The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1877-08-17

The steer will thus store up as lbs. of
dry substance. Milk is composed of
81 l-2 per cent. of water and II 1-2 per
cent. of dry substance, thus two pounds
of milk contains rs much dry substance
as one pound of live weight beef. The
opinion il no doubt quite general that a
pound of dressed beef Is equal In sub
stance TO five or six pounds of milk,
but il is only equal 10 three pounds of
milk, ms the average beef upon our mar
kcts contains 65 per cent. water. If,
then, COW yields 1000 lbs. of milk
during the pasturing season, il would
contain 800 lbs. of dry substance, and
this is of course obtained from the grass
she eats. But, as we have seen, the
mineral constituents, or ash, of this 500
lbs. amounts TO 81 lbs, which is all
taken from the soil, and the cascin, or
albuminoids, is 100 lbs, containing 256
lbs. nitrogen, and most of this derived
from the soil.
Now if dairying, accompanied by The
sale of milk, is TO be carried on for a
series of years il must be evident that
the soil must be steadily impoverished,
unless the dairyman, 10 guard against
this deterioration, shall supply this loss
by the application of fertilizers contain
ing the elements constantly carried off.
This will not be either difficult or ex-
pensive, costing only about 80 per cow.
The points we have made will show
clearly the difference between feeding
cows and selling mill, and feeding steers
for beef.
But suppose the dairyman, instead of
selling milk, manufactures il into cheese
or delivers ii at the cheese factory.
VIII this stop the drain of mineral and
heterogeneous matter from the soil? Let
us see what he retains to go back on his
land. He takes his milk to the factory
and bring back only the whey or milk
sugar. Whey is simply carbon and
water, containing no mineral elements,
except in the small amount Of casein
and albumen that may have floatcd OIL
in ii. When for any cause the milk
contains albumen, this passes off in the
whey and adds as much to its value as
q food and as fertilizer.
But whey has very little manural
value-its only Office is TO supple animal
heat and produce fat. The casein of
the curd contains nearly all the mineral
matter and this is sold in the cheese
the soil gaining next TO nothing, rracti-
cally, in cheese-making over selling the
milk. 1t is true that the skillful feeder
may profitably use the whey as food
by mixing with ii other food, rich in
albuminoids-such as oil-meal pea
meal, oat or barley-meal, and thus add
to his income. But cheese-dairying is
practically the same as selling milk so
far as the loss of the fertiizing constit-
uents of the soil.
We do not wish to alarm dairymcn
by presenting this practical view of the
case, but it behooves them to look the
facts square in the face, and if their
present system is faulty, the sooner
they mend it the better. Dairying for
long periods of time in England has
been found to deplete the soil of phos-
phate of lime. Prof. Voelcker, speak
ing of the introduction Of bones as a
manure. says "Nor is it merely from
their association with the great and
leading reform in British husbandry
that bones derive their position. But
in reclamation of wastes, and in the
restoration of fertility TO the worn out
pasture lands, which has been exhausted
by the constant removal of milk, cheese,
etc, from their surface, bone-manurc
has been scarcely less beneficial than in
turnip husbandry." Here he recogniz-
es the facts which we have sought 10
establish in this paper.
Prof. j. f. w. Johnston. one of the
most careful of English writers, says.
"Every 40 gallons Of milk contains one
pound of bone-earth, besides other
phosphates. Estimating a COW TO yield
$50 gallons per year, it will require 10
lbs. of hosphate-cquivalcnt TO 80 lbs.
of bonc.dust. If the calf is sold off we
may assume there is loss Of 20 lbs. of
bone, and the waste of phosphatcs in
the urine equals lbs. And thus, for
every COW dairy farm maintains, il
will lose of earthly phosphates as much
as is contained in sc lbs. of bonc-dust."
A writer i'm Morton's Cyclopedia, speak
ing of Prof. JOhnson's estimate of the
urine, SAYS ''Thc waste of phosphates
in urine is much greater than Prof.
Johnston has here estimated. A COW
not in milk gives | 800 gallons of urine
containing nearly 20 lbs. of phosphate
es." But we understood Prof. Johns
ton to speak, particularly of what is
lost to the soil in the production of milk
by the dairy system. And if requires
SO lbs. of bone-dnst to replcnish what is
carried off by COW in the production
of milk, then this depletion can not go
on indefinitely without absolute impov-
erishment.
We have gathered these few points
showing the effects of dairying upon
fertility, as merely suggestive, and to
give the dairyman notice of the danger
ahead, that he may balance his account
yearly with his soil, and not go on
drawing out, little by little, all his rich
resources, without ever once making a