ART. 15. Flanks, moderately deep, full and mellow, according to condition..

POINTS.

ART. 16. Legs, of moderate length, standing square under the body, with sufficient angle at the gambrel joint to secure strength and activity, the toes pointing straight to the forward feet; the bone fine and flat below the hock; sinews large and clear; the forearm well developed; the bone below the knee quite small, coming nearer together as they approach the ground; hoofs dark and broad..

ART. 17. Tail, set on broad and full, on a level with the back, without loose, flabby skin underneath, tapering gradually to the end, which is invariably furnished with a tassel of white hair....

ART. 18. Carcass or Barrel, round, straight on the back and belly, its posterior ribs extending well back and springing nearly horizontal with the back bone. Medium size being preferable for stock breeding in the Devon......

ART. 19. Color, always red, but admits of different shades. The medium red are considered as combining the largest amount of valuable qualities; the very dark red being less thrifty and generally hard handlers; while the very light red, with a thin, papery skin, are less hardy in a cold climate.

ART 20. Hair, should be soft, thick and fine, and not much curly.

ART. 21. Carriage. This is an important quality in the Devon, as he is destined for the yoke as well as for the butcher. He should show by his sprightly, active movements and graceful gait, that he is fitted for his proper place...

ART. 22. Quality. On the thriftiness, the feeding properties, the value of the animal depends; and upon the touch or handling qualities rests, in a great measure, the grazier's and butcher's judg ment. If the handling be good, some deficiency in minor qualities may be excused; but if it be hard and stiff, nothing can compensate for so unpromising a feature. In raising the skin from the body between the thumb and fingers, it should present a soft, flexible, and substantial feel; and pressed by the outspread hand, it should move easily with and under it, as if resting on a soft, elastic, cellular substance, which becomes firmer as the animal ripens.

Perfection

3

5

2

3

1

2

4

15

100

The number affixed to the points described form the maximum that is allowed for each, and in proportion as the animal under examination is deficient in any point, so must the number be decreased, even should nothing be allowed for that point. Points which are characteristic, and, therefore, common to the breed, though very valuable in themselves, are marked comparatively low, because they are easily obtained, and demand but little attention on the part of the breeder;

nevertheless, an animal not possessing the characteristics of the breed, must of necessity be almost worthless. On the other hand, points of less value, which are characteristic deficiencies in the breed, or at any rate difficult to sustain at their maximum excellence, are marked numerically high, as they go far to complete the natural excellence of the animal.-Iowa Agricultural Report.

THE DAIRY.

With the exception of the vicinity of our large cities, almost no attention has been paid to dairying as a business, or an important branch of farming in Missouri. This is believed to be a serious defect, and one which, in some localities, there seems to be a disposition to remedy. It is very important to encourage and make a home market. for our products by means of manufacturing, but in the items of butter and cheese we have an excellent home market, which is almost entirely supplied by other States. Latterly, Illinois has supplied a large amount of butter to St. Louis, while Ohio has annually supplied us with large quantities of both butter and cheese, and these articles have been purchased and shipped from New York State by the ton, by individual dealers, every year.

According to my own observation, which is limited, however, so far as the State at large is concerned, I should judge that one-half of our farmers, in midwinter, have no butter upon their tables; the inevitable "pork fat" takes its place. Comparatively few of them, it is believed, know the luxury of really good butter-such sweet, rich, good flavored, grainy, yellow butter, as we get from New York State. Very few think of laying down, in the summer or fall, a supply of butter for winter use, and if they do think of it and attempt its accomplishment, they generally fail by having it become rancid or strong before winter really comes.

It has been asserted by some Eastern writers, that the butter and cheese district of the United States is quite limited in extent; that out of that district good butter and cheese cannot be produced; that said district does not extend farther west than the Western Reserve, Ohio; and that good butter makers from the East have tried it in the West, and failed to make anything better than "Western grease." The same writers say that the chief characteristic of good butter land is the natural production of blue grass and white clover.

