424 
Production and Consumption of Milk. 
the cows and heifers returned. As regards the proportion of cows 
in a herd actually in milk at a given date, I gathered, from state- 
ments made by a few of my correspondents, that it might be 
reckoned at something like 80 per cent. It seemed to me that it 
would be misleading to take the whole number of cows and heifers 
in the Agricultural Returns into the calculation, without allowing 
for a proportion which are always non-productive. I therefore 
ventured to deduct, under this head, 1 0 per cent, from the number 
of cows and heifers as returned. 
The figures, therefore, stand thus : — 
N umber of cows and heifers “ in milk and in calf,” 
4th June, 1890 3,938,416 
Deduct 10 per cent, as non-productive . . . 393,841 
3>S44.57S 
Total production (in imperial gallons) of milk 
in the year 1890, at an estimated average net 
jdeld of 400 gallons per cow .... 1417,830,000 
A table was given showing the number of cows in the country 
in each of the past twenty-six years, together with the population 
and the proportion of cows to population. Comparing quinquennial 
periods, there were in Great Britain in 1866-70, 82’1 cows per 
1.000 of population, and in 1886-90 there were only 77*9. The 
absolute number of cows had increased, but not sufficiently to keep 
pace with the growth of population. The latest return (for 1891) 
however, is more encouraging, showing as it does the largest 
number of cows on record. In Ireland, of course, the circum- 
stances differ essentially. There the period 1886-90 showed a 
higher proportion (290 8) of cows to population than any of the 
four preceding quinquennial periods ; but this was due, not to an 
increase in the number of cattle, but to the decrease of population. 
It is interesting to note that the proportion of cows and heifers 
in milk or in calf to the total number of cattle in the United King- 
dom has shown, on the whole, a tendency to decrease during 
the past twenty years. In England, Wales, and Scotland respec- 
tively the absolute number of animals engaged in milk production 
was larger in 1891 than in any year on record, but, relatively to 
the total herds, less than it was at the commencement of the 
period. In Ireland milch cattle were not only absolutely less, 
but relatively they showed a greater decline than in any other 
division of the United Kingdom. This was shown in detail by a 
table. 
The second branch of the subject — namely, consumption — wasfirst 
dealt with by a series of figures relating to the London milk supply. 
Returns obtained from the general managers of the railways having 
termini in the metropolis showed that the total quantity of milk 
brought by rail to London was, in 1890, 40,431,819 gallons, or about 
110.000 gallons per day, The deputy clerk of the London County 
