30 
MANAGEMENT OF DAIRY CATTLE. 
the animal and its product, the more efficacious will such 
food be for the particular purpose for which it is used. 
Sugar, starch, &c., vary very considerably in form and pro- 
portion from vegetable oils, which closely resemble animal 
fats . 
When we consider that plants have a two-fold function to 
perform, viz., to serve as food for animals and also for the 
reproduction of the like plants, and that after having under- 
gone the process of digestion, they retain only one-half or 
one-third of their value as manure, the importance of affording 
a due but not excessive supply of each element of food essential 
to the wants and purposes of the animal will be evident. If 
we fall short, the result will be imperfect ; if we supply in 
excess, it will entail waste and loss. 
Linseed and rape cake resemble each other very closely in 
chemical composition ; the latter is chiefly used for manure, 
and its price ranges usually about half that of linseed cake. 
In substances poorer in nitrogen and with more of starch, 
gum, oil, &c., the disparity in value as food and as manure 
will be proportionately greater. 
During the present season Mr. Mendelssohn, of Berlin, 
and Mr. Gausange, who is tenant of a large royal domain 
near Frankfort on the Oder, on which he keeps about 150 
dairy cows, have been my visitors. These gentlemen have 
collected statistics in dairy countries through which they have 
travelled. I learnt from them that in Mecklenburg, Prussia, 
Holland, &c., 14 quarts of milk yield, on the average, 1 lb. of 
butter ; in rare instances 12 quarts are found to yield 1 lb. 
Both attach great importance to the regulation of the tem- 
perature. Mr. Mendelssohn tells me that the milk from 
cows fed on draff (distiller's refuse) requires a higher tem- 
perature to induce its yield of butter than that from cows 
supplied with other food. 
On inquiry in my own neighbourhood, I find it is com- 
puted that each quart at a milking represents 1 lb. of butter 
per week. Thus a cow which gives 4 quarts at each milking 
will yield in butter 4 lbs. per week, or from 56 quarts 64 oz. 
of butter, or from 14 quarts of milk 1 lb. of butter. Taking 
the winter produce alone, it is lower than this ; the cream 
from my neighbours' cows, who use common food, hay, 
straw, and oats, somewhat resembles milk in consistency, and 
requires three to four hours, sometimes more, in churning. 
On one occasion a neighbouring dairywoman sent to borrow 
my churn, being unable to make butter with her own ; I did 
not enquire the result. If she had sent her cow, I could in 
the course of a week have insured her cream which would 
