Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1874-03-27

ces which tend TO make the business pleas
ant, and reduce the amount Of labor required
TO the lowest point consistent with perfect
success. In the manufacture Of cheese, still
more skill is required, as that is chemical
process.
have given but general outline Of the
subjects for investigation and study connect
ed with the dairy business. The intelligent
inquirer will 6nd numberless questions in
every step Of his progress. which his interest
or curiosity will tempt him TO solve. Con-
siderations Of the most vital Importance ap.
ply to every detail OF the business, yet how
many Of US inteligently scrutinize the exc
cution Of these in our practice, and compre.
hend the causes of our success or failure
BY proper attention to the first named Of
these Details the great mass of our dairymen
might easily add largely to their profits. The
almost uttor neglect on the part Of farmers,
to adapt their stock to the object for which
it is kept is the most insidiOus and uuob.
served, Of all evils, yet most fruitful source
Of loss.
Select, for example, two equally good
cows, enc well adapted TO the production Of
butter, and the other AS well adapted to that
Of cheese. Suppose the first when we'll cared
for will produce two hundred and fifty
pounds Of butter annually, the other with
the same feed and care, but one hundred aud
fifty pounds. The first will produce me one
hundred pounds more butter per annum than
the second, which at thirty or forty cents
per pound will give me thirty or forty dol
lars per annum more profit than the second,
solely because Of her better adaptation to
the purpose for which she is kept. This in
the ordinary lifetime Of a COW, will make
her worth three OF four huudred dollars more
than the second yet the latter may give
many hundred pounds more milk, and for
cheese making purposes be much the most
valuable. What butter makers amoog us,
would refuse to sell COWS like the first named,
and retain those like the last if they could
get thirty or forty dollars more per head for
them2 Or would not refuse to pay that
amount more for them if desiring to pur.
chase Or how many know of this differ
ence in the comparative merits of their cows,
where it does exist?
We may adopt this as a fixed fact in our
practice, that if we neglect to properly se-
ly worthless animals, and those not adapted
to the purpose for which they are kept, that
neglect will be very sure to be attended
with greater or less waste of food. The
powers of digestion and assimilation are
much greater in some cows than in Others
Some will thrive where others will loose
flesh. The digestive organs Of some will ex-
tract the valuable constituents Of their food
for q given purpose. much more perfectly
than others, and if this be true, then it fol-
lows that those constituents not thus extract
ed, will be lost for that purpose, and in eth
er case there is waste which must tell up
on our profits. II keep three COWS TO pro.
duee FIVE hundred pounds OF butter, when
might accomplish the same result with two.
lose the keeping and care of one Of them,
if the food consumed per head is the same.
ln attending to the second detail named
above, we find field for thought and obser-
vation worthy Of an Agassiz, or a Cuvier.
In the breeding Of domestic ANIMALS, man
seems to possess almost creative power.
He can conceive an ideal model, which in
many particulars may be the opposite of
those animals which he has in charge, and
yet owing to the plastic nature of the ami
NAL kingdom, he may reproduce the ideal
model, in the defendants Of those animals.
1t is thus, that those great improvements
in our domestic animals have been made,
and those types OF symmetrical beauty and
perfection of their kind been established,
which we find in the thoroughbred horse, the
| Shorthorn OK the Vermont Merno and Lei
cester sheep, the Berkshire and Suffolk hog,
and those numberless other varieties which
give evidence of that moulding power in
man, which can develop in the domestic ami
NAL within certain limits, those peculiar char.
acteristics which his fancy or necessities may
dictate.
Peculiar excelences in domestic animals
are the result of peculiar development, and
if we can perfectly understand the nature OF
tn Il development, and the peculiar contorma-
ton of those organs upon which those excel
lences depend in any particular case, we may
toru a perfect ideal model, by which we may
be guided in our selections and breedngs.
In the selection aud breeding of horses, if
l desire feet roadster, the ideal of perfec-
ton by which | should be guided would be
quite the opposite from that by which |
should select a draft horse, because the
qualities desired are quite opposite, and the
organism OF the animal will surely deter
mine his merits for given purpose,
And so in the selection Of cows. If |
desire an animal to bring me stock for beef
growing purposes, my ideal of perfection
should b. very different from that by which
should select for butter making.
l., h, Sc
sent an animal Of such physiological con-
struction, that its powers OF digestion and
assimilation should be directed to the forma-
tiou OF bone, muscle, and tallow. In the lat
ter case, these powers should be in great
measure directed to the elaboration Of milk
rich in cream, and for cheese making purpos-
es, TO that of milk rich in caseine, with a
much smaller proportion Of cream.
Now all Of these qualities rest upon some
peculiar conformation of organism, which
the educated eye can trace, and which it is
intelligent skill to develop.
The great want Of Vermont butter makers
to-day, is this intelligent skill, and its appl-
cation to the development Of = race Of cows
OF fixed type better adapted TO our wants
than any race which We now have among
us A race which shall combine the good
qualities of the best milking stock of Dur
hams, with those Of the Ayrshires aud Jer.
seys. This combination is within the reach
Of Vermont dairymen, if they will but apply
themselves to its development.
Understand me, l do not claim that we
can produce an animal which will possess
all of the good qualities of these various ra.
ces. That is practical impossibilty. No
animal can be perfect in any two of the char
acterstics named But we can combine
those good qualities which it it for the par
ticular use for which it is designed.
My ideal of perfection for butter uairy,
would combine the great powers Of digestion
and assimilation possessed by the Durham,
with the hardness aud more compact form
or Nh, A aud tha ,,ao,,l;a. h,,f1au