452 BRITISH HUSBANDRY. [Ch. XXXVIII. 



which in a striking degree corroborates the first experiment, and proves the 

 return of either batter or cheese to be nearly equal. 



The value of the milk, it will be seen, is tliere estimated at sevenpence 

 per gallon ; while in London, and most ot" our large cities, it is charged to 

 the milk-people at eightpence to tenpence, according to the distance from 

 town : they also being at the trouble of milking. The cow-keeper's business 

 is therefore one of considerable profit ; for although they feed the ani- 

 mals very high, yet their object is rather to increase the quantity than the 

 quality of the milk, and they give them an abundant supply of brewer's 

 grains and turnips. The dealers^ receive it in a genuine state, and retail it to 

 their customers at fourpence per quart, but are not satisfied with that profit ; 

 for, besides taking off a portion of the cream, they invariably mix the milk 

 with no small quantity of water, and are even said to adulterate it with flour 

 chalk, and other ingredients, to give it an appearance of richness.* 



In making these estimates of dairy produce, it should, however, be 

 remembered, that milk is so much richer in autumn than it is in spring, that 

 the same quantity will probably produce one-fourth more of butter and 

 cheese in the month of October than in the vernal season. They are also — 

 like every calculation upon farming profits — so dependent upon different 

 circumstances, that nothing more can be assumed on the subject than 

 what may be derived from the individual experience of farmers placed 

 upon particular soils ; for it is well known that land which produces good 

 butter is not always well calculated for fine-flavoured cheese ; and some 

 cows produce more milk than others ; while others afford it of richer 

 quality : they, consequently, contain little more than local information, 

 and lead only to general notions of their average results. Besides the 

 difference of soil and climate, which so materially affect them, there is also, 

 in this instance, the variety in the breed and constitution of the animal. 

 Even the mode of churning the milk of cows, collectively or individually, 

 affords different results, for it appears, from the following trial lately m.ade 

 at the request of the Highland Society, that — 



♦' 300 gallons of milk, the weekly produce of twelve cows, collectively churned, gave 

 84 lbs. of butter — beiug 1 lb. to 14 quarts; while 294 gallons, individually zh.\iin^A, gave 

 only 70 lbs., or 1 lb. to 17 quarts." f 



It is, therefore, little to be wondered at that farmers vary so much in their 

 opinions on the subject ; but these hints will afford materials for calculation, 

 and farmers who rent out their cows to working dairymen, may thus form a 

 just idea of the sum at which they should be charged. When the farmer is not 

 disposed to take upon his family the troublesome management of a large 

 dairy, this plan of letting out a number of cows sufficient to employ an in- 

 dustrious man and his wife, who are well acquainted with the business, is by 

 no means objectionable; he furnishing the cows and feeding them, and 

 accommodating the person who rents them with a cottage and dairy, either 

 at a fixed sum per head, or a certain portion of the sale produce. 



* '• Every cow-house is provided with a milk-room, where the milk is measured and 

 served out by the cow-keeper, and this room is furnished with a pump, to which the 

 retail dealers apply in rotation, and pump the water into the milk vessels at discretion. 

 It goes by the name of the ' Black Cow,' and is said to yield more than all the rest put 

 together." — Middlesex Rep., second edition, p. 423. 



■f Trans, of the Soc, >3. S. vol. ii. p. 256. The smallness of the latter produce — 

 which is opposed to that of most dairies — is however partly attributed to the milk having 

 been put into the coolers in such small quantities as to prevent the proper separation of 

 the cream. 



