36 The Guernsey Breed 



cow is judged by the mellow feeling of the hide; by the deep, yellow 

 circle round the eyes; the tip of the tail, and the inside of the ears 

 should also be yellow. The states of the island allow the agricultural 

 society £60 per annum to be bestowed in premiums for improve- 

 ment of their cattle. 



"Mr. Jeremie is certainly very right when he says: 'The fattest 

 cows are seldom the best milchers,' for this is invariably the case; 

 'and the best milchers will not always produce the largest quantity 

 of butter.' 'A gentleman,' adds the same author, 'mentioned an in- 

 stance of one of his cows furnishing 18 quarts of milk each day; 

 another gave only 12 quarts, and yet they both produced the same 

 quantity of butter, viz., one pound and a half a day.' Instances can 

 be well substantiated of cows giving 15 pounds of butter per week; 

 one, says he, belonging to a friend of mine, calved in the month of 

 March; he kept the calf nine days, sold it then for 18 shillings; in 

 the course of two months from the day of her calving, besides feeding 

 the calf and 60 quarts of milk, she gave 100 pounds of butter. But 

 the general quantity of 'milk and butter, including young and old 

 cows, and in summer and in winter, is rather more than 365 pounds 

 in the year, being equal to one pound of butter, or eight quarts of 

 milk, the supposed general average in the 24 hours.' Three vergees 

 and a half (about one acre and three-fourths, English) of good 

 ground, are considered sufficient for each cow. In Somersetshire, 

 Bdllingsley says (page 144), 'from three to four acres of land will 

 keep a cow throughout the year.' It may be asked: Does this dif- 

 ference arise from the superiority of climate, the excellency or dif- 

 ference in the cattle, or from the mode of management in Guernsey; 

 namely, 'that of the cows being staked by the horns, by means of 

 an iron or wooden stake attached to a halter about 12 feet in length? 

 [Rather a long halter. — ^C. L. H.] In this manner it is removed 

 four or five times a day, and allowed a fresh range from two to five 

 feet each time, which causes them to eat the grass oflf remarkably 

 clean.' This, together with being constantly led to and from water, 

 is the cause of their being very docile. The cows here are in- 

 variably milked three times a day in their flush. In order that the 

 reader may be informed* of the true number of the diflferent sorts of 

 horned cattle, which have been exported from the three islands of 

 Jersey, Guernsey and Alderney, for the past six years, the following 

 export table, has been procured by a friend, upon the authority of 

 which the public may rely. 



"Subjoined is a summary of the table of cattle exported from the 

 different islands: 



„ , , ^ Bulls Cows 



Total export from Jersey, 1822 to 1828 132 8,029 



'iTearly average 22 1337 



Total export from Guernsey, 1822 to 1828 . . . . 41 2*132 



Yearly average 7 '355 



Total export from Alderney, 1822 to 1828 ....... 11 414 



Yearly average / 2 69 



"In the various parts of England the old-fashioned upright churn 



IS still made use of; in other parts the barrel churn is the only one 



used; while m some places the veritable patent churn has been 



.K\^'^:u ^'^ Somersetshire the common mode is to use no machine 



at all; the cream alone is put into a deep earthen vessel, or crock, 



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