DAIRY MANAGEMENT, THE. MILK TRADE, ETC. 91 



average of 221. to 23?. a cow. In such cases the cost of keep 

 and attendance is greater than we have calculated, while addi- 

 tional outlay is necessary in the purchase of artificial manures, 

 to replace the phosphates removed from the land in the milk. 

 But, assuming that the milk will yield, whether for butter or 

 cheese, about 6d. a gallon, we arrive, with the calf, at an average 

 of about 171. to 201. The cost of keep and attendance being 

 deducted, we have, barring accidents, a fair net return, which 

 varies with the cost of feeding and the breed of the cattle in 

 addition to the value of manure, which is of considerable value, 

 although difficult to calculate. 



It may be asked whether, with cheese and butter at their 

 present price, it will pay to give dairy cows corn or cake when 

 out at grass. This important question has to a large extent 

 been solved by farmers in the more famous dairying districts 

 where bone and other manures are being more generally used. 



Arable land is yearly improving in condition under better 

 and more liberal management ; but grass land, and more 

 especially that devoted to the feeding of dairy and store stock 

 without the addition of artificial food, is in many counties either 

 at a standstill or is deteriorating, and every year becoming less 

 productive. Artificial feeding will gradually remedy this state 

 of things ; and it cannot be too generally adopted, for it is as 

 valuable for the cattle as for the land itself. 



There are exceptional instances of pastures so naturally rich, 

 having such an inexhaustible store of materials, that foreign 

 manures are not necessary, and indeed the use of extra food 

 would in such cases generally result in the accumulation of fat 

 instead of milk. But upon all the medium and poorer soils 

 cows will pay well for high feeding. Cows vary in their capacity, 

 both for milking and laying on flesh. Some — and they are 

 always the most useful to the dairyman as long as they are in 

 milk — cannot be made fat. Like Pharaoh's lean kine, they 

 swallow all before them ; but, unlike them, they give a good 

 account of their food. Such cows must pay for a reasonable 

 amount of good food. Both the land and the milk pail must 

 be enriched when it is certain that the animal is not making 

 flesh. When cows are brought night and morning to the 

 homestead and tied up for milking — a plan which, in all cases. 



