57 



to show three generations of animals of as extraordinary char- 

 acter for the creamy or butyraceous quality of their milk, as has 

 ever been known. Two quarts of what is called the strippings. the 

 last part drawn off of the milk of one of these cows, having repeat- 

 edly produced one pound of butter ; and the cream, as it came from 

 the pans, as I have seen myself, becoming by churning converted 

 into butter of the finest description in less than one minute by the 

 watch ; and this process repeated at pleasure. 



Let us now compare the amount of cheese made by the English 

 dairies, with some in this county of which I have here given an ac- 

 count. 



An Ayrshire cow, it is said by the English authorities, will yield 

 257 lbs. butter per annum, or about 5 lbs. per week, all the year round, 

 besides raising the calf; or of new milk cheese, about 514 lbs. 

 There returns are certainly large ; but they rest upon a calculation 

 of the quantity of milk, which the cow is supposed to yield, rather 

 than upon any account of an actual yield. None at least is given. This, 

 therefore, is not so satisfactory as it would be, if it were a precisely 

 ascertained result. One of the best authorities says, that in Eng- 

 land, " a well-fed cow of a good breed will produce, upon an average, 

 180 lbs. of butter in the season. The common calculation is indeed 

 150 lbs.; but this is made upon mixed stock, which affords no cer- 

 tain data. In the Epping district, where there is an indiscriminate 

 mixture of Devon, Suffolk, Leicester, Holderness, and Scotch, the 

 calculation, in a well-managed dairy amounts to 212 lbs.; that is, 6 

 lbs. per week during 26 weeks, and 4 lbs. per week, during 14 

 weeks. The average product of cheese in the best dairies, where 

 the whole milk and cream are used, cannot be estimated at more than 

 4 cwt. — that is, 448 lbs. On deep grazing soils, that carry a heavy 

 stock, a well-managed cow is reckoned to make from three hundred 

 and sixty pounds to six hundred pounds. In Somersetshire, the av- 

 erage is 4^ cwt., or 540 lbs.; in Essex not so high, and in the mid- 

 land counties something more than 3 cwt." It will be seen, in looking 

 back upon the dairy returns in some parts of this county, that they are 

 inferior to these, not frequently passing beyond 250 or 300 lbs. of new 

 milk cheese. On the other hand, the returns of some of the dairies in 

 Cheshire show an actual amount of annual produce of more than 500 

 lbs. to a cow, and in some cases 627 and 632 lbs. It may be said, 

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