Toion Milk 
83 
These instances, however, of the use of steamed food in country 
experience are perhaps the less likely to induce any alteration 
in town cowhouses, from the fact that there a large portion of 
the dairy food, viz., brewers' and distillers' grains, has already 
gone through a cooking process. 
But the thing of all others, so far as my experience has gone, 
which is most important in order to the sweetness of the milk is, 
that the water given to the cows be clean and good. In one of the; 
Lodge Farm cowhouses the tank sunk for the reception of grains, 
large enough to hold two or three days' supply when firmly 
trodden into it, had not been built water-tight, and the leakage 
of stale grains escaped and tainted the well, at some little dis- 
tance (in a gravel subsoil), from which the cows were watered ; 
and the milk of several milkings was utterly spoiled before the 
cause of the mischief was discovered. It arrived in town during 
two or three days stinking of foul grains ; and there is not a 
more offensive smell. The foul water given to the cows was I be- 
lieve the sole cause of the misfortune, for it ceased soon after pure 
water was supplied. Good food and water, regularly given, are thus 
essential parts of successful cow-keeping. It should be added 
here that the proportion of soft and succulent dry food should be 
regulated with regard to the condition of the dung. If a cow 
becomes at all costive she loses milk at once. The dung ought 
to be rather loose than otherwise, in order to keep her in good 
productive condition. I need hardly say that quiet and gentle 
treatment of the cow is also an important point; and an ample 
interval of absolute rest between feeding and milking, during 
which the less she is disturbed the better, contributes materially 
to her productiveness at the pail. 
One of the things which most strikes a stranger who first enters 
a London cowhouse during: winter is the warmth in which the 
] cows are kept. Experience has proved that this, too, has an 
I important influence on their productiveness. They stand very 
thickly on the ground — one to every 30 to 36 square feet ; the 
windows are closed and matted, and no thorough draught alloAved ; 
and thus the shed is warmed. There is generally room enough 
I overhead, and perhaps a tiled roof, which allows ample ventila- 
I tion ; and thus, where the shed is kept tolerably clean, the air is 
I sweet enough, as well as warm. 
I Very little litter or other bedding is used. I have been over 
large suburban cowsheds where none whatever is used. The 
cows stand so close to each other that they cannot get across, and 
j thus the dung and urine fall from them into the gutter behind 
I them, from which it is cleared twice or thrice a day, and the 
lair — an earthen floor — is thus kept dry. At the Lodge Farm 
, we have used sawdust. At present 8 cwt. is the daily 
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