THE CULTIVATOR 
77 
stand in regard to each other. The government may 
spend years longer in tinkering the hanks, or regulating 
the currency, but it will do no good. The evil lies deep¬ 
er. The experience of all commercial and agricultural 
nations proves that no sound currency can be maintained, 
no continued prosperity enjoyed, where the principle of 
reciprocity is departed from in their intercourse. A 
glance at the duties imposed on our products by Great 
Britain will demonstrate that in all these cases she has 
approached the verge of prohibition, with the single 
exception of the article of cotton: and the reason of her 
forbearance in this respect is evident. Cotton she must 
have; and at present, she can only obtain it in sufficient 
quantities from the United States. Would she receive it 
at the present duty could she produce it in her own do¬ 
minions? This is a serious question, and one which 
the course of events is rapidly bringing to its answer. 
The rapid increase of India cottons as shown by the im¬ 
ports into Great Britain from that country; the vigorous 
and determined efforts of the government to extend and 
perfect the cotton crop of that region; and the exulta¬ 
tion of the British press at the evident success of these 
efforts, demonstrate what that answer will he, when the 
time arrives for its utterance. 
MILK FOR CITIES. 
The engraving given with this article represents one 
of the milking or cow sheds attached to the great dairy 
establishment of Messrs. Laycoclc & Co. at Islington, 
near London. Here, within one building, are six ran¬ 
ges of sheds; and along both sides of every shed are 
stalls, each containing two cows, and each shed so ar¬ 
ranged as to accommodate 64 cows. When the hour of 
milking arrives, the milk maids, which are generally 
from Wales, appear with handkerchiefs bound round 
their heads, each with her wooden pail so white and 
clean, that one almost doubts whether it ever could be 
dirty. She sits down on her stool, leans her head 
against the side of the animal, and milks until her pail 
be full, or until the cow has yielded her supply. The 
number of milkers is proportioned to the number of 
cows, so that the cows, from 500 to 700 in number, may 
all be milked in the course of an hour or an hour and a 
half. Each maid milks several cows; these being fas¬ 
tened in the stalls, and remaining quiet during the milk¬ 
ing. The milk thus obtained, leaves the dairy for dis¬ 
tribution almost immediately. In some cases women, 
provided with wooden yokes, carry away the milk in 
pails; in others, the milk is put into tall metallic ves¬ 
sels and taken away in carts. This milk goes to the re¬ 
tail dealers, who find a profit in disposing of it to their 
customers. 
The quality of the milk supplied to families in cities 
varies a great deal, according to the source from which 
it is derived. From the great London dairies all the 
milk is sent out in a rich and pure state; for the retail 
dealers carry it away in their cans in the same state, and 
nearly as warm as when it leaves the cow. In many 
cases, private families are supplied directly from the 
dairies; and to these the milk is sent out in cans, locked 
by the clerk of the establishment, so that no adulteration 
can be effected. The milk also passes into the hands of 
the retail dealers perfectly pure. What is done with it 
afterwards, and to what degree it is lowered and sophis¬ 
ticated is, in the language of Mr. Youatt, known only to 
these milk merchants. It has been estimated that about 
12,000 cows are necessary for the supply of London and 
its environs with milk; that the average daily quantity 
yielded by each cow is about nine quarts—making a to¬ 
tal of 40 million quarts per annum. The value of the 
milk is estimated at from four and a half to five millions 
of dollars. 
A London magazine pleasantly observes, that milk is 
one of the few articles of consumption almost invariably 
taken to the customer, and not sent for by the customer 
to the seller. The cry of “milk!” will never cease to 
be heard in our streets. There can be no reservoirs of 
milk; no pipes through which it can flow to the houses. 
The more extensive the metropolis, the greater the de¬ 
mand, and the more active the exertion required to sup¬ 
ply it. The old cry was—“any milk here?” It then 
passed into—“milk maid’s below!” W as then shorten¬ 
ed into—“milk below!” and finally into—“mio!” 
which has been interpreted to mean mi-eau , ( 'dcmi-cau ,) 
half water; a designation applicable to milk furnished 
other cities, as well as London. 
