AGRICULTURE 



On dairy farms where butter is made the cream separator is now in 

 general use, and this has become much more efficient and less costly in the 

 past ten years. A milking machine is also being used with success at a large 

 dairy farm near Sunderland. These latter machines have still, however, to 

 win the general approval of the dairy farmers. 



The amount of milk produced for consumption must have increased 

 enormously with the great increase of the population of the county. From 

 figures taken from a paper read by Mr. R. H. Rew to the Royal Statistical 

 Society in 1904, it may be assumed that the annual consumption of new 

 milk per head of the population was about n gallons in 1868, and about 

 1 S'9 g a ^ on s in 1904. A cow yielding milk for sale would give on an average 

 annually about 400 gallons in 1867, and about 550 gallons in 1904, as the 

 milk-producing powers of cows have been greatly developed in recent years 

 owing to improved feeding and management, especially in the more populous 

 districts. From these figures it is calculated that of the 20,130 milch cows 

 in the county in 1867, about 17,000 would have been required to produce 

 all the milk needed. In 1905 the number of milch cows was 28,572, or 

 about 10,000 less than would have supplied the county with milk for 

 that year. 



Very large amounts of milk, however, are now imported from North 

 Yorkshire, West Cumberland, and the south of Scotland, and at the same 

 time butter and cheese are being produced to a decreasing extent. Some 

 Wensleydale and other cheeses are still made in the south-west, and a good 

 deal of butter in the more rural districts, but these are rapidly diminishing. 

 A movement is now on foot to develop co-operative dairying in Tees- 

 dale, which, especially as it promises better facilities for the transit of 

 milk, is certain still further to increase the production of milk for con- 

 sumption. 



Milk-selling farms have greatly increased in the populous districts. For 

 these shorthorn cows (non-pedigree) come from south-west Durham and 

 North Yorkshire through Darlington, Gateshead and other marts. Many 

 milk-sellers buy these cows at six to eight years old, when at calving, and 

 milk them till they go dry, when they are fed off for the butcher. These 

 produce about 750-800 gallons of milk per cow annually, for which liberal 

 feeding is necessary, but recent experiments in the county show that fre- 

 quently this high feeding is carried to excess. Other milk-sellers buy the 

 cows a year or two younger, and breed from them for a year or two. 

 The milk from these dairies is usually retailed locally by the farmers at 

 or near 4^. a quart. 



The railway milk which comes from a distance is purchased by dairy- 

 men at about an average of %d. a gallon; the evening's milk in this case 

 not being retailed till the following morning, and the morning's on the 

 evening of the same day. The production of milk is a most important 

 branch of farming for this county. It entails long hours and close atten- 

 tion to the management of the cows and of the milk, and there is no 

 more hard-working class of farmers than those so engaged in the county. 

 The dairy research station at Offerton Hall, referred to later, is specially 

 adapted for carrying out experiments on milk production, the results of which 

 have already considerably modified local practice. 



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