Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1883-03-23

tile animals ~ INTO the county, all
VIC sod 10 - lady
Tie mother OF these CONS was
not an excel tlonalIy good animal
only a far COW and yet her progeny
when sired by /; Jersey ball, bring
tie ln9hes; prices ever paid for Il COW
and caf IL Thurs;un county.
: Inc III our farntls are not So
keenl V alive To their own best III
,crest> as they ougli: to be, but none
OF them ;ijc So dull as not to under
stand the prices paid AS above noted.
As one of our enterprising towns
men has gone to the States to bring
out carload of improved Jelsev
stock, the following article from f..
j. Arnold, resident of the Island
OF Jtlsty, alCut the COWS, their
why's and wharefors, Will be of in
terest enough to our readers to repay
a careful perusal:
Jersey is but small island; if it
were square, it would just be six and
three tourths miles each way. Yet
this little spot manages to support
about $1,000 cattle, that is, roughly
speaking, one for every two acres of
surface (rocks, roads and wastes, and
house room for 10000 people in
cluded). And it has done this for
the last 20 years at least, for the
census of 1861 gives the number of
cattle in Jersey as 12,037. What
is more remarkable, it exports every
year above 1000 head (the average
export, by the Customs returns, for
the last IL years being 2,O49) nearly
one for every ~ acres. Now the
total number of cattle in England
only averages one head to 10 acres:
it therefore follows that, in proper
ton to its size, Jersey exports
every year as many cattle as Eng
land contains. In other words, if
England were to export cattle at the
same rate, her whole stock would be
swept away in single year; not a
hoof would be left behind. The
system that enables Jersey to do this
must be worth considering, particu.
larly in these days, when the Eng
lish farmer is at his wits end what
to do, as his sheet-ancher, wheat
raising, lets him drift upon the rocks.
But another and not less striking
result of our management is the
breed of cattle it has produced.
Hitherto it has been the accustomed
fashion in England to look upon
Jersey as the curled darling of for
tune-pretty playthings for the rich
lovely little objects for the lawn
yielding small quantity of very rich
milk, cream, and butter for those
wealthy enough to afford such ex-
travagance. That they are small,
we admit-beautiful, we grant. Fit.
ness for the work is the thing: all
the rest tinsel. The office of the
Jersey is to convert grass and roots
into butter, not beef. She is not
bred to be eaten: she is too valuable
as a butter machine. Then, why
should she be larger? And, far
from being the rich mans luxury, she
is, more than any other breed, the
poor mans necessity, the small
farmers best help. This is very
easily and simply proved, in gen
eral way, Ill our island experience.
We have seen that $4,000 cattle
are here kept in place six miles
square, where rent averages 80
an acre, where the farms are smaller
than anywhere else in the world.
where every farmer works with his
own hands, and is brought face to
face with the wolf he must keep
from the door. What do we see :?
The island eaten up with cows, and
the farmers beggars? On the con-
trary, the whole island is like a gar
den, thickly strewn with comfortable,
well-to-dO houses and homesteads;
we find ease and comfort every
where; poverty and want unknown,
beggars none. l do not say this is
all the produce of cows, but 1 do
say that our farmers j o have so
close fight and yet - SO wonder.
fully successful, must understand
their business, and do not keep 49,
600 cattle at q loss. Ii Jerseys pay
here with land 50 an acre, can they
be Improbable in England or any
where else where butter finds mar
ket? But we 60 much farther, we
hold that the Jersey cow is the most
beautiful of her species, and the
most profitable.
The Jersey does not claim to be
the best animal for producing beef,
or milk, or cheese-her specially is
butter, and here stands unrivaled for
quantity and for profit. All the
the beef for our GO, 900 people is i'm
ported every week from the neigh
boring coast of France aud from
opo'A, duu ILLS uitS OStu JL6 case
for the last hundred years at least,
as the Acts of our island abundant
ly show. With our IL, 600 cattle we
do not rear single bullock; neither
do we make single pound of che ese,
and probably never did. As to
milk, that of the Jersey COW is far
too good for the milkman, who would
find Holstein, or one of the deep
milking tribes of Shorthorns much
more profitable. Neither does the
Jersey claim to be ga good all
round cow" The good all round COW
is an anachronism; she might have
done very well when every man was
his own butcher and baker. Nova
days the farmer is obliged to con-
slider what particular line will best
suit bis circumstances and surround
ings-whether beef, or milk, or
cheese, or butter-and the COW nc
cordingly, for on this depends his