DAIRY MANAGEMENT AND PROFITS. 157 



bag ; that is, enlarging the udder : they should be 

 accustomed, notwithstanding, to be milked, or they 

 may be troublesome next time they calve. Un- 

 doubtedly, as a rule, calves reared upon a farm do 

 better than young cattle bought in, not to mention 

 that the hoof and horn disease, or worse, the dreaded 

 pleuromonia (that damps so irreparably the gilding 

 of the year's profits), is usually imported in a 

 purchase. 



It has been said that " good milk is neither too 

 thick nor too thin ; its consistency should be such, 

 that a drop should preserve its roundness without 

 running. In colour, it should be of a beautiful 

 white ; that which is inclinable to blue or yellow, is 

 worth nothing." [This must have been said pre- 

 sciently of the milk sold now-a-days in mews, that is 

 tinted with stable water (see Mark Lane Express), 

 and not of the Alderney, upon whose golden-tinged 

 yield Mr. Fowler lays such plausible stress.] " Its 

 taste should be sweet, without any bitterness or sour- 

 ness. It is better in the month of May and in 

 summer, than in winter ; and it is never perfectly 

 good but when the cow is of a proper age (about five 

 years), and in good health : the milk of the cow is 

 not good when she is in season, near her time, or has 

 lately calved." 



Alas ! that in our great towns (as regards the 

 metropolis and Oxford we speak feelingly) your 

 cream should be a compound of calves' brains, or 

 white slugs, and chalk and water ; but they are 

 innocent ingredients every one ; and does not the 

 combination show intelligence, industry, and inge- 