The cows in these great dairies are frequently changed. 
Instead of keeping a cow as long as milk can be drawn 
from her, there is a minimum of supply, below which 
the cow is not deemed to yield what is required of her, 
or which is considered a fair return for her food. When 
this occurs, she is sent to another part of the establish¬ 
ment, where she is speedily fattened for the Smithfield 
butchers. In fattening, she is fed on grains, clover made 
into chaff, oil cake, and in some instances boiled lin¬ 
seed. Great dependance is placed on the oil cake, as it 
is found to possess a remarkable property of fattening 
cows in this situation. One of the great articles of food 
in these dairies is the grains or spent malt, resulting 
from the process of brewing. These are deposited in 
large brick vaults or pits, so as to secure a supply at all 
times. In these pits the grains are firmly trodden down, 
and when full, are covered with a thick layer of moist 
earth to keep out the rain and frost in winter. Thrown 
into these pits warm, and in a state of partial fermenta¬ 
tion, there is, in the opinion of the dairymen, a further 
development of the saccharine and nutritive principle, 
and the grains are considered none the worse for being 
several years old. It is said by them that pits have been 
LONDON MILKING SHED—(Fig. 45.) 
opened after having been closed nine years, and the 
grains found perfectly good. The owner of the Lay- 
cock establishment has two or three extensive farms in 
the country, where the turneps, mangel wurtzel, hay, 
and other articles of cattle food, are grown for the use 
of the dairy. . . . ■ . 
The arrangements for supplying cities in this country 
with milk differ mainly in not being on so extensive a 
scale. Boston is probably the best supplied with milk 
of any of our cities. About 150,000 gallons are deliver¬ 
ed annually by the rail-roads from milk establishments 
from ten to thirty miles from the city. On this subject, 
we give the following extract from Mr. Colman’s 4th 
Report: . 
“ I believe there is no city supplied with better milk, 
or in a more cleanly condition, than Boston. The milk¬ 
men are in general a respectable class of men, and pride 
themselves on supplying their customers with good milk; 
and the Bostonians are in general equally particular in 
requiring good milk for their money. Several of the 
milkmen who come daily to town are substantial faim- 
ers, who have attended the market for forty years. A 
milkman who, in his visits to the city, should be found 
taking improper liberties with any well or pump on the 
road,°would soon be likely to have some inconvenient 
questions put to him as to the breed of his cows, and his 
manner of feeding them. In New-York city, it is not 
so. With the exception of a few milk establishments, 
where a sacred pledge of pure milk is given, a system 
of fraud is almost universally practiced. The milk is 
twice watered; first in the udder of the cow, who is fed 
upon distiller’s swill, of which she has two or three 
barrels per day, with only hay enough to. form a cud for 
rumination; and next, after it is drawn, it is a very ge¬ 
neral custom to add one quart of water to every four 
quarts of milk. It is not easy to prevent this; as, where 
the proprietor is himself honest, the carrier, who may 
be otherwise, may be tempted to increase the quantity, 
that he may appropriate to his own use the proceeds of 
the amount sold beyond that for which he has to ac¬ 
count. In the arrangement at the celebrated Harleian 
dairy at Glasgow, Scotland, the most remarkable esta¬ 
blishment of the kind ever known, the cans were so 
constructed and fastened with a lock, (the key of which 
was retained at home,) that there was no possibility of 
introducing anything into them after they were taken 
from the milk house; and there such various checks 
were applied that it could hardly be done without de¬ 
tection. Indeed, I have been led into the secret, at 
New-York, of the actual manufacture of milk at a gro¬ 
cery store, where hardly real milk enough was used to 
“ swear by; ” and this compound was sold to the poor 
and the miserable for three cents a quart. The grocer, 
though he kept no cow, offered to supply the milkman 
with what he required, whenever his quantity was insuf¬ 
ficient to meet the demands of the day. There is no 
such thing to be had in Boston, within my knowledge, 
as distiller’s swill, the refuse grain after the whiskey has 
been extracted from it; but some use is made of brew¬ 
er’s grains, or the malted barley when they can be had. 
