76 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
January  26,  1^99. 
in  homc-i>roduced  milk,  ami  t'ley  like  to  have  some  live  stock  in  which 
they  can  take  a  real  in  e  cst.  Should  there  be  a  small  run  of  grass, 
there  is  no  prettier  object  than  a  Jersey  or  Alderney  at  feed  daring 
the  summer  months,  and  a  little  calf  adds  much  to  the  intere4. 
But  these  pretty  pets  are  nrt  supposed  to  be  idle,  and  much 
questioning  and  doubt  often  arises  in  the  breast  of  the  owner  as  to 
whether  or  no  there  should  not  be  a  fuller  milkpail.  The  best  of 
the  Channel  Islanders  have  not  immense  bags,  and  unless  great  care 
is  taken  in  the  feeding  and  management  that  small  quantity  may 
be  made  considerably  less.  It  is  not  the  food  altogether,  though 
that  is  sometimes  blamed ;  there  are  other  causes  at  work,  and  it 
only  takes  a  small  thing  to  put  a  cow  out  of  milking  gear.  Cow¬ 
keeping  (to  have  a  pierennial  supply  of  milk)  necessitates  at  least 
two  cows,  and  matters  must  be  so  arranged  that  they  do  not  both 
c.ilve  at  once.  A  cow  is  not  an  ever-flowing  fountain  of  milk.  She 
must  have  her  periods  of  rest,  although  it  is  quite  wonderful  how 
long  she  will  continue,  with  judicious  food,  to  give  milk. 
Then,  again,  should  the  breed  be  Channel  Islanders  one  cow  will 
hardly  suffice  for  an  ordinary  family  supply.  Of  course  the  milk 
is  rich  and  good  ;  but  pints  cannot  be  turned  into  quarts  even 
by  conjurers.  A  cow  too  young  or  too  old  may  easily  be  palmed 
off  on  the  unw'ary  buyer  ;  it  is  always  well  to  employ  an  expert  to 
do  the  buying.  As  to  the  calves — well,  there  is  usually  no  milk 
left  for  them,  and  unless  they  are  heifers  their  only  end  is  the 
butcher,  who  may  give  Ss.,  but  probably  will  bid  2s.  fid.  for  the 
dappled  darlings. 
A.  cowman,  like  a  poet,  is  born,  not  made,  and  looking  after 
cows,  to  make  them  do  any  good,  is  not  so  easy  a  job  as  it  appears 
to  the  casual  observer.  Many  and  many  a  cow  is  lost  from  milt 
fever  simply  because  the  feeding  beforehand  has  been  too  forcing ; 
and  many  a  cow  has  been  utterly  ruined  by  bad  milking.  We 
do  not  like  men  milkers  ourselves ;  they  are  apt  to  be  too  quick  and 
careless.  It  is  absolutely  necessary  that  a  cow  at  each  milking  time 
should  be  most  carefully  striped  or  stropped — that  is  every  drop  of 
milk  must  be  extracted;  no  half  measures  here.  The  richest  milk 
is  always  the  last,  hence  thorough  milking  cuts  two  ways ;  the 
cow  is  prroperly  relieved,  and  the  owner  gets  his  full  share  of  cream. 
As  the  use  of  roots  in  feeding  is  much  restricted  if  not  altogether 
forbidden,  the  bulk  of  the  food  is  of  a  very  dry  nature — that  is  unless  it 
is  treated  to  steaming  or  mashing.  Hay,  cake,  and  meal  contain 
little  CT  no  natural  moisture,  and  therefore  it  must  be  seen  that 
moisture  in  large  quantities  be  provided. 
An  ample  supply  of  sweet  pure  water  should  be  within  reach  of  every 
cow;  possibly  this  cannot  be  quite  managed  without  much  alteration 
in  the  present  buildings.  In  that  case  it  must  be  the  first  of  the 
cowman’s  duties  to  see  the  cows  have  the  water  carried  to  them  at 
least  four  times  a  da)',  and  this  water  must  not  be  served  “  au  nature! R 
but  brought  up  to  blood  heat.  It  is  the  poor  man’s  cow  which 
generally  does  the  best,  for  the  wife  sees  that  it  has  properly  heated 
drinks  of  various  kinds. 
AVe  all  know  how  much  better  we  feel  after  a  warm  meal,  and  a 
cow  always  responds  to  good  comfortable  treatment.  Same  cows  are 
turned  out  for  a  few  hours  daily  in  the  winter  months  if  not  too  severe. 
