On ike Fur mil) fj of Middlesex. 
21 
by the necessities of localities than because the pasture is fitted 
for the production of milk, or the manufacture of butter. As 
an example ; a dairy supplying milk and butter to a suburban 
township, about seven miles from Charing Cross, may be men- 
tioned. The farm is under 100 acres in extent, three-fourths being 
grass land, on the gravel and loam which, but as accommoda- 
tion land, would be more profitable under the plough, yet affording 
a dry lair at all seasons for the herd of under 20 cows : there is 
nothing remarkable in the premises or their arrangement, except 
that the whole management has the strictest reference to economy. 
As an instance, when the return load of dung is brought home 
from London, or elsewhere, it is not only immediately spread on 
the grass or arable land, but after due exposure the straw is 
raked from the surface of the land and used as bedding for the 
cows, and this to all appearance without the sacrifice of that 
cleanliness so essential to the health and well-being of the animals. 
The cows here are pastured in the summer, and have a run 
in the winter when the weather is favourable. Mangold, raised 
on the arable or bought in the neighbourhood, brewers' grains 
given in winter twice a day, hay, usually the second cut, or rowen, 
with a little meal occasionally, constitute their food. The de- 
mand for the milk leaves little to be made into butter ; such is 
the ordinary simple management of a suburban dairy. 
The disastrous cattle plague well nigh emptied the cowsheds 
of London and its neighbourhood. Now, at the beginning of 
1868, when it may be hoped the plague is stayed, many of the 
sheds are nearly or quite filled, and the supply of milk is drawn in 
a great measure from its accustomed source. As no cows can be 
kept in London without a licence, these are refused in the heart 
of London and in crowded localities ; and not only the health and 
condition of the cattle but the state of the sheds are under strict 
periodical inspection. 
Several well known amateurs are assisting to supply milk 
from farms some little distance from London, Though they 
suffered in common with the regular trader in the loss of their 
•cattle by plague, their sheds have been replenished, for the most 
part, with the short-horn, the standard cow of the London dairy. 
The first farm is on the London clay, of which perhaps one- 
third, out of 350 acres, is under the plough. On this are grown 
mangold, cabbage, tares, clover, &c., which with the grass cut 
from the meadows in the summer, and the hay made on the 
farm, form the home grown part of the food. A part of the 
hay, and even straw, is sold ; a certain amount of the manure, 
as well as the brewers' crrains beina: brouffht from London. 
The cows are tied up as usual in pairs, in sheds, from which 
they are not permitted to stir, under the impression that even a 
