i6o • Mr. Curwen on the Means of 



Which leaves a balance of profit (on the supposition of the present expense of 

 feeding) of£iS'j. los. <>r £"6. per head on each milch cow. 



On beginning to feed with cole-seed, I found an almost immediate increase in the 

 quantity of milk, and I cannot too strongly recommend it, as well for this object, 

 as for its superior advantage over all other green crops in point of duration. What 

 I sowed in August is still in use, and will, I confidently expect, serve through the 

 whole of this present month. 



The milk sold from 19 cows in the last two fortnights ending the last week in 

 May, amounted to£'2i. 3$. Sd. or£'i8i. 3s. Sd.; in the second fortnight £"21. \od, 

 or 181 quarts per day ; and a considerable profit will still accrue before they will 

 be entirely deprived of their milk. 



The enlightened and humane attention of the Board has been directed in an 

 especial manner, to encourage the appropriation of small allotments uf ground to 

 cottagers, for the purpose of enabling them to keep a cow ; yet, great as this benefit 

 undoubtedly is, how small is the number that can profit by it, when compared with 

 the lower class of inhabitants in towns! and I humbly conceive, that it is in the 

 power of those who hold large farms to sell new milk, with a large profit to them- 

 selves, on cheaper terms than the cottager can procure it, and especially during the 

 ■winter months. 



I cannot too earnestly call the attention of landed proprietors to the advantages 

 that would result from their requiring their farmers to supply a certain quantity of 

 milk at a fair price for the support of the poor in their respective vicinities, at all 

 events of those families who are employed in the cultivation of their own farms. 

 And though the resulting profit may be of comparatively small importance in the 

 scale of their annual gains, yet, as an act of benevolence, an attention to the interest 

 of the most valuable class of men, it is an object highly worthy of consideration. 

 Nor is its importance limited solely to the preservation of lives of a number of 

 children, and the increase of comforts to the labouring classes uf society. Com- 

 pared with the other prime necessaries of life, milk is not only the most nutritious, 

 but the cheapest article of subsistence, that can be produced for the support of 

 man. To prove this fact, we will compare its price with that of bread, and then 

 with the average cost of butcher's meat. And, first, it appears, that bread, which 

 is now at ^d. per pound, has not been sold lower than 2jd. during any part of the 

 winter; whereas milk, at 2d. per quart, or id. per pound, is exactly one-third the 



