Town Milli. 
73 
PtlUCIIAyE OF THE Cow. 
TIio art of producing milk with profit dopends on tlie 
selection of a cow, and of food for it, on housing her com- 
fortably, and on treating her with gentleness and regularity. 
On the selection of a cow of course depend both her current 
})roduce and her ultimate selling value. She should not be a 
very young cow, because her milk is not then at its full yield ; 
and she should not be a very old cow because there is then great 
difliculty in fattening her. The general practice is to buy one, if 
possible, immediately after her 3rd, 4th, or 5th calf ; and then to 
keep her on till she does not yield more than 6 quarts of milk a 
day. When her milk begins to shrink she will generally put on 
flesh on the same food that she has been all along receiving ; but 
towards the end of the process 3 or 4 lbs. of oil-cake are given 
in addition to the ordinary I'ood ; and the upshot is, that if she 
was bought for 20/. she may sell for 17/. up to even 19/. after a 
milking which shall have lasted on an average from 8 to 10 
months. During the last few years, when a good cow has been 
worth 20/. to 25/., and markets for second-class beef have been 
very dull, there has been a loss on buying and selling of 4/. or 5/. 
a-head ; and this is not merely a loss per annum, it is a loss 
upon 9 months, amounting therefore to one-third more per 
annum ; so that it is thus often equal to a loss of 6/. or 11. 
per annum on every stall in the cowhouse, which is a serious and 
may be a ruinous discount from the returns of the cow-keeper. 
It is plain then that in the case of this business, even more than 
in that of ordinary stock-farming, everything depends on skill 
and judgment in marketing. 
In the better class of London cowhouses you see large framed, 
wide and straight backed, deep bodied short-horn cows, equal 
for size and mass and ability to carry meat, as well as yield 
milk, to any cattle in the world. They may have cost 20/. 
to 25/. a-piece on entering. Elsewhere you see small Irish 
and Dutch cattle — cows that have cost 13/. to 15/. apiece on 
entering the cowhouse, and will sell for 10/. to 12/. on leaving 
it. In both cases it has been customary for the cowkeepers 
to attend country fairs and markets and importers' yards, and 
pick up a cow here and a cow there as they could. It has 
also been a common thing for the London cowkeepers to pur- 
chase of the dealers, Bruce Johnson of Finchley, Judkins of 
Islington, C. Roach of West Hampstead, and others. At 
present cows are brought close up to the edge of the metropo- 
litan district, cow-keepers hear of them,* and they are purchased 
* Many cows are sold on the arrival of the trains, being purchased of tlic 
dealer in the truck, or immediately after leaving if, in the street. 
