Cow- Keeping by rami Labourers. 
535 
me some time ago, but given up as altogether impracticable. I always go to 
the Highlands every year, where every one has a cow. The cost of the cow, 
of her keep, and the position of milk as an important article of food are so 
totally different, that I fear the system could not be established here with any 
prosi^ect of success." 
Ability and grass are two indispensable preliminaries to suc- 
cessful cow-keeping by cottagers ; and as both abound in the 
vale of Aylesbury, I was surprised to learn from Mr. John 
Treadwell, of Upper Winchendon, that none of the labourers in 
his immediate neighbourhood keep cows. 
Mr. J. Gaitskell, Hall Santon, Holmrook, Cumberland, does 
not live in a neighbourhood where the labourers keep cows ; but 
as the one example which he mentions is favourable to the prac- 
tice, 1 think his letter will be read with interest : — 
" I scarcely think it is desirable that the labourers should keep a cow where 
milk is obtainable, as it is in this neighbourhood. If not, I think it would 
be better to stipulate for a certain quantity with the farmer. 
" The cow should be kept, if at all, I think by the employer, and even then 
it might lead to dissatisfaction and unpleasantness, especially as regards the 
winter feeding. Besides, I should find some difiBculty in arranging for ten or 
twelve more milch cows to be with my own, and still more if they were to 
be provided for elsewhere. 
" The only labourer who keeps a cow that I know of is at a high-lying farm 
of ours where young cattle are wintered, I finding him pasture and hay, for 
which his wife lets the cattle out and brings them up again." 
On the question of moral and material advantages, Mr. Gaits- 
kell says : — 
" I do not see that it would tend to their moral, nor yet much to their 
material, advantage if an equivalent has to be given, especially where milk is 
to be obt lined. If farm labourers generally had a cow each, I should be afraid 
of the land overflowing with milk at some reasons, without a ready means of 
disposing of the overplus, and at other seasons a dearth, when the farmers are 
not prepared to meet the emergency. Besides, if buildings, &c., were provided, 
all labourers' wives are not competent either to take charge of a cow, or to 
make the most of her produce ; and if the labourer had to attend to her, it 
would be apt to interfere with his other work too much. 
"Many farmers would, I think, find it inconvenient to give up a suitable 
pasture-field, with water in, for their labourers' cows ; and to admit com- 
])aratively strange cattle amongst their own w^ould tend to casualties, abortion, 
&c. 
" It is no doubt not only desirable, but essentially necessary, that where there 
is a family of children milk should be provided for them ; and that, I am 
inclined to think, could be done to the labourer's greatest advantage through 
the farmers of the neighbourhood. 
" It may not be quite foreign to the subject to state that, after supplying 
their gardens with manure from their pigs, our labourers are allowed to plant 
potatoes with the remainder in the field, the ground being worked and the 
manure carted for them. Formerly there was no restriction as to quantity, 
but it became necessary to restrict them to 1000 yards. The weeding of these 
does not interfere with the labourer's time, costs him little or no outlay, and 
is in my opinion a greater boon than the cow would prove to the labourer, 
