60 CATTLE. 



eight gallons of milk, with the cream, will yield 24 pounds of sweet- 

 milk cheese, or 514 pounds per annum. 



This is certainly an extraordinary quantity of butter and cheese, 

 and fully establishes ihe reputatiun of the Ayrshire cow, so far as the 

 dairy is concerned. "^^ 



Mr. Aiton rates the profit of the Ayrshire cow at a higher ^'alue. 

 He says, " To sura up all in one sentence, I now repeat that thou- 

 sands of the best Scotch dairy cow>, when they are in their best 

 condition and well fed, yield at the rate of 1000 gallons in one year; 

 that, in general, from S'{- to 4 gallons of their milk will yield a pound 

 and a half of butter ; that 21 \ gallons of their milk will produce 21 

 pounds weight of full milk-cheese." 



Mr. Rankine very justly m.aintains that Mr. Alton's statement is 

 far too high, and his cal.^ulations not well founded. " He deduces 

 his statement," says Mr. Rankine, " from the circumstance of some 

 farmers letting the milk of their cows for a year at £15 and £l7, 

 which, taking 30 gallons to produce 24 lbs. of cheese, and the price 

 being 10s., would require 1,080 gallons for each cow. But he is 

 not warranted in inferring that the milk from which these rents were 

 paid was all converted into cheese. No such rents were ever paid 

 for cows where a considerable portion of the milk was made into 

 cheese. In the vicinity of a town where the whole of the milk could 

 be sold for 8d. a gallon, 450 gallons would bring £15. Where the 

 whole of the milk could have been turned to such an account, such 

 rents might have been paid ; but it is erroneous to calculate the 

 quantity of milk given from the quantity of cheese required to enable 

 a rent of £15 to be paid. His first statement that COO gallons are 

 yielded, though far above the average of all the cows in the county, 

 may be too low when applied to the best selected stocks on good 

 land ; — but I have reason to believe that no stock of 20 cows ever 

 averaged 850 gallons each in the year. I have seen 9 gallons of 

 milk drawn from a cow in one day. I quote with confidence the 

 answers to queries which I sent to two individuals. One states that, 

 at the best of the season, the average milk from each is 4| gallons, 

 and in a year 650 gallons ; that in the summer season 32 gallons of 

 entire milk will make 24 lbs. of cheese ; and 48 gallons of skimmed 

 milk will produce the same quantity : and that 90 gallons will make 



24 lbs. of butter. Another farmer, who keeps a stock of between 

 30 and 40 very superior cows, always in condition, states that the 

 average quantity of each is G87| gallons. Although there may be 



* In some experiments conducted at the Earl of Chesterfield's dairy at Bradley- 

 Hall farm, it appeared that, in the height of the season, the Holderncss would yield 

 7 gallons and a quart ; the long horn and the Alderney, 4 gallons 3 quarts ; and the 

 Devon, 4 gallons 1 pint per day ; and when this was maae into butter, the result was, 

 from the Holderness, 38^ ounces ; from the Devon, 28 ounces ; and from the Alderney, 



25 ounces. The Ayrshire yields 5 gallons pe: day, and from that is produced 3-< 

 ©unces of butter. 



