On Dairy- Farming. 349 



Large cart-horses, suited to the London and Manchester 

 markets, are also commonly reared on land of this description, 

 which grows them rapidly, and brings them to the required size 

 and strength. 



There is a great deal of pasture-land which might be made of 

 excellent feeding quality by the spirited application of manures. 

 We should, however, rather compare the pastures which yield a 

 moderate average of cheese or butter with second-class feeding 

 land on which the grass must be supplemented with oilcake, 

 at a cost from 30^. to 40.9. per head, to make it fatten an ox. 



It will be found that a dairy-cow requires one-third more 

 grass-land to run upon when she is in full milk, than she would 

 require if feeding only. On a moderately good dairy-farm, a 

 fair proportion of which is in tillage, it takes full three acres of 

 grass to maintain a dairy-cow through the year. On second- 

 class dairy-land four acres would be required. When the dairy- 

 pastures consist of rich feeding-land, a much less quantity would 

 suffice. The gross returns of dairy-produce, taken at 16/. per cow, 

 would therefore come, in the first case, to nearly 5/,, in the second 

 case, to 4:1. per acre ; and on rich feeding-land, as much as 6/. or 

 11. per acre ; though, to obtain these results, a considerable outlay 

 in artificial food and manures would generally be necessary. 



Some upland districts are rendered quite unsuitable for tillage 

 by the wildness of the climate, yet when they are in pasture the 

 great cost of keeping the stock through a long winter, and other 

 drawbacks, make dairying a questionable course to adopt. A 

 quantity of yearling and two-year-old heifers should here be 

 bought for summer grazing, and sold in autumn ; if it be not 

 found more profitable to keep a large breeding-stock of long- 

 Avoolled sheep, selling off the wedder lambs and draft ewes every 

 autumn. 



Management of a Staffordshiee Farm. 



1 can best explain my views by describing somewhat in detail 

 the system of management with which I am most familiar, taking 

 the case of a farm of cold strong land, situated in the Midland 

 Counties, containing 300 acres, let for about 30^. per acre, of which 

 two-thirds are pasture and meadow, and the remainder arable. 

 The land is not well adapted to sheep, and the pastures are not 

 sufficiently rich to fatten cows or bullocks, without the aid of a 

 considerable quantit}^ of artificial food. I think I can show that 

 by far the most profitable mode of occupying such a farm (pro- 

 vided that the ordinary requirements are supplied) will be by 

 keeping a large dairy of cows, and endeavouring to make whole- 

 milk cheese of first-rate quality. If the arable land be thoroughly 

 drained, it will provide straw and roots for the winter's keep of 



