NATURAL HISTORY. 



301 



endeavour to persuade Uie farmers, 

 to 'defer the sale of their calves. as 

 late as po'jsible; 



The chief advantage of suckling 

 in winter arises from the great va- 

 riety of gieeii food, which the far- 

 mers may give the cows, without 

 injuring the quality of the milk, 

 particularly cabbages and turnips, 

 ■which are so well known to coai- 

 mun!c:ite, a disagreeable taste to 

 butter. Grains, however, and other 

 forcuig food, which give a greater 

 quantity of milk, but of an inferior 

 quality, cannot be used so freely 

 as where cows are kept solely for 

 the pai'. It is the quality, and not 

 the quantity of milk which con- 

 tributes to the nourishment of the 

 calf. I have found, by expedience, 

 that cows kept almost entirely 

 on potatoes, will produce too thin 

 a milk to support a thriving suck- 

 ler. 



It may here be observed, that 

 cows kept solely for suckling, are 

 more a])t to miss taking the bull, 

 than where they are confined to the 

 dairy, after their own calves arc 

 weaned. 



Turnips. 



The advance of rent and taxes, 

 obliges the Middlesex farmers to 

 make the most of their land, by a 

 quick succession of crops. Turnip- 

 seed is sometimes sowft on the 

 wheat stubble, ploughed up imme- 

 diately after harvest. This crop of 

 stubble turnips, will produce about 

 31. 3s. per acre, if sold in spring 

 to the London cow-keepers. The 

 apple will be but small j yet the 

 scarcity of green food ;vt that season 

 •lenders tiic tops valuable. This 

 autumn (1793), twelve acres of 

 turnips Jiave been sold for ICOl. to 



a London cow-keeper, who enga»- 

 ged to clear the crop time enough 

 lor wheat. The distance five miles 

 from London. 



Potatoes. 



Potatoes are cultivated in Mid- 

 dlesex on a large scale. The latter 

 end of April, and beginning of 

 May, are found to be the best .sea- 

 sons for planting this root, unless 

 the very early sorts are to be raised. 

 The sharp frosts, so destructive to 

 vegetation in the spring, will fre- 

 quently cut down the potatoeshoots 

 if planted early. The sorts chiefly 

 cultivated for the table are the 

 red-nose-kidney, thewhite-blossom, 

 and the champion. If wheat is to 

 succeed, the champions are prefer- 

 red, as arriving sooner at maturity, 

 than the kidneys. Some use the 

 plough in taking them up, but in 

 general they are dug up with the 

 spade. The frosts of October fre- 

 quently cat down the leaves of the 

 potatoe plant. The root however 

 will continue to grow, so long as 

 the sap remains in tlie stem, so that 

 in a backward season (as the pre- 

 sent) the time of taking them up 

 may be deferred to the middle or 

 latter end ot November. They are 

 found not to keep well, if taken up 

 loo early, while the skin is still soft 

 and tender. 



The price of potatoes, when de- 

 livered to the London dealers, va- 

 ries from two guineasto four guineas 

 per ton, according to the quality 

 of the root and the time of delivery. 

 The market generally fplls after a 

 supply from Yorkshirearrives in the 

 river. Some of the ox-noble have 

 been cultivated, and sold at a low 

 price to the cow-keepers- The 

 general produce of the potatoe-crop 



X 2 varies 



