DAIRY. 



K, the urine tank, vaulted over wilh a door L, to clean it out, and a pump to pump up the liquid 

 manure. O, O, in the section, are places where the green food or roots are deposited for the 

 day's consumption. P, a hayloft. 



being readily warmed on a chafing- 

 dish in winter. In Devonshire, tin 

 or brass pans are frequently used 

 instead of earthen-ware. Although 

 there is sonao danger in the use of 

 brass utensils, very little attention 

 will obviate it. It only requires that 

 they should be kept bright, in which 

 case the smallest speck of oxide or 

 verdigris would be perceptible. In 

 Holland the milk is invariably carried 

 in brass vessels. Cast-iron pans have 

 been invented, which are tinned in- 

 side. They are economical, but there 

 is nothing better or neater than well- 

 glazed white crockery-ware, of the 

 common oval form. Some recom- 

 mend unglazed pans for summer, but 

 they are difficult to keep sweet, as 

 the milk insinuates itself into the 

 pores, and is apt to become sour 

 there. 



The most common use of cows is 

 to supply butter and cheese (see Butter 

 and Ckeese), and sometimes to fatten 

 calves for the butcher ; but the most 

 profitable dairy is that which supplies 

 large towns with milk. In these dai- 

 ries the system is different. The 

 cows are mostly kept in stalls, and 

 fed with food brought to them. Some 

 dairymen possess several hundred 

 cows, and the arrangement of their 

 establishments is worthy of notice. 

 The cows are bought before or after 

 they have calved. They are seldom 

 allowed to go to the bull, but are kept 

 as long as they can be made to give 

 milk by good feeding. When they 

 are dry, they are often already suffi- 

 ciently fat for sale, or, at all events, 

 they soon fatten, and are sold to the 

 butcher. A succession of cows is 

 thus kept up, new ones arriving as 

 others are sold off. The cows are 

 milked twice a day ; and as it is 

 well known that the last drop of milk 

 is the richest, they are sure to be 

 milked quite dry, an essential thing 

 in a dairy. When there is more milk 

 than there is a demand for, it is set, 

 and the cream is sold separately, or 

 made into butter ; but this is seldom 

 done to any extent. The cows are 

 224 



fed on every kind of food that can 

 increase the milk : brewers' grains 

 and distillers' wash are preferred, 

 when they can be obtained. The 

 grains are kept in large pits, pressed 

 close, and covered with earth, under 

 which circumstances they will remain 

 fresh a long time. Turnips and beet 

 root are used in large quantities, but 

 hay is given sparingly. The cows 

 are generally placed in pairs, with a 

 partition between every two pair. 

 Each cow is fastened to the corner 

 of the stall, where she has a small 

 trough with water before her : thus 

 they cannot gore each other with their 

 horns. The great dairies are kept 

 very clean ; but the liquid manure, 

 which would be so valuable for the 

 market gardens, is lost, and runs off. 

 In Belgium the urine would be con- 

 tracted for at the rate often dollars 

 per cow per annum, which, in a dairy 

 of six hundred cows, would pay a 

 good interest for the money expend- 

 ed in constructing large vaulted cis- 

 terns under each cow-house. 



There is no chance of profit in a 

 dairy of which the farmer or his wife 

 is not the immediate manager. The 

 attention required to minute particu- 

 lars can only be expected in those 

 whose profit depends upon it. A 

 proper attention to keeping correct 

 accounts of every expense will con- 

 vince any one of this truth. In a 

 dairy farm the great difficulty is to 

 feed the cows in winter. It is usu- 

 ally so arranged that the cows shall 

 be dry at the time when food is most 

 scarce, and they are then kept on in- 

 ferior hay, or straw, if it can be pro- 

 cured. It is a great improvement in 

 a dairy farm if it has as much arable 

 land attached to it as will employ 

 one plough, especially if the soil be 

 light ; but the mode of cultivating 

 this farm must vary from that of 

 other farms, since the food raised for 

 the cows must be a principal object. 

 Corn is a secondary object ; and the 

 cultivation of roots and grasses must 

 occupy a great portion of the farm. 

 When the grasses degenerate, a crop 



