibly be. To aid in effecting this, a curd-mill, for chopping it fine after the whey is strained off, is in use in many of the large English dairies, and a very ingenious and effectual pneumatic cheese-press for sucking out the whey, was lately invented.

But the way in which the whey is separated is not a matter of indifference, and has much influence upon the quality of the cheese. Thus, in Norfolk, according to Marshall, when the curd is fairly set, the dairy-maid bares her arm, plunges it into the curd, and with the help of her wooden ladle, breaks up minutely, and intimately mixes the curd with the whey. This she does for ten or fifteen minutes, after which the curd is allowed to subside, and the whey is drawn off. By this agitation, the whey must carry off more of the butter and the cheese must be poorer.

In Cheshire and Ayrshire, the curd is cut with a knife, but is gently used and slowly pressed till it is dry enough to be chopped fine, and thus more of the oily matter is retained. On the same principle, in making the Stilton cheese, the curd is not cut or broken at all, but is pressed gently and with care till the whey gradually drains out. Thus the butter and the curd remain intermixed, and the rich cheese of Stilton is the result. Thus, while it is of importance that all the whey should be extracted from the curd, yet the quickest way may not be the best. More time and care must be bestowed in order to effect this object, the richer the cheese we wish to obtain.

The quality of the milk or of the pastures, may often be blamed for the deficiencies in the richness or other qualities of cheese, which are in reality due to slight but material differences in the mode of manufacturing it.

The kind of salt used, is considered by many to have some effect upon the taste of the cheese. Thus the cheese of Gerome, in the Vosges, is supposed to derive a peculiar taste from the Lorena salt with which it is cured. In Holland, the efficacy of one kind of salt over another for the curing of cheese is generally acknowledged.

The Mode in which the Salt is applied.

In making the large Cheshire cheeses, the dried curd, for a single cheese of sixty pounds, is broken down fine and divided into three equal portions. One of these is mingled with double the quantity of salt added to the others, and this is so put into the cheese-vat as to form the central part of the cheese. By this precaution, the after-salting on the surface is sure to penetrate deep enough to cure effectually the less salted parts.

In the counties of Gloucester and Somerset the curd is pressed without salt, and the cheese, when formed, is made to absorb the whole of the salt afterwards through its surface. This is found to answer well with the small and thin cheeses made in those counties, but were it adopted for the large cheeses of Cheshire and Dunlop, or even for the pine-apple cheeses of Wiltshire, there can be no doubt that their quality would frequently be injured. It may not be impossible to cause salt to penetrate into the very heart of a large cheese, but it cannot be easy in this way to salt the whole cheese equally, while the care and attention required must be greatly increased.

Addition of Cream or Butter to the Curd.

Another mode of improving the quality of cheese, is by the addition of cream or butter to the dried and crumbled curd. Much diligence, however, is required fully to incorporate these, so that the cheese may be uniform throughout. Still this practice gives a peculiar character to the cheeses of certain districts. In Italy, they make a cheese after the manner of the English, into which a considerable quantity of butter is worked; and the Reckem cheese of Belgium is made by adding half an ounce of butter and the yolk of an egg, to every pound of pressed curd.

Size of the Cheese.

From the same milk, it is obvious that cheeses of different sizes, if treated in the same way, will, at the end of a given number of months, possess qualities in a considerable degree different. Hence, without supposing any inferiority, either in the milk or in the general mode of treatment, the size usually adopted for the cheeses of a particular district or dairy, may be the cause of a recognised inferiority in some quality, which it is desirable that they should possess in a high degree.

The Method of Curing.

This has very much influence upon the quality of the cheese. The care with which they are salted, the warmth of the place in which they are kept during the first two or three weeks, the temperature and closeness of the cheese-room in which they are afterwards preserved, the frequency of turning, of cleaning from mould, and rubbing with butter; all these circumstances exercise a remarkable influence upon the after-qualities of the cheese. Indeed, in very many instances, the high reputation of a particular dairy district or dairy farm, is derived from some special attention to some or to all of these apparently minor points.

In Tuscany, the cheeses, after being hung up for some time at a proper distance from the fire, are put to ripen in an underground, cool, and damp cellar; and the celebrated French cheeses of Roquefort, are supposed to owe much of the peculiar estimation in which they are held, to the cool and uniform temperature of the subterranean caverns in which the inhabitants of the village have long been accustomed to preserve them.

Ammoniacal Cheese.

The influence of the mode of curing, is shown very strikingly in the small ammoniacal cheeses of Brie, which are very much esteemed in Paris. They are soft unpressed cheeses, which are allowed to ripen in a room, the temperature of which is kept between 60° and 70° Fahrenheit, till they begin to undergo the putrefactive fermentation, and emit an ammoniacal odor. They are generally unctuous, and sometimes so small as not to weigh more than an ounce.

Inoculating Cheese.

It is said that a cheese, possessed of no very striking taste of its own, may be inoculated with any flavor we approve, by putting into it with a scoop a small portion of the cheese which we are desirous that it should be made to resemble. Of course, this can apply only to cheeses otherwise of equal richness, for we could scarcely expect to give a Gloucester the flavor of a Stilton, by merely patting into it a small portion of a rich and esteemed Stilton cheese. [Johnston and various other authorities.]

Fig. 19.

Cheese-Press.

Fig. 19 is a self-acting cheese-press, light yet strong. The cheese itself gives a pressure of twelve times its own weight; and if this is insufficient, additional weight may be added as required.

The following statements were made by those receiving premiums from the New York State Agricultural Society:

"Number of cows kept, eleven. Cheese made from two milkings, in the English manner; no addition made of cream. For a cheese of twenty pounds, a piece of rennet about two inches square is soaked about twelve hours in one pint of water. As rennets differ much in quality, enough should be used to coagulate the milk sufficiently in about forty minutes. No salt is put into the cheese, nor any on the outside during the first six or eight hours it is pressed; but a thin coat of fine Liverpool salt is kept on the outside during the remainder of the time it remains in press. The cheeses are pressed forty-eight hours, under a weight of seven or eight cwt. Nothing more is required but to turn the cheeses once a day on the shelves."

"The milk is strained in large tubs over night; the cream stirred in milk, and in the morning strained in same tub; milk heated to natural heat; add color and rennet; curd broke fine and whey off, and broke fine in hoop with fast bottom, and put in strainer; pressed twelve hours; then taken from hoop, and salt rubbed on the surface; then put in hoop, without strainer, and pressed forty-eight hours; then put on tables, and salt rubbed on surface, and remain in salt six days, for cheese weighing thirty pounds. The hoops to have holes in the bottom; the crushings are saved, and set, and churned, to grease the cheese. The above method is for making one cheese per day. As in butter-making, the utmost cleanliness is required in every part of the cheese-making premises."

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