Glimpses of Farminrj in the Channel Islands^. 385 
The accuracy of the return of cattle for 1867 is doubtful, 
because the number in 1866 was put down at 12,037, while in 
1868 it was 12,225, and a reduction of over 2,000 in the inter- 
vening year is improbable. The number of cattle between 1868 
and 1887, at any rate, has not materially increased, while there 
is a decrease in sheep and also in pigs. Horses were not 
enumerated till 1869. 
That the system of tethering cattle, universal in the island, 
is an economical one is beyond doubt, and the chief objection to 
it is the torment which tethered animals sui5er during the fly 
season. There is no sheltering under hedges or in the shade of 
trees to escape either from the flies or from the hot rays of the 
summer sun. It would probably pay well to keep the cattle 
indoors during the heat of the day in the hottest weather. 
Formerly it was customary to keep the animals out all night 
from some time in ]\Iay till the end of October ; but the owner 
of the largest herd that I visited informed me that this is not 
the custom now. Formerly cows were managed so as to calve 
in the spring ; but now calving may be said to go on all the 
year round, winter dairying being profitable in a place so well 
suited to it as Jersey is. 
The prices of Jersey cattle, after getting up to a high 
standard, have fallen to pretty nearly the rates current thirty 
years ago. In 1859, Colonel Le Cornu gave 12^. to 14Z. as the 
price of a two-year-old heifer, and now it is 12/. to 15 ^. ; while the 
price of a first-rate four-year-old cow was about 25^. in 1859, and 
is so still, though fancy prices are still occasionally given for show 
animals. The foreign demand, which was so active a few years 
back that prices were much higher than those above given, has 
greatly slackened of late, chiefly because Jerseys have been ex- 
tensively bred for some years in America and elsewhere ; and, 
of course, the English demand has fallen off for the same reason. 
Space is not available for the description of the herds visited 
during my stay in Jersey. One of the best I saw was that be- 
longing to Mr. Edward Denyze, who has forty cows in milk. 
The principal strains represented in this herd are Young Prince 
(182), Bobby (208), and Jersey Boy (92). All the young stock 
now on the farm are by the same bull, Browny's Perrot 1st 
(677). I saw also some excellent cattle on the farm belonging 
to Mr. Albert Le Gallais, of St. Brelade's, and a smaller number 
belonging to Mr. J. P. Marett, of St. Saviour's. Among other 
well-known herds are those of Mr. Philip Labey, of Granville ; 
Mr. J. A. Desreaux, of St. Mary's ; Mr. W. Alexander, of St, 
Mary's ; and Mr. H. J. Langlois, of St. John's. 
No change has taken place in the prevailing system of butter* 
VOL. XXIV.— S. S, C C 
