THE DAIRY. 295 



The high value of the products of the dairy, and the prodigi- 

 ous diversity in the faculty of individual Cows to yield milk, 

 shew the great importance of extending a knowledge of the 

 best modes of performing the manufacture, of cultivating a 

 suitable race of Cows, and of feeding them in the best man- 

 ner which the means at the command of the dairyman will 

 allow. 



The Dairy is a branch of rural industry deserving of at- 

 tention in the highest degree. There are no other means 

 known to us by which so great a quantity of animal food can 

 be derived for human support from the same space of ground. 

 In the British Islands the production of this kind of aliment 

 is very great, and its entire value forms no inconsiderable pro- 

 portion of the yearly created produce of the land. There is no 

 class of persons by whom milk in one or more of its forms is 

 not used. Cheese may seem to be a mere superfluity to those 

 who feed largely on other animal food; yet, even amongst 

 this class, the consumption, from its regularity, is consider- 

 able ; but amongst the far more numerous classes to whom 

 cheese is a part of their customary diet, the consumption of 

 this substance is very great. Butter is used by almost every 

 family above the poorest, and to an enormous extent as a 

 substitute for oil in culinary preparations. Simple milk, too, 

 enters into the diet of every class ; with this peculiarity, that 

 it is consumed in larger quantity in the rural districts than 

 in the towns. It may be difficult to make an approximate 

 calculation of the quantity and value of milk consumed by 

 the twenty-six millions of inhabitants of the British Islands. 

 It is perhaps a reasonable calculation, that, of twenty mil- 

 lions of these, each individual consumes a pint of milk in a 

 day in its different forms, which would produce 912,500,000 

 gallons per annum, and at 8d. the gallon, L.30,416,666, 

 besides more than 200 millions of gallons employed in the 

 rearing and fattening of Calves. Great as this production is, 

 it is not sufficient for the supply of the inhabitants ; and an 

 importation takes place both of butter and cheese, which an 