I presume that there is no place where blue grass and white clover grow more spontaneously than on the hill lands of Missouri. Our prairie lands may not be equally well adapted to butter making, but if they are not, we apprehend that it cannot be for lack of capability to produce the necessary grasses. There may be on some of the prairies a deficiency in the natural supply of the requisite pure water. Our timbered lands are generally well supplied with water by springs and creeks of durable character, and many localities have an abund

ance of pure soft water. Milch cows should have plenty of good water, and be able to obtain it without traveling too far. Soft water is believed to be better for the cows than hard, and is probably much better for use in butter making. It is customary, at some seasons, at least, to add water to the cream in churning, and some wash the butter in cold water. Hard water contains carbonate and sulphate of lime. If butter is immersed in lime water it will become so strong in twentyfour hours as to be unfit to eat, by the action of the alkali upon the butyric acid. For this reason the purest water, which is soft water, must be preferable for use in the process of separating butter from milk, and such pure water every farmer should have-if not in his spring or well, then in his cistern.

The best test of good butter, perhaps, is its capability of keeping sweet and pure a year or longer, when properly packed. I cannot say that butter made in Missouri has been so tested, but I think I can say that there can be found in nearly every portion of the State some persons who make good butter, and find a ready sale for it, if they wish to, at prices twenty-five to fifty per cent. higher than the majority of Missouri butter will bring. In assuming that good butter can be produced in this State, I have no fears of being disputed by any Missourian. Why, then, has not this important branch of husbandry been better developed? Why have we not at least supplied our own markets with this necessary article?

In the first place, there has been a want of taste or disposition for this sort of farming. It has not been a part of the programme. It has not been one of the things aimed at or desired. The majority of our farmers have turned their attention to raising large crops of certain great staples. For example, immense crops of corn, which is fed to large herds of swine or cattle, or horses or mules, and when these are sold, they bring a large sum of money; or, they raise large crops of wheat, hemp or tobacco, or keep large flocks of sheep, and their returns are received in one or two large amounts. They have been contented to do thus, and buy their own butter, or do without it. Butter making for market would have appeared to such men like too small business. A system of farming, by which large profits are accumulated by means of many small profits, has been comparatively little known. Evidently, and justly, I think, such a system has not been deemed altogether consistent or profitable with our former system of labor. It is quite certain that our "American citizens of African descent" have not possessed the necessary degree of intelligence, skill, care and cleanliness to succeed in butter making.

In the second place, and in part, consequently, there has heen a want of good pastures. Without good feed for cows, it is impossible to make good butter. This is the first and most important requisitethe foundation of success in dairying. Mr. Flint, Secretary of the Massachusetts Board of Agriculture, in his works on "Milch Cows," and on "Grasses and Forage Plants," recommends a mixture of twelve

varieties of grasses for permanent pasture, and thinks that no improvement in grass culture is more important than the mixture of grasses. The varieties most likely to give satisfactory results, as a mixture for permanent pastures, dependent to some extent on the nature and preparation of the soil, as suggested by Mr. Flint, are as follows: Meadow Foxtail, Orchard Grass, Sweetscented Vernal, Meadow Fescue, Redtop, June Grass, Italian Rye Grass, Perennial Rye Grass, Timothy, Rough-stalked Meadow Grass, Perennial Clover and White Clover. For mowing lands he would leave out entirely the Meadow Foxtail and Sweetscented Vernal, and increase the quantity of Timothy and Red Clover.

Thirdly, and of course, no attention having been paid to dairying as a matter of profit, there is a great deficiency in good dairy stock. With the exception of a few localities, cows have not been bred or managed with reference to securing the best milking qualities. In fact, the best dairy cows would soon be spoiled, if subjected to the kind of management too generally prevalent in this State. The calves are allowed to suck for five or six months. This encourages the cows to come up at milking time, which is quite an object if she "runs out" in the range. The calf sucks till the cow gives down her milk, and then the milker finishes, standing up, holding a "bucket" or cup in one hand and milking with the other. Of course, this system is not always followed, but it is rather the rule than otherwise. I have rarely seen a negro man or woman who knew how to milk a cow as she should be milked.

