400 BRITISH HUSBANDRY. [Ch, XXXVI. 



be injuriously affected even by the application of manure to the land. 

 This, however, should not deter the farmer from feeding his dairy-stock in 

 that manner, for the difference is not so great as not to be in very many 

 cases more than counterbalanced by the other advantages of soilinsf. 



The cows, though quiet in their stalls during the winter, yet evince a strong 

 degree of restless anxiety to be at liberty when the season advances ; and 

 when pasture land is abundant, they should be turned out during- the day as 

 early as possible in the spring, and brought in at night to be fed upon sound 

 meadow-hay, until the weather becomes warm, and the grass affords a full 

 bite, when they should be allowed to lie out during the whole night, from the 

 month of May until about the end of October. By some persons they are 

 brought under cover in the middle of the day during the heat of summer ; and 

 this, if the ground be deprived of shade either by trees or hovels, may not be 

 injudicious, provided it be near to the homestead, but, otherwise, it is a bad 

 plan, for this driving of them from a distance is prejudicial to their milk. 

 It is almost needless to say, that coarse grass, although perhaps producing 

 an abundance of milk, will yet prove injurious to the quality of the butter; 

 and as long, overgrown grass, even although naturally good, will impart a 

 certain degree of rankness, it is always advisable to have the ground divided 

 into different inclosures, and thus to move the animals from one to another 

 every week or ten days, by which means they will have a constant succes- 

 sion of close, short, and fine herbage. 



The after-grass is always favourable to the flush of milk ; and, therefore, 

 the cows are usually turned into it as soon after the meadows have been 

 mown as it will afford a full bite : but as it takes some time before it will 

 be sufficiently grown, young clover, spring-tares, lucerne, and all the artifi- 

 cial grasses, are occasionally employed between that time and the cutting 

 of the hay. These are each in their turn of essential service, producing a 

 full flow of rich milk ; though, with regard to tares, it is said by some 

 dairywomen to occasion what they call " ropiness ;" and red clover has, 

 besides, been charged with causing hoving. 



The cows are usually taken up into the yards, at the latest, about the 

 middle of November, or as soon as the weather becomes bad. The winter 

 house-food is, of course, made up with every kind of root which can be 

 suj)plied, together with a certain portion of sound hay, or a moderate quan- 

 tity of sweet oat straw *, upon which no other observation need be added to 

 what we have already said of their respective properties, tlian that the 

 quantity and the quality of the milk will assuredly be found proportion- 

 ate to the nourishment and flavour of the fodder upon which the cows 

 have been fed : thus, linseed, pea andoatmealf, will produce richness, while 

 brewers' grains will occasion a profuse spring of milk, but it will be 

 of the poorest kind — suitable, perhaps, to those milkmen who supply large 

 towns, though not for the making of butter ; and white turnips impart a 

 very disagreeable taste, which is not equally remarkable with Swedes, It 

 is generally imagined that the unpleasant flavour given to butter by com- 

 mon turnips may be corrected by the use of a small quantity of dissolved 



* In the common course of practice every species of straw is, in fact, given ; though 

 that of barley is decidedly inferior, and, as well as that of wheat, is said to make cows 

 run dry looner than oat-straw ; besides its being generally allowed that more than the 

 usual time is required to churn the cream of cows when so fed. — Holland's Surv. of Che- 

 shire, p. 255. 



■f In Holland the cows, Avhen fed in the house, have their drink of water invariably 

 mixed with oil-cake, rye, or oatmeal. It is even constantly used for farm-horses; and 

 there can be no doubt of its helping to niaintuin the animals in good condition. — Rad- 

 clifl's Flanders, pp, 53 and 251). 



