144 THE OX AND THE DAIRY. 



be all, the purchaser in London may be well contented, 

 calculated that upwards of twelve thousand cows are kep \ 

 the supply of London and its increasing environs ; and as i^-. 

 amount of milk returned by these .cattle is mostly retailed b'y 

 pennyworths or two-pennyworths, morning and evening, we 

 shall readily conclude that the retailers' occupation is one of 

 no little labour. That it is profitable we may conclude from 

 the fact, that " milk- walks " are not unfrequently advertised 

 for sale ; but whether the profit be truly fair or just may 

 admit of question. Certain it is that the milk leaves the 

 great dairy in its purity ; but what admixtures it may after- 

 wards undergo may require the analysis of the chemist to 

 determine. 



Mr. Youatt (whose name we have often mentioned, and to 

 whose memory we pay a tribute of respect for his extensive 

 acquirements and his private worth) says, in his agreeable style, 

 " The name of new milk ha something very pleasant about 

 it, but it is an article which rarely makes its appearance at 

 the breakfast or tea-table of the citizen. That which is got 

 from the cow at night is put by until the morning ; the cream 

 is skimmed off, and then, a little water being added, it is sold 

 to the public as the morning's milk. This is the practice of 

 most, or all of the little dairymen who keep their half-dozen 

 cows; and if this were all, and with these people it is nearly 

 all, the public must not complain. The milk may be lowered 

 by the warm water, but the lowering system is not carried to 

 any great extent ; for there is a pride among them that their 

 milk shall be better than that of the merchants on a yet 

 smaller scale, who purchase the article from the great dairies; 

 and so it generally is. The milk goes from the yard of the 

 great dairy into the possession of the itinerant dealers per 

 fectly pure; what is done with it afterwards, and to what 

 degree it is lowered and sophisticated, is known only to these 

 retail merchants." 



In all dairy establishments, ventilation and cleanliness are 

 indispensable; and if butter is made, the dairy proper, or 

 butter-room, should be as near the cow-house as possible, as 

 the milk suffers more or less considerably from being agitated, 

 or too much cooled, before it is set for the cream to rise. 

 The milk should be brought from the cows without being 

 exposed to the outer air, before it is set to cream ; which 

 should be in vessels arranged on a stone slab, below the level 

 of the ground ; the apartment being sunk to the depth of 



