708 



FAlliMKKS' tLEGlSTEK. 



[No. 12 



many of the smaller ones, a^d- we could <juess 

 with tolerable accuracy at the difl'erence of tretri- 

 ment in some points — indeed they had been alrea- 

 dy whispered to us, and we iuul besides a minute 

 and accurate account o.J' them in the Magazine ol 

 our Iriend J\]r. Berry. 



The number ol" cows kept (or tlie purpose of 

 supplying the inhabitants olthe metropolitj and its 

 environs with milk is about 12,000. They are, 

 with very lew excteptions, of the short-horn breed 

 — the Hulderness or Yorkshire cow, and almost 

 invariably with a cross ofthe improved Durham 

 blood. The universal (irelerence given to this 

 breed by such a l>ody of men, diU'ering materially 

 on many branches ofthe treatment of cattle, is 

 perfectly satislactory as lo their value, and that on 

 three distinct points. 



First, as to the quantity of milk. This we 

 need not press, for the enemies of the short-horns 

 have never contested this point. Thereis no cow 

 which pays so well for what she consumes in the 

 quantity of milk thar she returns. 



This, however, is not all, though it may be the 

 principal thing wliich enters into the calculation of 

 the metropolitan dairymen. 



The name of the new milk has something very 

 pleasant about it, but it is an article which rarely 

 makes its appearance at the breakfast or tea table 

 of the citizen. That which is got ii'om the cow 

 at night is put by until the morning, and the cream 

 skimmed off, and then a little water beinix added, 

 it is sold to the puhlic as the morning's milk. The 

 real morning's milk is also put by and skimmed, 

 and, being warmed a little, is sold as the evening's 

 milk. This is the practice of most or all of the 

 little dairymen who keep their half a dozen cows ; 

 and if this were all, and with these people it is 

 nearly all, the puhlic must not complain : the milk 

 may be lowered by the warm water, but. the low- 

 ering system is not carried to any great extent, for 

 there is a pride among them that their milk shall 

 be belter than that of the merchants on a yet 

 smaller scale, who purchase the article from the 

 great dairies ; and so it generally is. The milk 

 goes from the yard of the great dairy into the pos- 

 session of the itinerant dealers perlectly pure; 

 what is done with it afierwards, and to what de- 

 gree it is lowered and sophisticated, is known only 

 to these retail merchants. 



The proprietor ofthe larije dairy is also a dealer 

 in cream to a considerable extent among these 

 people ; ho is also a great manufi:icturer of butter, 

 ibr he must have mdk enough to answer every de- 

 mand, and that demand is exceedintjly fluctuating ; 

 then it is m^cessary that the quality of the milk 

 should be good, in order that he may turn the over- 

 plus to profitable account, in the form of cream or 

 butler. The employment ,of the short-horn cow, 

 in all the dairies, is a convincing proof ihat her 

 milk is not so poor as some have described it to be. 



It is the practice in most of the dairies lo fatten 

 a cow as soon as her milk becomes less than four 

 quarts a day. They are rarely suffered to breed 

 while in the dairyman's possession. The fact of 

 their being so often changed is a proof that while 

 the cow gives a remunerating quantity of milk for 

 a certain lime, she is rapidly and cheaply fattened 

 for the butcher as soon as her milk is dry. Were 

 much time or money employed in preparing her 

 for the market, this system would not answer, and 

 would not be so universally adopted. Fattening 



'atttl Ynillijing. pToperties can, th'erefbre, combine in 

 tlie same aniyiul. and (hey do so here. 



Mr. IjJiyyOck, "l^owever, does not adopt this as a 

 general ryle. 'The'cpw^ iljal are inore than usu- 

 »illygopd ruiilkers a.cc suflered'fo lake the bull when 

 in season.' lie ;iil\v?iys kSeps some good slicrt- 

 horijibulls for'thjs purpose. It sometime^ happens 

 that ihe^-ow will coniinue to give milk until within 

 a fiiw-Wieelis'of' calving 3 and he judges, and per- 

 haps rightly, that "this iff a mofe profijable course 

 than lo fallen and "get rid of her, with the jiroba- 

 bility that he might replace her by a cow that 

 would give a less (]uan'tiiy of milk. 



The |5iesent market-price of a good dairy cow 

 is about 20/., but the owners of" the small dairies 

 have no little trouble to get a. good cow. The 

 jobbers kiiow that tii'ey will hav'e a ready market 

 for aconsiderable porirpn of their Jot in liie yards 

 of the great co'w-ptopr.iet6i's, and will probably get 

 aJarger price than the poorer ilian would give; 

 and therefore Messrs. Rhodes, or Laycock, or one 

 or two otliers, have always the first selection'. 

 Mr. Laycock has peculiar advantages Ibr obtain- 

 ing good caftle.. In addition to his dairy, he has 

 sheds that will contain five or six thousand beasts. 

 A great proportion of ihem hah on his premises 

 for a day or two before they are brought inlo the 

 market. In addition to the shilling a night which 

 he charges for their standing, he claims the milk 

 ofthe cows as his perquisite. The cows are milk- 

 ed by his people ; he therefore knows beforehand 

 the quantity of milk which each v/ill yield, and 

 he is thus enabled to cull (he very best ofthe herd. 

 The dairymen do not like a cow until she has had 

 her third- or fourth calf, and is five or si.x years old ; 

 she then yields ihe greatest quantity of milk, and 

 of the best quality. Two gallons of milk per day 

 is the quantify which each cow is expected to yield 

 in order to be retained in the dairy. Taking one 

 cow wi(h another, the average quantity obtained 

 is rather more than nine quarts. 



When she begins to fail in her milk, she is ffil- 

 tened on oil-cake, grains, and cut clover hay, and 

 disposed ol! The dairyman calculates on getting 

 something more for her than when he first bought 

 her, but sometimes he meets with an animrd that 

 seems to verily ihe old prejudice against cows in 

 ijood condition. ' He bought her for khovvn milk- 

 ing properties, but she continues so poor that he 

 in a manner hides her in some corner of his dairy. 

 8he, however, does her dutV; she yields him plent'y 

 of milk, but thai at length dries up ; and he is un- 

 able, try whathe. vviil, lo'get much flesh upon her 

 bones, iand he. sells her fijr less than hdlf of her 

 first price. 



The quantity of milk yielded by all ihese cows, 

 at 9 quarts per day, amounts to 39,420,000 quaris, 

 or 27 quarts of genuine milk for each individual. 

 The retail dealers usually sell the milk Ibr 4d. per 

 quart, after the cream, is feei^arated from it, and 

 then obtain Ss. per quart ibr the cream ; beside 

 ihis, a great deal of water is mixed with this skim- 

 med milk: so tliat we far underrate the price 

 when we calculate Ihat the genuine milk sells at 

 6d. per quart, u-hich makes the money expend- 

 ed in rrulk in the British metropolis amount to 

 985,500/. or nearly a million rounds per annua). 



If we again divide Ihe fe5,500/. by 12,000, 

 (the number of cows,) we shall have the strange 

 and almost incredible sum of more than S2Z. as ihe 

 money produced by the milk of each cow. This 



