Cow-Keeping by Farm Labourers. 
511 
" Leonie " were ; and Sir Tatton Sjkes never had a mare broken. 
Whv are ponies so enduring and free from lameness? because 
their dams have often for generations run unhaltered. I 
might also enlarge on breeding troop horses in this way, or with 
mares from the third cross, perhaps on rather better land, not 
large, but sound, hardy, and enduring, fit to stand the hardships 
of a campaign, with a moderate weight on their backs, instead 
of a load for a van ; but space is wanting, my tether is reached, 
and I must conclude. I think I have at least intimated what 
might be done with our native breeds of horses, properly 
crossed, upon our at present waste lands. It is not a business 
that would call for a large outlay of capital : the rent would 
be little more than nominal of such land as I have in my 
eye, especially in these times, and to a young man fond of 
horses and sport the occupation would be one of the most 
pleasant he could select. 
XIX. — Cow-Keeping by Farm Labourers. By Henry 
EVERSHED. 
Although farm labourers are, in some respects, better fed than 
thev were a few years since, they were never so badly off for 
milk. There are numerous villages throughout the country 
where milk cannot be obtained, where families are badly reared 
for want of it, and where the children of the labourers never 
taste it in the whole course of their lives after the day when 
they are weaned. 
There is high medical authority for the statement that the 
majority of farm labourers are reared on a diet inferior to that 
of their predecessors. In wealthier families meat may be 
a sufficient substitute for milk, but in those of the labouring 
class meat is not available in sufficient quantity. Cheese is the 
alternative, and is more largely used in building up the frame 
than any other substance except bread. The low price of 
cheese is an inestimable advantage in the case of those who are 
unable to afford the more expensive sources of nitrogenous 
materials ; but cheese taken largely as food is ill adapted for 
the period of infancy. 
The subject of this article, then, gains importance from the 
fact that the labouring population generally have been deprived 
of milk, in modern times, as an article of diet. Wages have 
risen, and many very striking improvements in the position of 
the labourer have been accomplished ; but in the important 
matter of rearing and feeding his family he has retrograded. 
VOL. XV. — S. S. 2 M 
