HISTORY OF STAFFORDSHIRE. [67 



or average cow should give, in the height of the season, from eight 

 to twelve quarts of milk at a meal, and two meals per day ; but they 

 soon decline to three-fourths, and one-half of that quantity and less, 

 A good cow, it is said, will make five hundred weight of cheese in 

 a season ; but three hundred weight is a good average. We have 

 a well-authenticated account of a small farmer adjoining Needwood 

 Forest, who kept seven cows, began and ended with the same, and 

 sold on an average two tons of cheese annually. Sixteen pounds of 

 butter have been made weekly from a prime cow, in the height of the 

 season. The value of a good milch cow and calf at prime age, is 

 nearly the same as the cow will be worth when fat. The long-horned 

 cows of this county vary in size, when fat, from seven to twelve 

 score pounds the quarter, and sometimes more. Many instances 

 have occurred of superior cattle stock. The late Mr. Princep, of 

 Croxall, on the borders of the county, brought the long-horned 

 cattle to their highest perfection. An ox of his breed was fattened 

 at the Marquis of Donegal's, in 1794 : weight of the four quarters 

 1988 Ibs. tallow 200 Ibs. hide 177 Ibs. This ox, when beef was 

 at 9d. per pound, as was the case a year or two ago, would have been 

 worth o80. or guineas. Very superior cow stock are kept at Lord 

 Bagot's, and in that neighbourhood; by E. J. Littleton, Esq. ; by 

 Lord Anson, Lord Talbot, and many others. At Oxley, cows 

 were fed by the late Mr. Huskisson to 374 Ibs. the quarter, which, 

 when beef fetched 9d. per pound, would have been worth <6Q. or 

 guineas each. 



The late Mr. Miller, of Dunstall, near Wolverhampton, had, 

 perhaps, the largest and best dairy in the county. The number of 

 his milkers were once upwards of seventy ; but they have since 

 been lessened, and the sheep stack increased. The main object 

 was cheese, of which at least 4 cwt. was made per cow. Early in 

 the spring, calves were fattened to 8 or 10 weeks old. The cows, 

 when taken from the dairy, or when accidentally barren, were fat- 

 tened for the butcher upon the farm, to 10, 12, or 13 score the quar- 

 ter, and seldom any sold in store order, or in any other way. His suc- 

 cessors are pursuing the same plan. Mr. Miller, in his cow manage- 

 ment, had two main objects in view, milk and beef; in pursuit of 

 which, the carcass and the milk bag were equally attended to, 

 and the cows were bred of good size, good milkers, and well made, 

 with a disposition to fatten. The dairy too has always been 

 managed in a first-rate style. A large breadth of land, capable of. 

 irrigation, has been attended to, which, by furnishing an abundant 



