Political economy treats of the sources, the production, the distribution, the accumulation, and the con 500 sumption of national wealth; the effect of those insti PROFITS OF THE COW. thousand and fifty gallons of milk, which, at four cents a quart, would amount to $168. He also had, on the Hospital Farm, Worcester, Mass., several other cows nearly as good. And William Cushman, of New Braintree in that State, says, July 14th, 1845, I have a cow which has given, for ten days in June, from fifty-four and a half to sixty-three pounds of milk per She was one-fourth of the Durham breed. day. Peter H. Schenck, formerly a merchant of New York, but having a country residence in Dutchess County, in October, 1843, says, My cow Emma was nine years old last spring; and till the summer of 1842 I never kept her milk separate from that of three other cows I have. Then I made the experiment for one week, during which she gave eighteen quarts per day, and the milk made fifteen pounds of butter. On the 21st of the following May, that is, 1843, he renewed the experiment, and for the three weeks ensuing she made sixty-five and a half pounds of butter. On the 15th of June, that same year, the milk that came from her was churned by itself, and the butter weighed three pounds eight ounces. The next day her butter weighed three pounds four ounces. In 1843, a gentleman in the neighborhood of Troy, New York, says, George Vail, Esq., of that city, was the owner of two cows only, one a full-blooded Durham, seven or eight years old, and the other four years old, seven-eighths Durham. He kept an accurate account of their milk and butter for thirty days. The result was as follows: one hundred and eight|| pounds of butter, besides supplying a family of five persons with new milk and cream for ordinary family use, and nine quarts of new milk daily for a calf. The average weight of milk per day, from the oldest cow, was sixty-eight pounds, and from the other, sixty pounds, during the thirty days. In the same year, Judge Walbridge, of Ithaca in that State, had a cow that gave in the seven days ending June 24th, three hundred and ninety-five pounds ten ounces of milk, being an average of fifty-six and a half pounds per day, or twenty-eight and a half quarts per day. She had made two pounds one ounce per day, when two quarts of the milk was taken for family use. And the Rev. William Wisner, in the same neighborhood, had cow that in May of the same year made forty-seven pounds of butter, and supplied two families with new milk daily during the timeAmong the more recent statistics of the dairy, the two following are selected. The first is from the Exeter News Letter which says, Mr. Abraham Rowe, of Kensington, N. H., has a cow he raised from an Eastern breed, six years old, from which was made, between the 20th of May and the 20th of October, He that talks all he knows, will be likely to talk more than he knows. tutions on society which are immediately connected with the increase or diminution of national wealth. Wealth is a possession of those objects on which exchangeable value has been conferred by human skill and labor; which are desired for the gratification of human wants; and which PROFITS OF THE COW. 501 1849, one hundred and fifty-six pounds of butter, averaging over one pound a day from pasture feed only. It being his only cow, furnished his family with their cream and milk besides. The second is from the Farmer and Mechanic, which says the best cow now in the United States is probably owned near Geneva, N. Y., which, through the month of June, 1849, gave 42 quarts of milk per day; and for five days, she gave 45 quarts per day. The cow is half Durham and half of the native breed. The Somerset Messenger, New Jersey, contains a communication from J. W. Van Arsdale, stating the profits of a halfblooded Durham cow owned by him, for ten months from the 1st of April, 1849, to the 1st of February following. He sold in that time to the retailer 3022 quarts, at 2 and 2 cents a quart, amounting to $70 51, besides reserving a sufficient quantity for the use of his family of eleven persons, and about two messes of milk twice a week for baking purposes. The 3022 quarts were sold by the retailer at double the price he gave for it, that is, for $141 02. He calculates that this amount of milk would have made 302 pounds of butter, which, at 20 cents a pound, amounts to $60 40. The cow has not had extraordinary care-having had two quarts of oat and corn meal per day during the drought last summer, and three quarts last spring before grass and this winter. And a farmer in Essex county, in that State, realized during twelve months previous to February 1st, 1850, a net profit of $456 09 from three ordinary cowsanimals of the common breed of the country-that in most other hands would not probably much more than have paid for their keeping. As it is, they have supplied the family with all their milk and cream, paid for their keeping in full, as appears by a minute daily account, and yielded the above-named profit of $456 09. It is unnecessary to gather up more similar cases. Our agricultural journals are filled with them. Now suppose a farmer resolve that he would keep no cow that did not hold out a good milker nine months in the year; and that did not give sixteen quarts of milk per day for two months after calving, twelve quarts per day for the next four months, six quarts per day for the next three months, and two quarts per day for the following month. Such a cow would yield per annum 3000 quarts of milk, which, at four cents a quart, would be $120. Considering the cases above given, is not this feasible? With such cows, what if it does cost five or ten dollars a year more to keep them than is ordinarily expended for the purpose? May not such cows be raised? No matter if they do cost fifty or sixty dollars each; they soon pay for themselves. That civility is best which excludes all superfluous formality. cannot be obtained by those who seek them, out by giving some other object in return equally desirable to him who receives it. The final cause of animal existence in such variety and numbers, is their reciprocal use to each other in fructifying 502 the soil, and adding to the natural food in vegeta SWINE IN THE UNITED STATES. If the various modes of obtaining this object were resorted to at once throughout the country, there would be a vast improvement in a very short time. No young animal of promising appearance for milk would go to the butcher. More care would be taken of young stock. More young stock would be retained to ensure a better selection for milk cows. Farmers would think more of the advantages of employing the improved breed. Heifers would be milked with great care and very thoroughly, to get them in the habit of holding out longer as milkers. If they once dry early, no care and keeping will afterward correct the fault. Heifers with the first calf especially should be well fed, and with some additional care, the last three months they are in milk, to make them hold out. It is supposed that a milk cow of medium quality, in this part of the country, will give twelve quarts of milk for two months after calving, seven quarts per day on grass for the next four months, four quarts per day for the following two months, and perhaps two quarts per day for one month more; making altogether 1500 quarts in the year. SWINE IN THE UNITED STATES. THE number of swine at present in the United States may be fairly estimated at 20,000,000, which, at three dollars per head, gives us the enormous amount of $60,000,000 invested in this article alone. There are in the single State of Ohio over 2,000,000, and more than 500,000 have been slaughtered in Cincinnati in one season. From the rapid production and quick maturity of swine, they are made to yield a speedy return for the investment. The number of old and young annually slaughtered in this country probably does not fall below 10,000,000, worth in market an average of at least five dollars each, giving us an annual return of $50,000,000-our swine crop thus yielding an amount about equaling our entire cotton crop. Almost every man has his pig, while a comparatively small number have their cottonfields. Nearly every one, therefore, has an interest in swine, and but few have an interest in the production of cotton. Yet cotton occupies a large share of public attention, while swine are scarcely noticed. Let your recreations be manly, moderate, seasonable, and lawful. tion. Hence, nature peoples every leaf, flower, stem, and pore, and the end is effected by the countless multitudes. |