French Experimental Farm at Vaiijours. 
305 
price for a cow at Paris, 20/. to 24/., being considered excessive, 
8 cows were boufilit from the Loiret at 6/. a head, and 8 heifers, 
from the Haute Saone, and 4 or 5 more picked up at liome. 
Of course, several amon<j this scratch-lot proved sickly and 
bad milkers ; and when the supply of milk increased, a market 
for it had to be piovided, and, meanwhile, a Swiss cowman 
was drawing his 32 f per month for wages. So much for making 
a start ! but that is now done. 
The milk produced is rich, and highly approved by con- 
sumers. This result is attributed to the excellence of the crops 
grown by irrigation. It sells wholesale at lf</., and retail at 
2d. per quart (17 '5 c. and 20 c. per litre). If any remains unsold, 
it is made into cheese. This milk yielded 15 to 16 per cent, of 
cream, which sold at ISd. per quart. Three litres of cream, about 
2^ quarts, usually give 1 kil. (2^ lbs.) of butter — 5 per cent, 
from the milk — a satisfactory result. 
Returns are promised in future reports of the proportions sub- 
sisting between food consumed and milk furnished by cows of 
four different races. 
A slight but graceful allusion explains the success of the 
dairy — 'Madame Moll devotes herself to this, the lady's depart- 
ment. Any careful reader of Professor Voelcker's practical 
writings on the dairy and its products cannot but be awake to- 
the importance of such co-operation. 
Experiments. 
The manager, M. Moll, prefaces his Report of Experiments-- 
conducted on the farm in various seasons, with remarks to the 
following effect : — 
" To combine experimental agriculture with profit is indis- 
putably the hardest problem in farming ; but the manager of 
Vaujours is pledged to attempt its solution. 
" The main object of these trials was simple enough — to prove 
the efficacy of Parisian night-soil ; but in a complex art like 
agriculture nothing is simple, especially no comparative experi- 
ments which aim at obtaining scientific accuracy — a result not 
easily reconcilable with the ordinary routine of labour. 
" Experiments on a small scale — pocket-handkerchief farming- 
— have been severely, and in part justly, criticised. Under the- 
influence of this criticism field-experiments were commenced^ 
which are simple enough if it is sufficient to ascertain that the 
crop on such a plot is somewhat better than another, or the 
reverse ; but beset with difficulties if the excess or deficit is to 
be ascertained by weighing — a troublesome task even in fair 
weather, and still more so when seasons are unfavourable and 
hands scarce. Moreover, for a comparative experiment to have" 
VOL. XXI I r. X 
