536 
Cow-Keeping hy Farm Labourers. 
especially where milk can be obtaiued. In the absence of experience, I have 
substituted opinions. 
" The man I have named keeps his cow in capital condition. He obtains 
litter from the mountain pastures. He sells and consumes the produce of the 
dairy, and generally kills three pigs each year, two of about thirty stones each 
and one smaller. The quality of the butter compares favourably with that 
of larger dairies." 
Numerous statements of practice and opinion have reached 
me from various parts of the country, which I am unfortunately 
compelled to omit through want of space. The general opinion 
of the good effect of cow-keeping agrees with that of Mr. Jabez 
Turner, Norman Cross, Peterborough, who says : — 
" The moral advantages of a labourer being supplied with a cow by his 
employer are, in my opinion, a greater feeling of interest in the well-doing of 
the farm stock generally on the part of the labourer, and a somewhat stronger 
tie to a home where he has the privilege. On the part of his wife and family 
the results are very manifest in their increased industry and cleanliness." 
Lord Vernon makes the following remarks : — 
" In the dairy districts of Derbyshire the labourer has great difficulty in 
buying milk. When he has a small holding he seldom allows his children 
milk, but sells it as butter or cheese. The make of butter on farms is generally 
very inferior, not worse or better on the small cottage holdings. The advantages 
appear to me to be that a labourer and his sons have an interest in remaining at 
home from day to day ; and that by good management and thrift they may save 
money and gradually raise themselves. I have known such instances, but they 
are very few. The labourer oftener than not has an insufficiency of capital 
to start his small holding. The actual result is, that when his stock dies he 
appeals to the charity of his neighbours. I believe that many who make 
cheese sell it at whatever price the factor who calls on them chooses to give 
them. They do not take the benefit of selling in the open market. A material 
difSculty in dealing with this question is when the labourer dies, leaving, as is 
often the case, a widow incomjjetent to carry on the farm. She is always 
anxious to remain, and there is very great difficulty in removing her. She and 
the members of her family consider that they have a moral right to remain." 
The Earl of Powis, Powis Castle, Welshpool, Montgomery- 
shire, has greatly aided my inquiries. He replies to queries 
from Walcot, Lydbury North, Shropshire : — 
" It is the greatest boon that can be conferred on a labourer who has saved 
some money. Milk is never readily obtainable. It docs not pay to sell milk 
in small quantities ; butter is more profitable. It is best for the cow' to be 
kept by the man. The grass-land required is 2^ or 3 acres, according to 
quality. In Salop and Montgomeryshire, on land worth 30s. an acre, 24 acres 
would suffice. The house, garden, and jiasture form one letting. It is hired 
from the owner of the land. The cottager generally buys no food for his 
cow. He probably grows a few turnips or mangolds in his garden. He 
buys no manure ; he has only what the cow and pig make. The butter is 
generally better tlian farm butter. There is no difficulty in selling it. The 
building must be big enough to hold a cow and a calf, with a small hay- 
bay, say, 15 feet by 7 feet, costing, according to materials, from to SOZ. 
It is also a great advantage, in promoting the health of the childi-en, to have 
