St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1883-11-16

that surpasses that of the Jerseys, and
from the great values many have at
tanned, it is evident that there must be
reason for it.
Much is said of the color which, I'M
less favorable to the fancy, depreciates
the value of this stock. From early
writers it appears that the original
color was black and mulberry aud
cream color, FLASHED with white ; and
even now a dark Jersey with mulberry
brown stripe running along the chine
and gradually shading out into the
black, is considered by some breeders
as quite the thing. Both in size and
color, the old-fashiOned Jerseys mot
those of the original stock) were quite
different from the later ones, those
weighing from 1000 to 200 pounds
and of dun color. The next step In
the fashion was smaller size and
more of tho cream color, blotched with
white. Then came the deer or fawn
color, in breeding for which sometimes
there would be solid colors tipped with
black, and this led to the idea of
''black points" as the black tongues
and black switches. Not content with
this fancy breeders wanted the squirrel
grays and these with the blue and
silver-grays are now the style. Ii
ever any breed could be called
stylish" we think this the one, and
because it is the style or fashion that
very often causes such wonderful sales
to be made of this stock, we are led to
distrust figures and denOunce the sys-
TEN whereby such sales are made.
The only true test of any COW is at the
pail-by the amount of milk she will
give, and its quality. And we would
like to see this test oftener applied to
| the Jerseys.
The farmer on the island of Jersey
looks for his living from his cattle and
his potatoes, and this being the case
small farms are the rule. A we'll
known writer says: each COW is
calculated to use about two or three
vergees of pasture, and about p YER
gees are equivalent to one acre. The
average farm contains about twenty to
twenty-five vergees. The cows are
tied by ropes to stakes, so that they
can travel circle of about thirty feet
| in diameter, and at noon they ale
| changed to another place. In summer
| this is their only feed, and in winter it
is hay and straw, potatoes and pars-
nips. A COW that gives twenty quarts
is thought to be an extra good one, the
medium quantity, according to Mr..
Hazard, being not far from ten quarts.
! AS the farms on the island are small
they could not accommodate very large
herds, and the fact is, five or six is the
usual number, while double that would
be considered unusual. The total sales
| from the two islands are about 5000 a
year, the majority being shipped to
| England, though the best comes to
this country. We quote from an in
teresting essay of w. p. Hazard, the
/ following, concerning feeding and sell
ing on the island of Jersey:
! The breeding is not at all worthy of
copying, and we have no lessons to
learn from them. With some eXcep-
tiOns the stables are filthy and bad,
the cattle are dirty and not properly
cared for. Then, the bulls are used
when only twelve months old and sold
off when two years old. | asked the
reason of thus sacrificing an animal in
his prime and just when he was in the
height of his fame and had proved of
value. Their reasons are that they
get fierce, they get heavy, and as there
is law requiring bull beef to be so
marked when sold and it brings Il
lower price, that it does not pay to
keep him longer than two years.
Surely this course pursued steadily of
using an immature animal must degen-
crate the race. Heifers it is desired to
bring in at two years of age, and in the
spring and summer, as they sell better
for shipping. SO that they are con-
stantly selling their animals before
they have an opportunity of testing
them, and many of the best have left
the islands under these circumstances.
The prominent, careful breeders seeing
this are endeavoring to check it, but
the demand is greater now than the
supply. Prices are rising, and the
farmer is tempted by the price to part
with them. We can supply better
stock to-day in this country than can
be imported. AS only registered or
pedigree stock can now be entered in
the American Register, this new rule
has cut off from coming many of the
best stock in Jersey. Consequently
the number being limited, the prices
have much increased for the eligible
ones. = Springfield Republican.