Management of Dairy Cattle. 283 



cows in stall alike with food, they will also select for themselves. 

 I give rape-cake as a mixture to all, and induce them to eat the 

 requisite quantity ; yet some will select the rape-cake first, and 

 eat it up clean, whilst others rather neglect it till towards the 

 close of their meal, and then leave pieces in the trough. Two 

 Alderneys — the only cows of the kind I have as yet had — whose 

 butter-producing qualities are well known, are particularly fond 

 of rape-cake, and never leave a morsel ; may not these animals 

 be prompted by their instinct to select such food as is best suited 

 to their wants and propensities? If so, it seems of the greatest 

 importance that the dairyman should be informed of the pro- 

 perties of food most suitable for his purpose, especially whilst in 

 a stall, where they have little opportunity of selecting. 



It appears worth the attention of our Society to make in- 

 quiries as to the localities which are known as producing milk 

 peculiarly rich in butter. When travelling in Germany I well 

 recollect being treated with peculiarly rich milk, cream, and 

 butter on my tour between Dresden and Toplitz, at the station 

 or resting-place, on the chaussee or turnpike-road, before you 

 descend a very steep incline to the valley in which Toplitz is 

 situated. I travelled this way after an interval of several years, 

 when the same treat was again offered. It was given as a rarity, 

 and can only be accounted for by the peculiar adaptation of 

 the herbage of the country for the production of butter. 



Burley Hull, Yorkshire, May, 1856. 



P.S. June 7th, 1856. — Having had occasion to visit London 

 I called upon J. F. Wilson, director of Messrs. Price's manufac- 

 tory at Belmont. In addition to other interesting information in 

 regard to the properties of fats, Mr. Wilson kindly supplied me 

 with a Treatise on Oils, by Jules de Fontenelle a Paris, from 

 which I supply the following particulars: — 



Reaumur. Olein. Stcarine. 

 Olivc-oil congeals (solidifies) at a temperature of -f 2 = 72 28 

 Kape-oil ' „ „ - 5 = 54 46 



Liiiseed-oil „ ,, -22 Xo analysis. 



Olive-oil is l)y far tlie ricliest in olein, which accounts for its 

 extended use in cooking, more espociallvon tlie continent, where 

 it is a j)rinripal inij-redient in culinary jjreparations. 



The analysis of rape-oil corresponds precisely in its propor- 

 tion of olein and inargerine with that of butter of fair quality. 



Jules do. Fontenelle very properly observes that an analysis of 

 each of the vegetable nils couUl not fail to be of the greatest 

 interest. 



I may add that we agriculturists have a claim on our professors 

 of chemistry to give their attention to like investigations. 



