THE 
SGRICULTURSL  IBSCSZinG, 
COLOMBO. 
Added  as  a Supplement  Monthly  to  the  T'ROPIGAL  AGRIOULTURISTP 
The  following  pages  include  the  Contents  of  the  Agricultural  Magazine 
for  August ; 
Vol.  VIL]  AUGUST,  1895.  [No.  2. 
DAIRYING. 
DAIRY,  as  the  term  is  commonly 
understood,  is  an  establishment 
where  cattle  are  kept  for  the  pro- 
duction of  milk,  either  for  sale 
or  for  the  manufacture  of  butter 
and  cheese.  As  dairying  is  carried 
on  in  Colombo,  the  cattle  kept  may  either  be  the  pro- 
perty of  thenominal  proprietor  of  the  establishment 
or  not.  .Where  they  do  not  belong  to  the  proprietor  a 
contract  of  some  kind  is  entered  in  to  between  bim 
and  the  real  owner  of  the  cows.  Commonly,  the 
owner  or  owners  ofthe  animals  agree  to  defray  the 
cost  of  feeding  them,  and  also  to  pay  the  coolies  wlio 
attend  on  the  cattle,  on  condition  that  all  the  milk 
produced  should  be  purchased  by  the  proprietor  at  a 
uniform  rate  of  say  12  cents  per  “ bottle"’  of  26  oz. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  so-called  proprietor  sells 
the  milk  to  his  customers  at  from  IS  to  20  cents 
per  bottle.  If  strict  supervision  be  carried  out^ 
especially  during  milking  hours,  the  system 
would  not  be  so  objectionable,  but  as  a rule  this 
method  of  dairy  is  adopted  by  those  who  are 
employed  at  other  work,  with  the  result  that  the 
proprietor  e.xercises  little  or  no  control  over  the 
establishment,  and  while  its  sanitary  arrange- 
ments are  neglected,  there  is  generally  ample  scope 
for  the  adulteration  of  milk,  and  wilful  careless- 
ness in  the  matter  of  dieting,  with  whicii,  indeed, 
from  his  position,  the  proprietor  has  little  right  to 
interfere.  To  the  proprietor  himself  tlie  system  is 
at  least  temporarily  remunerative,  for  without 
any  e.\penditure  of  capital  on  his  part,  he  secures 
afair  return  for  his  enterprise. 
In  the  system  where  the  cattle  kept  in  the 
dairy  are  the  property  of  the  proprietor,  the  most 
frequent  cause  of  failure  is  the  want  of  system  in 
management,  due  to  a deficiency  in  technical 
knowledge,  the  re.sult  of  which  is  that  while  at 
one  time  the  dairy  is  found  to  be  in  a flourishing 
condition,  with  a large  output  of  milk  which 
is  readily  disposed  of,  at  another  the  dairy 
man  has  a large  number  of  dry  cattle  thrown 
on  his  hands,  and  finds  that  the  cost  of  feeding 
the  stock  greatly  exceeds  the  value  of  tlie  milk  sold. 
No  dairy  of  any  dimensions  should  be  without  a 
stock-bull,  and  if  the  services  of  this  animal  are 
judiciously  made  use  of,  and  the  calving  of  the 
cows  carefully  regulated,  one  of  the  chief  causes 
of  failure  iu  this  connection  will  be  prevented. 
One  modification  of  the  system,  according  to 
whicli  the  proprietor  is  the  owner  of  the  dairy 
stock,  is  the  plan  of  immediately  disposing  of 
the  cows  as  they  go  dry  and  purchasing  fresh 
animals  to  replace  those  sold.  In  many  ways, 
especially  from  a financial  point  of  view,  this  is  an 
admirable  plan,  but  it  has  its  drawbacks  in  that 
the  dairyman  will  be  selling  and  bujung  stock  all 
through  the  year,  that  these  sales  and  purchases 
will  be  regulated  by  market  rates  which  he  is 
of  course  not  iu  a position  to  control,  that  he  will 
be  constantly  running  the  risk  of  importing  dis- 
ease into  his  dairy,  that  there  may  not  always  be 
a supply  of  cattle  to  meet  his  requirements,  that 
the  dairyman  forfeits  the  future  advantage  of 
securing  a select  herd  of  cows  by  breeding. 
It  is  manifestly  injudicious  for  any  owner  of 
stock  to  dispose  of  a cow  which  is  a good  milker 
and  a regular  breeder,  because  it  has  to  be  fed  while 
