SUPPLEMENT. 717 



stances having directed the raw material into new channels. Previous to the factory 

 movement, all statistics as to the yield of milk and its product was meager and unrelia- 

 ble. The more business-like method of dealing with milk by weight, and the weighing 

 of the cheese from the press, showed at a glance the quantity of green cheese produced 

 by a gallon of milk throughout the year. Having ascertained this, the shrinkage or loss 

 of weight in ripening was easily calculated; the cost of labor, salt, and other materials 

 used in the manufacture was correctly ascertained, and the value of the waste product* 

 correctly appraised. 



Another important lesson to the" dairy farmer was the transit of milk for long distances. 

 The Derbyshire milk trade to London, and other large towns, dates contemporaneously 

 with the introduction of the factory. In 1869 there was no milk sent from Derby to 

 London. Now, in the height of the season, the quantity sent by the Midland Railwaj 

 alone we estimate at 20,000 gallons a day. During the earlier development of the milk 

 trade many losses occurred to the farmers, generally through an imperfect knowledge of the 

 position of the middle men, many of whom were needy adventurers, who, by fair prom- 

 ises and the offer of an extra half-penny per gallon, imposed on the good-natured credu- 

 lity of the farmers, who allowed their accounts to run on and were frequently mulcted 

 in large sums. The old adage "once bit, twice shy," has led to more careful inquiries, 

 as to the respectability and solvency of the purchaser. Weekly, fortnightly, and, at the 

 utmost, monthly payments are now tho rule. Yearly contracts are common with a vary- 

 ing scale of prices and quantities for the different seasons. Although the prices of milk 

 have not generally improved, the trade on the whole has assumed a more settled form. 



IMPROVEMENT IN THE BREED OF DAIRY CATTLE. 



The various grades of Shorthorn comprise four-fifths of the cattle kept exclusively for 

 dairy purposes in the Midland and West Midland counties, and as milk and meat pro- 

 ducers they cannot be surpassed. Their size, quality, and aptitude to lay on flesh quickly 

 has been immensely improved by the use of pure-bred bulls. Where these have been 

 selected with judgment, the milking capabilities have likewise increased. A much 

 greater degree of care and attention is exercised in the selection of cows suitable for the 

 dairy. A well-shaped milk vessel is a point on which dairy farmers are becoming more 

 critical. Inferior milkers are weeded out, and either passed on to the grazier or fattened 

 off on the farm. The chief obstacle to more rapid improvement of the ordinary stock of 

 the diary districts is due to a parsimonious and grudging spirit in securing the services 

 of a better class of bulls. A man with a dairy of 30 to 50 cows will give 30 for a young 

 Shorthorn bull, which, after three years' service and three months' stall-feeding, will 

 readily make 35 to 40 to the butcher. The stock left by him will be a remarkable 

 improvement on the original. Instead of exercising- more care in the selection of another 

 pure-bred animal to follow, he saves a calf from some favorite cow in his own herd, 

 which, being only a half-bred, reduces the progeny to their original state. 



The milk-selling mania, which set in about 1873-'74and culminated in 1880-'81, com- 

 pletely demoralized the dairy interests of the Midlands. The best men were realizing an 

 average return of 22 to 26 per cow by the sale of milk. On all the best milk farms 

 rearing ^vas for the time completely ignored; the capabilities of farms were taxed to the 

 uttermost in order to produce the greatest possible quantity of milk, the farmers pre- 

 ferring to purchase springing cows to fill np their stalls as required. In the course of 

 three years the system began to tell in the scarcity and enhanced prices of calving cows. 

 The diminution, so to speak, of the cattle population of this country is largely due to the 

 same cause. For the last two years the enhanced prices and inferior quality of the stock 

 has reduced the profits of dairy farming to a small margin. Stock reared on the farm are 

 more healthy and thrive better than strangers, and these are frequently of a nondescript 

 character. Instances are numerous of cows purchased at 24 to 26, after being milked 

 10 or 11 months, selling as barreners at 16 or 18 each. This makes a rather heavy 

 inroad on the gross returns. The very few men who have quietly gone on rearing suffi- 

 cient to keep up their herd and finished off their cast cows have suffered little from the 

 pressure of the time. This year the rage for rearing has again set in ; colory calves of 

 a few days old have been eagerly picked up at 40s. to 50s. each. We have a commission 

 to purchase all the bull calves from a herd of 40 ordinary dairy cows at 60s. each, deliv- 

 ered on rail at three days old. I need scarcely say they were all by a pedigree bull. 

 Such prices should be sufficient inducement to use a better class of sires. 



IMPROVED METHODS OF FEEDING. 



The great impetus given to dairy farming by the introduction of the factory system, 

 and subsequently the sale of milk, has led to a much more liberal system of feeding. 

 Formerly the produce of the farm, grass in summer and hay in winter, constituted the 



