718 CATTLE AND DAIRY FARMING. 



diet of a dairy cow. Cheese was made during eight or nine months. The cow was put 

 dry and rested for at least three months out of the twelve. With milk-selling the case 

 is entirely changed. The supply must be kept up to a fixed standard throughout the 

 year; hence shelter and artificial food are essential. The cows arc; now regularly nrilhed 

 to within one month of calving. Little long hay is now used, the food is all given in a 

 prepared state. Large quantities of meal, cake, and brewers' grains are used. During 

 the early days of milk-selling some landlords were alarmed lest the land should become 

 robbed and deteriorated. This contingency has not been realized; on the contrary, large 

 sums are now spent on purchased foods, where, under the old cheese-making regime, not 

 a shilling was spent on extraneous substances. 



I may be allowed to quote an instance, within my own knowledge, of an estate of Jess 

 than 3,000 acres, purely dairy land, where not a ton of cake or other purchased food was 

 ever used. The average outlay on this estate during the last seven years has been up- 

 wards of 2, 000. Some of the best men are adopting a modification of the town system. 

 The weak milkers and the more aged are highly fed, and are thus milked and fattened 

 at the same time, and are passed off to the butcher before they are dry. On some of the 

 larger farms a recent improvement is becoming popular. I have fitted up cooking cis- 

 terns on several farms. These are constructed of common bricks set in cement, into 

 which is placed a perforated wooden bottom; a pipe from the steam engine delivers the 

 steam into the open space under the false bottom ; above, the tank is filled with hay or straw, 

 chaff, or a mixture of the two, with a quantity of unground corn. The cistern is covered 

 by a closely-fitting lid, the steam is turned on, and the contents thoroughly cooked. This 

 has proved to be not only the most economical, as in the case of dairy cows; it is the most 

 efficient method of feeding corn. 



YIELD AND VALUE OF MILK. 



The improvement of the breed and a more liberal system of feeding have increased the 

 average yield of milk 160 gallons per cow during the last twelve years. The average 

 yield of the best South Derbyshire dairies may be taken at 650 gallons. The popular 

 taste is in favor of a rich, mellow, smooth-flavoured cheese, artificially ripened, at from 

 six weeks to three months old. This is somewhat in favor of the producer, the shrink- 

 age in weight being less than would be the case if kept to a greater age. An imperial 

 gallon of milk at a temperature of 60 degrees weighs 10 pounds 4 ounces; under good 

 management, 11 pounds of milk will produce 1 pound of cured cheese. If we estimate 

 the cost of labor and materials, and allow, on the other side, one halfpenny per gallon 

 for the whey, the cheese must sell at 70s. per cwt. of 120 pounds to realize 7d. per im- 

 perial gallon for the crude milk. 



Immense improvements have taken place in butter-making since the Bristol meeting 

 of the Royal Agricultural Society in 1879. The Coolley and Swartz systems were there 

 thoroughly tested by English j udges, and their merits fully recognized. Both these sys- 

 tems have been completely superseded by the cream separator, which effects a perfect 

 separation in an amazingly rapid manner. The milk is drawn from the cow, passed over 

 a Lawrence refrigerator, and immediately separated at the rate of 60 gallons or more an 

 hour. The perfectly sweet cream is churned immediately, or, as preferred by some, ren- 

 dered slightly acid, either by natural or artificial means. So rapid is the process that 

 butter from the morning's milk can be placed in the market the same evening. The 

 cream, when removed by the separator, is as free from milk as can possibly be the case 

 by the ordinary method of skimming; hence the butter is finer, being perfectly free 

 from casein. The quality of cream is further shown by the yield of butter. One hun- 

 dred quarts of cream frequently produce 112 pounds of butter; the average yield of 

 butter throughout the year, in an ordinary farm dairy, is 16 ounces of butter from 1 1 

 quarts of new milk. One of the chief advantages of the separator is the enhanced value 

 of the skim milk, which is perfectly sweet, and will keep so for a much longer period 

 than milk which had been set from twenty -f(?ur to thirty-six hours, hence it is more val- 

 uable either for household purposes or the rearing of stock; its commercial value is 3d. or 

 4(7. per imperial gallon. The butter fat only being removed, the solids remain intact 

 to build up the bone and muscle of the young animal, and the sugar as a heat pro- 

 ducer; hence its value for stock-raising. The market price of crude milk varies like 

 other commodities. The best prices are generally obtained from local vendors. 



There is still a large field open amongst the mining population of the North Midlands, 

 as well as that of the country Villages, who can obtain it only as a luxury. Though 

 sent daily from their own doors in large quantities to London and other large towns, 

 the denizens of the country villages are unable to supply their wants. The prices vary 

 from YJ*7. to Sd. for the six summer months and 9$d. to lOflf. for the six winter months, 

 per imperial gallon, out of which the farmer has to defray the cost of carriage, which, if 

 sent to London, is Id. per gallon. Although stringent laws have been placed in the stat- 



