970 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. 



cow. Suffer no one to milk a cow but yourself, and have no gossiping in the stall. 

 Every Saturday night give in an exact account of the quantity of milk each cow has given 

 in the week." (^Farm. Mag. vol. xv. 314.) 



6202. Harlet/'s dairy establishment at Glasgow has been celebrated since 1813. The 

 object of the proprietor, who is engaged in various extensive concerns, is to supply the 

 public with new milk free from adulteration, and to have the cow-house, cows, and milk, 

 kept in a more cleanly state than by the usual mode. 



6203. Harley's cow-house is fitted up upon a new construction. The cattle stand" in rows, twelve in a 

 row across the house, head and head, and tail and tail alternately ; there is a passage behind for cleaning, 

 and one in front for feeding. In front of each cow is a wire grating, hung like a window sash, which lifts up 

 when giving the soft food and cleaning the cribs, and is put down when they get hay, &c. The contriv- 

 ances for washing the cribs, collecting the urine, ventilating the house, &c., gives peculiar advantages to 

 the establishment, which may be summed up in the following items : the health of the cattle ; the preserv- 

 ation of the timbers; the diminished danger from fire, there being no hay-loft above the cattle ; the pre- 

 servation of the provender ; and, the flavor of the milk. The heat is regulated by thermometers. A 

 circulation of air can be produced, so as to keep the cattle comfortable in the hottest weather, by which 

 their health is promoted. The ventilation also prevents the timber from rotting ; makes the cows eat their 

 fodder better ; as their breath is allowed to escape, instead of being thrown back upon the food, as is the 

 case when their heads are placed opposite a wall. It is well known that milk easily takes a taste from any 

 other substance ; of course, if the cow-house is filled with bad air, the milk, while passing from the teat to 

 the pail, and during the time it may stand in the house, will be impregnated with the foul atmosphere. 



6204. Infeedingand preparing the food Harley has made many experiments, and by the mode he now 

 follows, the cattle fatten and milk better, than by the ordinary process ; and the milk has no taste from 

 turnips or other vegetables. 



620o. The arrangement for milking, insures the cows to be clean milked, and also prevents fraud ; and 

 the mode of locking up the milk, and at the same time of admitting air, prevents adulteration by the re- 

 tailer. The cows are not farmed out to milkmen as in London. 



6206. The stock of cows for some time back, has been 120, averaging eleven English quarts each per day : 

 but both quality and quantity depends much upon the kind of food. Harley gives a decided preference 

 to the Ayrshire breed of cows. They are bought chiefly at country fairs, either newly calved, or a few 

 weeks before calving, ajid never turned out till they go to the butcher. 



6207. The food of the cows during sum?ner is cut grass and green barley mixed with old hay ; and during 

 winter Harley uses a good many turnips and potatoes, all of which are steamed, and mixed with cut hay 

 and straw ; also grains and distillery wash, when these can be got. 



6208. When there is more new milk than supplies the demand, part is put in the milk-honse till next day, 

 when the skimmed milk is sold at half price, and the cream sold at Is. 6d. per quart. When any cream is 

 left, it is put in a churn and made into butter, once a week or fortnight. 



6209. A table of regulations has been adopted for the times of feeding, milking, currying the cattle, clean- 

 ing the house, &c. Each person has a curry comb and a hair cloth for cleaning the cows twice a day, 

 and a mop and pail for the house, which is washed and sanded twice a day. 



6210. The cleanly state of the cattle and house make it a treat for visitors to see the establishment ; and 

 the way the vessels and milk-house are kept, have made some people fond of milk who formerly were dis- 

 gusted at it, from the manner in which many town dairies are conducted. 



6211. The advantage of irrigating grass lands ivith the cow's urine, almost exceeds belief. Last season 

 some small fields of old grass were cut six times, averaging fifteen inches in length at each cutting, and 

 the sward very thick. The soap-suds of a public washing house are applied to the same purpose with 

 considerable advantage. 



6212. The advantage of this system to the owner of the cattle is shown by the following abstract, 

 in Harley's own words : but the benefit of a liberal supply of genuine milk to the community at large, par- 

 ticularly to children, it is not easy to estimate 



To the general health of the cattle by ventilation -..--..t 



To the ;jr^y^raf/oQ/"rtrfVa5e called grain sickness, when fed on grains - - > 15 per cent 



To the /weyew^iow Q/"stue//Mg, by eating young and wet grass - - - - j 



To the prevention of choking, when feeding on turnips or potatoes, &c. - - - 15 do. 



To saving in the expense of feeding, by improved modes of cooking, &c. . - - 20 do. 



To saving of labor in feeding, dunging, &c. 50 per cent, as one person will do as much asT 



two on the old plan ; but allow 25 of this for draining, &c., leaves 25 per cent, profit > 25 do. 

 "on servants' wages ...--.. ..-.-j 

 To sai'mgQ/"^m6^r in the building, as they will last more than double the time. - 50 do. 



6213. Harley has a steam-engine for driving the following machinery. 



A small threshipg.mill. The churning apparatus. 



A straw-cutter. Pumping water, &c. 



A twnip and potatoe slicer. The same boiler that drives the engine, steams the food, 



warms water, &c. 



6214. Jffer much study, labor, and expense, the establishment is now brought to such a state of per- 

 fection, that it receives the cordial approbation of all who have seen it ; furnishing the community with 

 genuine milk at comparatively a low price. It is admitted, that the greater part of the system is original, 

 and is not to be met with in any part of the kingdom. ( Farm. Mag., xv. 189.) 



SuBSECT. 8. Of Working Horned Cattle. 

 6215. The arguments for and against the working of oxen have been already stated. 

 (4463.) Though horned cattle are gradually disappearing as beasts of labor, it is 

 probable they will in many places be occasionally used as a substitute for horses, or to 

 get up one or two additional teanjs on extraordinary occasions. Indeed we see no 

 objections to the occasional use of both oxen and cows for this purpose ; more especi- 

 ally in such cases as those of a nobleman's farming ; as when breaking up his park, or 

 cutting down and carting away timber, or earth, gravel, &c. to an extent, more than can 

 be readily performed by the ordinary teams of the establishment. For these and such 

 like purposes of amateur farmers ; and probably occasionally for some purposes on the 

 farms of rent-paying cultivators, the horned cattle of the farm may afford a valuable 

 resource. For these reasons it seems fitting in this work not to consider the working 

 of oxen as altogether an obsolete practice; and we shall, therefore, notice the training, 

 harnessing, shoeing, age of being put to work, and general treatment of these animals 

 so employed. 



