The Agriculture of Staffordshire. 
269 
making of g^ood cheese as are the skill and the incessant labour 
and care which are also required. The dairy farmers, who 
have gradually increased their pasturage, frequently at the cost 
of lessening their returns until the new turf came into profit, 
have no doubt estimated accurately the economy of a process 
which has increased the permanent pasture of Staffordshire more 
than threefold, covering with grass 340,000 acres out of the 
570,000 acres of its cultivated surface. The statistics show the 
immense and unparalleled advance of manufacturing and mining 
industry in North and South Staffordshire, accompanied by a 
rise of wages and occasional scarcity of labourers, which would 
have become inconvenient but for the extension of pasturage. 
There is, however, a limit to this extension, which in most 
farms has already been reached, while in many others a slight 
change in the relative value of agricultural produce would occa- 
sion the breaking up of inferior grass. 
Dairy Farms. 
Dairying, or cheese-farming, is carried on more or less in 
almost every part of Staffordshire. It is the mainstay of its farm- 
ing, except on the small extent of land which is too light for 
grass, and it is pursued even on the tops of the hills which are 
too lofty for wheat-growing and too exposed for the growth of 
trees, or for ordinary cultivation. First-rate pasture land is 
Avorth 80/. or 90/. an acre, and the same land, in arable, would 
be worth only 50Z. or 60/. 
The cows were originally the large coarse description of short- 
horns with yellow skins, great rough tails, and ragged appear- 
ance at the quarter where that appendage is set on. They have 
been greatly improved by crossiag with the improved breeds. 
Many of the herds boast a large mixture of pedigree blood, 
which has had the usual effect on the quality and appearance of 
the animals; and occasionally the effects of too much "breed" 
have obliged the dairy farmers to retrace their steps, or at all 
events to weed out animals that show a greater fitness for the 
shambles than the dairy. As a rule, pedigree and pail are 
opposed, but the half-bred cows, properly selected, are very good 
milkers, and " blood " adds 5/. to their value when they are 
turned out to fatten. The demand for improved half-bred bulls 
is supplied by local breeders, who resort to the pedigree herds, 
and frequently give high prices for pure-bred males. There is 
a good demand for bull calves out of dairy cows with short 
pedigrees at 5/. to 10 guineas each. By such means the im- 
provement of the breed of dairy cattle has been gradually 
advanced, and Avill doubtless be carried still further. The 
