1839] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



219 



ney breed afTorcl the richest milk hitherto known ; 

 but individual cows inevery country may be found, 

 by a careful selection, that afford much thicker 

 milk than others; these, therelbre, ought to be 

 searched for with care, and their breed reared with 

 attention, as being peculiarly valuable. 



Few persons who have had any experience at 

 all in the dairy way, can be ignorant, however, 

 that in comparmg the milk of two cows, to judge 

 ot their respective qualities, particular attention 

 must be paid to the lime that has elapsed since 

 their calving ; lor tiie milk of the same cow is al- 

 ways thinner soon after calving, than it is after- 

 wards ; as it gradually becomes thicker, though 

 generally less in quantity, in proportion to the time 

 the cow has calved. The color of the milk, how- 

 ever, soon after calving, is richer than it after- 

 wardis becomes; but this, especially for the first two 

 weeks. is a (aully color, that ought not to be coveted. 



To make the cows give abundance of milk, and 

 of a good quality, they must at all times have 

 plenty of lijod. Grass is the best Ibod yet known lor 

 this purpose; and that kind of grass which springs 

 up ppontaiieously on rich dry soils is the best o("alJ.* 

 If the temperature of the climate be such as to 

 permit the cows lo graze at ease throughout the 

 day, they should be sulfered to range on such pas- 

 tures ai freedom ; but if the cows are so much in- 

 commoded by the heat as to be prevented from 

 eating through the day, they ought, in that case, to 

 be taken into the cool shades for protection, where, 

 alter allowing them a proper time to ruminate, they 

 should be supplied with abundance o!' green food, 

 fresh cut lor the purpose, and given to them by hand 

 frequently, in email quantities, fresh and clean, so 

 as to mduce them to eai it with pleasure.! When 



* So Uttle attention fias hitherto been bestowed on 

 this subject, that I do not know of any regular set of 

 experiments that have ever yet been made with a view 

 to ascertain the eifects of any of the natural grasses 

 that spontaneously spring up in abundance on our 

 fields, either on the quantity or the quality of the milk 

 of cows, and few that have been attempted even with 

 regard to those plants that have been cuftivated by art, 

 as green forage lor them; though it be well known 

 that some particular kinds of plants strongly affect the 

 taste, and alter the quality of particular products of 

 milk. It is, indeed, in all cases, confidently asserted, 

 that old pastures alone can ever be made to aiibid rich 

 butter or cheese. This, however, I know from my own 

 repeated experience to be a popular error, as I have 

 frequently seen much richer butter made by one per- 

 son from cows that were fed in the house, chiefly with 

 cut cloverand rye -grass, than that which was made by 

 others, where the cows were fed on very rich old pas- 

 tures. Mankind are, in general, disposed to throw the 

 blame of every failure upon some circumstance that 

 does not reflect on themselves as bad managers. 

 Hence it is, that the grass of a farm is often blamed 

 for the want of richness of the butter produced upon 

 it; when, if the circumstances were fully investigated, 

 it would be found to bo occasioned by the nnskdful- 

 ness of the dairy-maid, or the want of attention in the 

 choice of proper cows. 



t In very warm climates, where the heat is extreme- 

 ly oppressive to cows, and the flies are exceedingly 

 troublesome, sheds open on one side, the roof being 

 only supported there by pillars, would not aflbrd them 

 such effectual shelter as they would require. In these 

 cases, the sheds should be walled upon both sides, and 

 be left open only at the two ends, which, if properly 

 placed, would produce a continued stream of air 

 throughout the whole building, that would prove high- 

 ly salutary to the cattle. 



the heat of the day is over, and they can remain 

 abroad with ease, they may be again turned into 

 the pasture, where they should be allowed to range 

 with freedom all night during the mild weather of 

 summer. 



Cows, if abundantly fed, should be milked three 

 times a day during the whole of the summer sea- 

 son;* in the morning early, at noon, and in the 

 evening, just before night-fall. In the choice of 

 persons for milking the cows, great caution should 

 be employed ; for if that operation be not careful- 

 ly and properly performed, not only the quantity 

 of the produce of the dairy will be greatly dimin- 

 ished, but its quality also will be very much de- 

 based ; for if all the milk be not thoroughly drawn 

 from a cow when she is milked, that portion of 

 milk which is left in the udder, seems to be gradu- 

 ally absorbed into the system, and nature generates 

 no more than to supply the waste of v;hal has been 

 taken away. If this lessened quantity be not again 

 thoroughly drawn off, it occasions a yet farther di- 

 minution of the quantity of milk generated ; and 

 so on it may be made to' proceed in perpetual pro- 

 gression from little to less, till none at all is pro- 

 duced. In short, this is the practice in all cases 

 followed, when it is meant to allow a cow's milk 

 to dry up entirely without doing her hurt. In this 

 manner, therefore, the profits of a dairy might be 

 wonderfully diminished ; so that it much behoves 

 the owner of it to be extremely attentive to this 

 circumstance, if he wishes to avoid ruin. It ought 

 to be a rule without an exception, never to allow 

 this important department to be entrusted, without 

 control, to the management of hired servants.! Its 

 importance will be still more manifest from what 

 follows : 



In the management of a dairy, the following 

 peculiarities respecting milk ought to be very par- 

 ticularly adverted to ; some of them are, no doubt, 

 known in part to attentive housewives, but they 

 never yet, I have reason to believe, have been 

 adverted to as their importance deserves; and 

 by many have never been thought of at all. I 

 put them down in the form of aphorisms, that 

 they may be more adverted to, and the easier re- 

 tained. 



* If cows be milked only twice in the day, (24 hours) 

 wliile they have abundance of succulent food, they 

 will yield a much smaller quantity of milk in the same 

 time than if they be milked three times. Some at- 

 tentive observers I have met with, think a cow in these 

 circumstances will give nearly as much at each time, if 

 milked three times, as if she were milked only twice. 

 This fact, however, has not, that I know of, been as- 

 certained by experiment. There can be no doubt but 

 they give more, how much, is not ascertained ; nor 

 whether it would be advantageous in any case lo inilk 

 them four times, or oftencr ; or what eiiect frequent 

 milking produces on the qvalily of the milk. 



t Cows should always be treated with great gentle- 

 ness, and soothed by mild usage, especially when 

 young and ticklish, or when the pajis are tender; in 

 which last case, the udder ought to be fomented with 

 warm water bcfbio milking, and touched wiffi the 

 greatest gentleness, otherwise the cow will be in dan- 

 ger of contracting bad habits, becoming stubborn and 

 unruly, and retaining her milk ever after. A cow never 

 fefs down her milk pleasantly to the person she dreads 

 or dislikes. The udder and paps should always be 

 washed with clean water before milking; but care 

 should be taken that none of that water be admittied 

 into the milking pail. 



