28 



INTRODUCTORY REMARKS : 



much .higher than that of the Short-Horns. The difficulty, however, in procure 

 ing. this breed was found so great that Mr. Rhodes was obliged to leave it off. — 

 Tho length of time during which a Cow, treated as in this establishment, contin- 

 ues to give milk, varies from six months to the almost incredible period of two 

 years, We were assured of there being at this moment several Cows among the 

 390 which we saw, that had stood in their places even more than two years, and 

 continued to give upward of one gallon of milk daily. 



" The treatment of the Cows in Rhodes's dairy differs from that in most other 

 efelablishments. The Cows are never untied during the whole period that they 

 remain in the house In most other establishments, if not in all, stall-fed Cows 

 or cattle are let out at least cmce a day to drink ; but these animals have clear 

 water continually before them. They are kept very clean, and the sheds are so 

 remarkably well ventilated, by means of the openings in the roofs, that the air 

 seemed to us purer than that of any cow-house we had ever before examined ; 

 probably from its direct perpendicular entrance through the roof — this, in moder- 

 ate weather, being certainly far preferable to its horizontal entrance through the 

 side walls. 



" The principal food of the Cows in Rhodes's dairy, as in all the other London 

 establishments, consists of grains — that is, inalt after it has been used by the 

 brewer or the distiller. As the brewing seasons are chiefly autumn and spring, 

 a stock of grains is laid in at these seasons sufficient for the rest of the year. — 

 The grains are generally laid in pits, bottomed and lined with brickwork set in 

 cement, from ten to twenty feet deep, about twelve or sixteen feet wide, and of 

 any convenient length. The grains are firmly trodden down by men — the heaps 

 being finished like hayricks, or ridges in which potatoes are laid up for the win- 

 ter, and covered with from six to nine inches' of moist earth or mud, to keep out 

 the rain and frost in winter and the heat in summer. As a Cow consumes about 

 a bushel of grains a day, it is easy to calculate the quantity required to be laid in. 

 The grains are warm, smoking, and in a state of fermentation, when put in, and 

 they continue fit for use for several years — becoming somewhat sour, but they are, 

 it is said, as much relished by the Cows as when fresh. It is common to keep 

 grains two or three years ; but in this establishment they have been kept nine 

 years, and found perfectly good. Th« exclusion of the air almost prevents the 

 increase of the fermentation and consequent decomposition. What is called dis- 

 tillers' wash — which is the remainder, after distillation, of a decoction of ground 

 malt and meal — is also given to Cows, but more frequently to such as are fatten- 

 ing than to those in milk. The present price of brewers' grains is fourpence half- 

 penny per bushel ; of distillers' grains, on account of the meal which they con- 

 tain, ninepence a bushel ; of wash, thirty-six gallons for sixpence. 



" Salt is given to the Cows in Rhodes's dairy at the rate of two ounces each 

 Cow a day. It is mixed with the graiins, which are supplied before milking, 

 about three oilock in the morning ; and in the afternoon, about two o'clock, just 

 before milking. Of green food or roots, portions are supplied alternately with 

 the grains ; and in winter, when tares or green grass cannot be procured, after 

 the turnips, potatoes, or mangel-wurzel have been eatMi, a portion of dry hay is 

 given. 



" The produce of this dairy is almost entirely milk and cream for private fami- 

 lies and for public hospitals and other institutions. A number of the public es- 

 tablishments are supplied directly from the dairy by contract ; but private fami- 

 lies are principally supplied by milt-dealers : these have what are called milk; 

 walks— that is, a certain number of customers, whom they call upon with sup- 

 plies twice a day ; and they are thus enabled to ascertain the average of what 

 th«r customers consume, and to contract with Messrs. Rhodes for this average. 

 The latter calculate the number of Cows sufficient to give the dealer the supply 

 ■wanted, and this number the dealer undertakes to milk twice a day — ^namely, at 

 three o'clock in the morning, and at three in the afternoon. The milk is meas- 

 ured to the dealer, and should he have milked more than his quantity, it remains 

 with the dairyman ; but should the Cows have been deficient in the quantity, it 

 is made good from the milk of other Cows, milked on account of the contracts of ' 

 the establishment. As the supply of the Cows and the demand of the dealers ' 

 are continually varying, it often happens that considerable quantities of milk re- 

 main on the dairyman's hands — frequently, we are told, as much as sixty or sev- 



