The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1882-04-07
The Little Butter Cow at Home.
LIE journal a Agriculture T,,ustre.


The Island Of Jersey is small. If Ii wa
square 1t would be six and three-quarte
miles on each side. However, this LITTLE
piece Of land sufiices to keep 1900 head o
cattle-that is to say, In round numbers,snp
ports one animal TO each two acres of Ia
territory. this includes rocks, roads, barren
land, and the building lots necessary TO ths
housing Of 60,000 inhabitants. And II hal
been thus for the last twenty years at least.
Indeed, the census Of 1861 gives 1908
as the number of cattle In the Island of Jer.
I sey. What is still more remarkable, 1t ex
ports each year about 1000 head (the aver
age expectations, according to the custom
house reports, being 2,049 for the last eight
cen years., nearly one head for each ten
acres. Now the total number Of cattle In
England gives only one for ten acres; it fol-
lows, then, that In proportion to its extent
the Island Of Jersey exports each year more
than England contains. In other words, II
England should export at the same rate, all
her cattle would be gone In a single year, and
she would not have left a single hoof. The
system which permits the Island of Jersey to
attain this result deserves To be studied
above all at this time, when the English
farmer knows not what to do, his sheet an
chors, the culture of wheat, leaving him to
drift upon the rocks. But another result
not less striking than the keeping of the cat
tie at jersey is the race of cattle 1t has
produced. At present 1t Is the custom in
England to consider the Jerseys the pam
pered favorites of fortune, playthings foi the
rich, diamonds to ornaments the lawn, giving
a small quantity Of very rick milk, cream,
and butter for those who are rich enough to
afford this extravaganza. That they are
small, we admit; beautiful we concede but
why should they not be small? And why
not beautiful ? Is the shepherd dog less
bold, less useful, or less suited to its special
work because IL is not mastif? The abil-
ity to do the work required is the thing
sought for; the rest Is only fashion and tin
sci. The work Of the Jersey is to convert
grass and roots into butter, and not into
beef. She is not raised to be eaten, she has
more value as machine to produce butter.
Then why should she be larger? And far
from being luxury for the rich man, she is,
more than any other race, the dependence of
the poor, the best aid of small farming.
This is very easily and simply proved by the
experience of the Island Of Jersey. We have
seen that they keep their 1900 head of cat
tie OH six miles square, there where the rent
averages 60 per acre: there where the farms
are smaller than anywhere else; there where
each farmer works with his hands and 1t S
face to face with the wolf thai he needs must
keep from the door. And shat do we see ?
An island eaten up by cattle, aud the farm
ers begging? On the contrary it is like a
garden, everywhere sown with improvements
aud comfortable houses. One finds every
where comfort and plenty, and nowhere
poverty, misery, or beggars.
do not claim that all this is the work of
the cows, but say that these farmers who
have so serious a struggle to live, and who
yet obtain so marvellous success, should
know their business, and not keep $4,000
profitable there, with the land at 60 per
acre, will they not give profit In England,
and everywhere else where there IS a market
for butter? But we will 20 farther; we
claim that the Jersey cow is the handsomest
of all cows, as well as the most profitable.