24 
On the Farming of Middlesex. 
the lofts for hay above. The cows, aS elsewhere, are in pairs, 
facing the wall or partition for the purpose of securing quiet ; the 
drainage is complete ; all offensive matter is speedily removed ; 
the quantity and condition of the cows are of first-rate order, 
with here and there a highbred short-liorned heifer putting on 
too much flesh and fat for a milch cow, and from her early 
maturity and a tendency to fatten, looking more like an animal 
fitted for the Smithfield Cattle-show than the occupier of a stall 
in a London dairy cowshed. 
If a question be hazarded as to the purity of the milk on 
leaving the cowshed, the answer is, " we cannot guarantee its 
purity to the consumer, because it passes into other hands after 
it goes from here ; it is entrusted to women, mostly Irish (for 
the milk carriers are mostly Irish). The best way to secure 
their honesty, of which we have little to complain, is not to be 
too close in our measurement to them. There is in some cases 
another danger, especially in families who are rather close. 
Servants will sometimes make their own quantity good at the 
expense of the purity of that consumed upstairs." 
It may be anticipated that if we are spared any future 
infliction of the cattle plague, the number of cows kept within 
the limits of London will be restored, and probably increased. 
The carriage by railway from distant dairies will be superseded, 
and the original condition of the metropolitan milk trade re- 
established. Those who are engaged in this occupation seem 
especially attached to it. The infliction of the cattle plague 
was at the time met, for the most part, with great patience. 
The trade and traders seem now to be recovering their elasticity. 
The Middlesex dairyman and London cowkeeper may, not- 
withstanding all that has been said, written, or insinuated, com- 
pare confidently in the management of and devotion to their 
business, with those many branches, and trades, and industries 
which provide the food and minister to the comforts and neces- 
sities of the largest city in the world. A visit to some of these 
sheds would not only tend to remove unfounded prejudices and 
gratify curiosity, but give pleasure and instruction to those who 
feel an interest in cow stock. 
Land-Drainage. 
The natural drainage of Middlesex, especially that part of it 
of which the London Clay forms the suri'ace, is determined by 
the levels and undulations of that surface ; the greater part of 
the water finding its outfall in the Brent and Yedding brooks. 
The amount of perennial water is very insignificant, and flows, 
or rather weeps, out from the beds or traces of Bagshot sands 
