The Supply of Milk to Labouros. 
Ill 
sir, which is very often a good deal like water. My children 
do not know the taste of new milk." 3Ir. May has taken 
counsel with his men on the subject of the milk supply, and 
they have come to the conclusion that if half-a-dozen holding's, 
of Irom 4 to 6 acres were arranged in each village, with suitable 
buildings, so that 1 or 2 cows could be kept in each, on the 
understanding that new milk was to be supplied under arrange- 
ment, it would answer. This plan would entail unavoidable 
expense in the re-arrangement of farms and erection of build- 
ings. A simpler plan would be, Mr. May thinks, 
"a sm.all co-operative milk farm, say from 20 to 30 acres, sufficient ground 
being apportioned for grazing and mowing, and cnougli in arable for roots and 
straw. A portion of the arable might be let off as allotments annually, and 
so all the arable might be cultivated by spare labour. Of course a good man 
and his wife would be wanted as managers, and capital would be needed from 
some source at starting. A simpler plan would be for a landlord, on letting 
his home farm or the one lying most convenient for the inirpose, to arrange 
with his tenant to supply a certain quantity of new milk (say at tmiou- 
contract prices) to the labourers' families. 
" ' The shoemaker's children are badly shod,' applies to this milk business. 
Who that looks on a poor rickety child (and there are many) does not wish 
that it had food as nourishing as a calf or lamb." 
Other correspondents have also spoken favourably of small 
farms, and among them Mr. H. W. Keary, of Bridgenorth, agent 
to Lord Vernon. He is in favour of some small holdings, four or 
five acres in extent, on every large estate, occupied by steady 
labourers. In his district in Derbyshire the produce of three 
small dairy-farms is nearly all made into cheese or butter. The 
buildings are a small cow-house for two cows, and pig-sty for 
two pigs, erected at a cost of 50Z. The small farms answer 
well, Mr. Keary says, in the case of small village tradesmen 
with a little capital, whose houses generally possess sufficient 
accommodation for dairying purposes. 
I think that Mr. May and Mr. Keary have hit upon the true 
principle of developing the milk supply. It must be done by 
small farmers. I have never seen the small-farm system better 
carried out in a large farm district than on Lord Hill's estate, 
Hawkstone, Shropshire, and a letter from Mr. E. Haste, the agent, 
shows that the single cow of a farm labourer may be a good 
stepping stone to a small farm. Mr. Haste writes : — 
" The labourers, by having small holdings, have not so much time to spend 
at the beer-houses, and many are now saving money, and hope in a few years 
to occupy larger holdings. 
" The family also — children — being accustomed to help in attending to the 
cow and cultivating the land, make better servants and workmen than the 
children of labourers who have not these advantages." 
Unfortunately the breed of small farmers has been lost, and 
