10 



Large Dairy Establishments of London, 



Vol. X. 



and a half feet wide for two cows to stand 

 iri, runs alonof the sides, to \yliich they are 

 fistened by chains and rings running' on 

 iiprioht iron rods in each corner. A trough, 

 fiirmcd of Welch slate bedded in cement, its 

 upper edge eighteen inches from the ground, 

 is fixed at the head of each animal to hold 

 its food. The sheds are placed adjoining 

 and parallel to each other, with openings in 

 the walls opposite each cow, one foot wide 

 and four feet high, in which is placed the 

 iron trough to contain the drinking water, 

 calculated to serve two cows in different 

 sheds, but opposite to each other, which 

 water is supplied from one large cistern by 

 pipes; each iron trough has a wooden cover, 

 which is shut down during feeding time, to 

 prevent the water being dirtied. At the 

 upper end of the sheds is the dairy, consist- 

 ing of three rooms; the one a measuring 

 room, where all the milk that is sold and 

 goes out is first measured; the other a scald- 

 ing room, with boiler and fire place; and the 

 third a room where all the surplus milk is 

 strained up and set away for cream and 

 butter. At the lower end of the sheds arc 

 two yards surrounded by sheds also, the one 

 for fattening the cows off when they become 

 dry, and the other for store and breeding 

 pigs. The pigs consume the skim milk re- 

 maining on hand, which is kept in a well 

 made of brick laid in cement, twelve feet 

 deep and six and a half in diameter, in 

 which it soon becomes sour, and then fed to 

 the pigs, as it is well known to be more 

 nourishing when given in that state, than 

 when sweet. The principal stock of pigs 

 are breeding sows, as the sucking pigs sold 

 for roasting are found to be much the most 

 profitable. The dung is all emptied into a 

 pit for that purpose, off a platform at the 

 bottom of the yards. Within the last ten 

 years there have been constructed in the 

 rear of the sheds several large pits 10 feet 

 wide, 12 feet deep, and 20 feet long, made 

 of brick, bedded in cement, into which are 

 packed several months' supply of brewers 

 and distillers' grains, which form the chief 

 food for the cows, and which can only be 

 had during the winter months. The grains 

 are firmly tramped into those pits, and each 

 layer of about one foot in thickness is well 

 salted; when filled, the top is covered over 

 with boards, and on those is put a thickness 

 of earth, compactly beaten down, sufficient to 

 perfectly exclude the air as well as the frost. 

 Grains packed in tiiis way have been opened 

 in four or five years, and found to be fresh 

 and good food, and as eagerly eaten by the 

 cows as those that had just been carted in 

 from the brewery. There are also on the 

 premises a large stock yard, sheds, and pits 



for roots and straw, a large room for cutting 

 hay and clover into chaff, cart-sheds, stables, 

 a neat and spacious counting-house, with a 

 large well ventilated room over head, con- 

 taining several iron bedsteads, with hair 

 mattrass and pillow to each, where the 

 regular work-hands belonging to the estab- 

 lishment, who are single men, sleep. 



The cows in this establishment are all 

 bought newly calved in the cow market 

 held in Islington every Monday. They are 

 kept as long as they continue to give not 

 less than tioo gallons of milk a day, and 

 are then fattened off for the butcher on oil 

 cake, grains, and cut clover hay. All breeds 

 are to be found here to some extent, but the 

 Short-horns are preferred, and are greatly 

 in the majority; they are generally found 

 to be more abundant milkers, the shortness 

 of their horns, too, admits of their being 

 placed closer together, and another reason 

 is because this breed is more frequently 

 brought to market than any other. The 

 Ayrshire breed was tried to some extent, 

 and highly approved, as giving very rich 

 cream, fattening in a very short time when 

 they left off giving milk, and particularly 

 for producing a quality of beef which sold 

 much higher than that of the Short-horns; 

 but the difficulty in procuring this breed was 

 so great that they abandoned the idea of 

 keeping them. The length of time during 

 which a cow, treated as in this establish- 

 ment, continues to give milk, varies from 

 six months up to two years; the large ma- 

 jority overgoing twelve months. 



The treatment in this establishment differs 

 from that in most others. The cows are 

 never untied during the whole time they 

 remain in the house, having clean fresh 

 water to drink constantly before them. They 

 are kept very clean; the sheds are well ven- 

 tilated by the openings in the roofs, which is 

 certainly far preferable to the usual hori- 

 zontal entrances for air, by holes through 

 the side walls. The principal food of the 

 cows, as in all other London dairies, consists 

 of grains, that is, malt after it has been used 

 by the brewer or the distiller; distillers' 

 wash, which is the remainder after distilla- 

 tion of a decoction of ground malt and oaten 

 meal, is also given to the cows, but more 

 frequently to those that are fattening, than 

 to such as are in milk ; the average price of 

 brewers' grains is about four pence, or eight 

 cents per bushel; distillers' grains, on ac- 

 count of the meal which they contain, about 

 double, or sixteen cents per bushel; the wash 

 usually sells at si;c pence, or twelve cents 

 for thirty-six gallons. Salt is given at the 

 rate of two ounces to each cow daily in this 

 establishment, mixed with the grains given 



