350 CORNISH MARKET GARDENING 



occasionally a Shorthorn, foundation, but with a strong 

 infusion of Guernsey blood. Pure bred Guernseys are 

 highly thought of; fresh-born calves will fetch as 

 much as 4 apiece. Generally, however, we were told 

 the dairy farmer is quite careless about the bull he 

 uses, and the only grading up that even the better ones 

 practise is to retain for the herd the heifer calves from 

 the best milkers. We were told that contagious 

 abortion was rife ; our informant never bought a cow 

 nor borrowed nor lent a bull, lest he should introduce 

 the disease ; he even feared its malicious communica- 

 tion by some envious neighbour letting his bull break 

 through. With this point of view he had no use for 

 any scheme of improving the live stock of the district 

 by the purchase of high-class bulls to be let out at a 

 small fee for the use of groups of farmers. Improve- 

 ment is certainly needed, for one good farmer told 

 us that his cows did not yield on the average 400 

 gallons of milk a year, but he paid little attention to 

 their milk yield provided they produced 8 Ib. of butter 

 apiece per week. Of course, with the prevalence of 

 Guernsey blood, the milk is rich in cream ; the 

 analyses of the milk brought into Penzance show an 

 average of well over 4 per cent, of butter fat. Milk 

 can be produced cheaply in Cornwall with the 

 abundant grass and the warm winters, though the 

 cows must be housed in the winter and only the young 

 stock can be left afield. A feature of the farming of 

 this part of Cornwall is the general habit of turning the 

 pigs out to grass ; always the large black drooping- 

 eared pig was in evidence, Devon and Cornwall, 

 with Sussex and Essex, being its strongholds. It 

 makes a fine bacon pig, long-sided with a good pro- 

 portion of lean, and it is a very prolific breeder. On 

 many of the farms a colt or two was to be seen ; but 