With the change in our labor system, and the influx of population which we are receiving from the Eastern and Northern States, we may expect that dairying will soon become an important branch of our domestic industry. Indications of this are already manifest. For the purpose of giving information upon this subject, which is believed to be desired, I cannot do better than to give some selections from the Maine agricultural reports. Maine is like Missouri in one respect-it is dependent on New York State for butter and cheese. The Secretary of the Maine Board of Agriculture, Mr. S. L. Goodale, has presented the subject of butter and cheese making in his annual reports in a very full and able manner. He investigated as thoroughly as possible the comparative profits of converting pasturage into beef, or into milk, butter and cheese. The result of his inquiries indicated a large predominance of profit in favor of the latter plan.

Mr. Goodale says: "I have frequently inquired of intelligent and observing farmers, how many pounds of butter can be made with a good milking cow, upon the food which would yield a hundred pounds of beef, if consumed by a thrifty farrow cow, steer or ox? And I have never found one who could give an answer apparently satisfactory to his own mind. The first impression seemed to be (perhaps judging from the usual market rates of each), probably fifty or seventy-five pounds; but the more the question was pondered and observations

made in respect to it, the more they inclined to estimate it higher; perhaps fully as many pounds of butter as of beef, or even more. The matter seems to have engaged the attention of the first British Board of Agriculture, and Sir John Sinclair, its President, and probably with reference to the observations or investigations of the board, says, 'it is supposed that the same quantity of herbage that would add two hundred and twenty-four pounds to the weight of an ox, would produce nine hundred English gallons of milk.' Now, if we reckon six ounces of butter or fifteen ounces of cheese to be the average weight obtained. from a gallon of milk, we will get three hundred and thirty-seven pounds of butter, or eight hundred and forty-four pounds of cheese, from the same quantity of herbage as was supposed to produce two hundred and twenty-four pounds of beef. If we convert these into their respective money values, calling the beef seven cents per pound, the cheese ten cents, and the butter twenty cents, we find the beef amounts to fifteen dollars and sixty-eight cents; the butter sixty-seven dollars and forty cents, and the cheese eighty-four dollars and forty cents; or, deducting for the labors of the dairy two cents per pound for the cheese, and four cents per pound for the butter, it would then stand fifty-three dollars and ninety-two cents for the butter, and sixtyseven dollars and fifty-two cents for the cheese, against fifteen dollars and sixty-eight cents for the beef. If these statements approach accuracy, it is easy to see in what direction the interest of the farmer lies, and it is equally easy to account for the impression which prevails in all dairy districts, (so far as my observation extends) that their occupation affords a very profitable mode of converting vegetable food into money."

Mr. Goodale then gives the details of an experiment bearing on this point, made in France, and related by M. Durand, who concludes as follows: "Thus, under whatever point of view we regard a good milch cow, it appears that she affords the most economical means by which we can derive from our pastures the alimentary matters which they contain."

"Mr. Robert Gray, of Oak Park, New Brunswick," says Mr. Goodale, "well known to many of our farmers as a breeder of Ayrshires, replied to some inquiries as follows: 'I cannot state the comparative quantities of beef and cheese to be made from a given quantity of food, as in my experience they have been made at different seasons, and in a great measure on different kinds of food. Cattle in Scotland were seldom fattened on grass, the pastures not being rich enough for the purpose. Some were fattened in winter on roots, with a little oil cake, but they were mostly sold and driven south to the richer pastures of England; but I may mention that Ayrshire dairy farmers make it a rule not to keep a cow in their stocks which will not make her (dead) weight in cheese in one season, and that on pastures scarcely calculated to make cattle fit for the butcher.' He also says, 'the quantity of milk to a pound of cheese will vary according to