Management of Dairy Cattle. 279 



To one leading feature of my practice I attach the greatest im- 

 portance — the maintenance of the condition of my coivs, giving a 

 large yield of milk. I am enabled, by the addition of bean- 

 meal in proportion to the greater yield of milk, to avert the loss 

 of condition in those giving 16 to 18 quarts per day ; whilst 

 on those giving a less yield and in health, I invariably effect 

 an improvement. Nos. 2 and 7, in stall A, may be regarded as 

 ordinary results fi'om my treatment. 



Wiien we take into consideration the disposition of a cow to 

 apply her food rather to her milk than to her maintenance and 

 improvement, it seems fair to infer that the milk of a cow gaining 

 flesh will not be deficient either in casein or butter. 



I have already alluded to the efficiency of bean-meal in in- 

 creasing the quantity of butter ; 1 learn also, from observant dairy- 

 men who milk their own cows and carry their butter to market, that 

 their baskets are never so well filled as when their cows feed on 

 green clover, which, as dry material, isneaily as rich in albumen 

 as beans ; I am also told, by those who have used green rape 

 plant, that it produces milk rich in butter. From this we may infer 

 that albuminous matter is the most essential element in the food 

 of the milch-cow, and that any deficiency in the supply of this 

 will be attended with loss of condition, and a consequent diminu- 

 tion in the quality of her milk. 



I am clearly of opinion that you can increase the proportion 

 of butter in milk more than that of casein, or other solid parts. 

 From several, who have adopted my treatment, I learn that on 

 substituting rape-cake for beans tliey perceive an increased rich- 

 ness in their milk. Mr. T. Garnett, of Clitheroe, who has used 

 br>an meal largely as an auxiliary food for milch-cows during the 

 winter season, tells me that when rape-cake is substituted, his 

 dairymaid, without being informed, perceives the change from 

 the increased richness of the milk. Mr. Garnett has also used 

 linseed-cake in like quantity, still his dairy people prefer rape- 

 cake. 



Mr. Whelon, of Lancaster, who keeps two milch cows for his 

 own use, to which he gave bean-meal and bran as auxiliaries, 

 has recently substituted rape-cake for bean-meal ; he informs me 

 that in a week he perceived a change in the richness of the milk, 

 with an increase of Ijutter. 



The vegetaljle oils are of two distinct classes : the drying or 

 settiny represented l^y linseed, the unctuous represented by 

 rape-oil. They consist of two proximate elements, margerine 

 and olein ; in all probability they will vary in their proportion 

 of these, but in wliat degree I have not been able to ascertain. 

 Tliough the agricultural chemists make no distinction, as far as 

 1 am aware, l)?twoen tliese two classes of oils, tlie practitioners 