These increase the quantity of the milk, but injure the 
quality.” * * * * “ The best milkmen prefer good 
clover hay for cows in milk to any other feed. Pota¬ 
toes and mangel wurtzel increase the quantity, without 
improving the quality of the milk. Carrots, parsneps, 
and sugar beets improve the quality of the milk.” Mr. 
Colman says the ruta baga and all the tumep family give 
a bad flavor to milk; but adds, that a milkman of his 
acquaintance assures him, no inconvenience results from 
their use, if given to the cows directly after, and not be¬ 
fore being milked. In this case, the turnep flavor and 
odor is lost before the next milking. 
The quantity of milk given annually by cows varies 
much in different establishments; at least, the quantity 
reported differs materially. We have seen that the cows 
of the London dairies are estimated to produce 9 quarts 
daily; which it is believed is a greater average than 
most of our dairies would show. This is probable, 
when we remember that no inferior cows are kept in 
those establishments; and when they sink below a given 
rate, the cows are turned off at once. In a number of 
instances referred to by Mr. Colman, the products of 
dairies from good native cows averaged per annum from 
5 to 7 quarts daily. The dairy and milk business is daily 
becoming more important in. this country. Men are 
prone to leave the healthful air and employments of the 
country to congregate in cities; and the furnishing 
them with the products of the dairy—milk, butter, and 
cheese, will always constitute an important item in the 
records of agricultural industry. 
COUNTY AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES. 
Cortland —We have received the circular of the 
Board of Managers of the Ag. Society of this county, 
containing the list of premiums which is to be awarded 
at their next Fair, to be held at Homer on the first 
Wednesday of October next. The premiums, though 
small, are numerous and appropriate; and the require¬ 
ments and regulations are the best drawn up of any that 
we have yet seen. There is another feature in the ma¬ 
nagement of this society, which is worthy of imitation 
by all the other societies in the state. Twenty-two 
“Experimental Committees,” consisting of three mem¬ 
bers each, have been appointed, who are “ expected, as 
far as the nature of the case will admit of, to institute 
accurate and well conducted experiments on the subjects 
committed to them,” and to report the results at the an¬ 
nual meeting of the society in Jan. next. If these com¬ 
mittees perform the duties assigned them faithfully, the 
society will obtain a mass of facts which will be of es¬ 
sential service to the cause cf agriculture. The officers 
of the society for this year consist of Dan Hibbard, 
Pres’t—Jos. Reynolds, David Mathews, Charles Mc¬ 
knight, and Hammon Short, V. Pres’ts—Rufus Boies, 
Treas_Amos Rice, Homer, Secy—Paris Barber, Mar¬ 
shal], and an Ex. Committee of 16. 
Oswego _At the late meeting of this Society, an 
Address was delivered by the President, and the follow¬ 
ing officers elected:—Orville Robinson, Mexico, Pres't 
—D. F. Herrick, Oswego, and Samuel Allen, Jr., New- 
Haven, V. Pres’ts—Geo. Seeley, Oswego, Treas—C. 
Ames, Scriba, Rec., and S. Y. Baldwin, Oswego, Cor. 
Sec’y. Their next fair is to be held in Mexico. 
Otsego. —Officers for 1842:—Elisha Doubleday, Pres’t 
_John W. Tunniclifij Wm. A. Walker, Halsey Spencer, 
V. Pres’ts—Henry Phinney, Treas.—Cha’s McLean, 
Sec’y. 
Clinton. —Officers for 1842:—Z. C. Platt, Pres’t— 
Willetts Keese, Edwin Benedict, John North, R. O. Bar¬ 
ber, V. Pres’ts—B. S. Robei’ts, Rec., and Jacob H. Holt, 
Cor. Sec’y—Moss K. Platt, Treas. 
