THE DAIRY. 279 



tity when the young is born, though in a few rare instances, 

 heifers, without contact with the male, have been known to 

 produce milk ; arid the same curious anomaly has been ob- 

 served in the case of young mares. For a few days after the 

 birth, the milk, then termed Colostrum, is viscid, and of a 

 deep yellow colour, and tends more readily than other milk 

 to undergo decomposition, and yields butter with difficulty. 

 The colostrum should not, therefore, be mixed with the other 

 milk of the dairy, but be given to the new-born calf. The 

 milk, in a few days after the birth, assumes its usual proper- 

 ties, and for about ninety days is yielded abundantly, and 

 with an increase of richness in cream. The produce after a 

 time continues to diminish, and in about forty days before 

 the birth, the milk becomes alkaline and incapable of coagu- 

 lation, and ceases to be saccharine. The further milking of 

 the animal should then cease. Cows are usually milked twice 

 in the day throughout the year, in the morning and evening, 

 but they may be milked three times in the day when very full 

 in milk. The operation should be performed with gentleness 

 and care, and the milk withdrawn to the last portion. The 

 first drawn milk is always comparatively serous, while every 

 succeeding quantity improves in richness and abundance of 

 cream, so that the last portion contains many times the pro- 

 portion of cream contained in the first. 



The domestic dairy is directed indifferently to the procur- 

 ing of milk for food, to the preparation of butter, and some- 

 times to the production of cheese. But the larger dairies 

 designed for the sale of milk and its products, are devoted 

 more exclusively to one or other of these productions. The 

 first class of dairies consists of those directed to the disposal 

 of milk in the fresh state as human food. Of this kind gene- 

 rally are the dairies in and around towns. These are the 

 dairies in which the largest return is obtained from the pro- 

 duce of the Cow. The second class consists of those in which 

 the milk is chiefly employed for the production of butter to 

 be disposed of in the fresh state. These are the next in pro- 

 fitable return to those in which the milk itself is disposed of; 