This  is  a  plan  we  do  not  recommend  unless  there  be  a  covered  yard 
where  they  may  exercise  free  from  draught.^.  Exercise  certainly 
does  them  good,  but  a  chill  is  a  sad  impediment  to  a  good  milK 
flow.  We  believe  if  roots  were  given  directly  after  milking,  with  all 
green  parts  cut  off,  the  milk  would  not  suffer  in  taste,  and  the  cow 
would  be  benefited  by  a  change  in  diet.  There  might  be  a  difficulty 
sometimes  about  getting  a  few  Mangolds,  yet  there  are  usually  plenty 
of  small  farms  whtre  a  load  or  two  can  be  procured. 
A  cow  tied  up  during  a  long  cold  winter  requires  change  of  diet 
to  keep  her  milk  suppdy  even  and  regular.  All  sorts  of  meal,  almost, 
may  be  used  to  make  warm  broths  or  gruels,  and  a  pailful  before  the 
afternoon’s  milking  has  a  very  desirable  effect.  These  meals  must  be 
regulated  by  the  market  price,  sometimes  one  sort,  sometimes  another, 
being  cheap  and  abundant.  A  few  Carrots,  too,  make  a  pleasing 
variety,  and  are  nowadays  easily  procurable. 
Fur  the  use  of  amateurs  we  copy  out  some  dietary  tables  found  in 
a  book  on  Jersey  management  by  Vinton  &  Co. : — 
Example  L 
Ex.i.MPLE  HI. 
Carrots  . 
12  lbs. 
Mangolds  ... 
11  lbs. 
Chaff,  Oat  straw . 
5  lbs. 
Chaff  as  above 
10  lbs. 
Chaff,  good  hay . 
5  lbs. 
Decorticated  cotton  cake 
3  lbs. 
Decorticated  cotton  cake 
2  lbs. 
Maize  meal 
3  lbs. 
Crushed  Oats  . 
2  lbs. 
Good  hay 
7  lbs. 
Good  hay . 
7  lbs. 
Example  II. 
Example  IV. 
Inner  leaf  Drumhead  Cab 
. 
Mangolds  ... 
14  lbs. 
bage 
18  lbs. 
Chaff  . 
10  lbs. 
Chaff  like  No.  1 . 
10  lbs. 
Decorticaled  cotton  cake 
2  lbs. 
Linseed  cake 
2  lbs. 
Maize  meal 
2  lbs. 
Crushed  Oats 
2  lbs. 
Malt,  sprouted  . 
2  lbs. 
Bran . 
2  Ibst 
Good  hay . 
7  lbs. 
Good  meadow  hay 
7  lbs. 
There  four  examples  at  any  rate  give  variety,  and  are  very  fairly 
balanced — i.e.,  no  class  of  food  unduly  predominates  above  another. 
There  are  tissues  to  build  up,  the  life  of  the  unborn  calf  to  provide  for, 
and  an  ever-gaping  milkpail  to  be  ^filled  twice  a  day  with  milk  rich 
in  fat. 
WORK  ON  THE  HOME  FARM. 
Ploughing  is  all  done,  and  as  we  do  not  believe  in  cross-cutting  until 
February  we  must  perforce  turn  our  attention  to  the  yards,  which  are 
now  so  full  of  muck  that  it  is  difficult  to  keep  the  cattle  out  of  the  cribs. 
So  we  must,  or  rather  the  horses  must,  try  and  struggle  with  heavy 
loads  over  heavy  roads  and  heavi'  r  land  to  convey  the  muck  to  the  hill, 
or  for  spreading  direct. 
Where  land  is  clean  enough,  were  it  not  that  the  heavy  carting  over 
it  and  consequent  treading  would  make  it  very  solid  and  the  horse  labour 
would  be  BO  severe,  it  might  be  wortli  while  to  consider  whether  muck  for 
Turnips  would  not  be  better  spread  on  the  land  now.  Cross-cutting  might 
soon  follow,  burying  or  partially  burying  the  manure ;  and  although  there 
might  be  a  slight  loss  of  free  ammonia,  we  fancy  that  the  potash  and  phos¬ 
phate  in  the  manure  having  time  to  become  more  soluble  (shall  we  say 
available)  would  more  than  balance  any  such  loss.  This  much  is  certain, 
that  on  soils  where  a  Turnip  plant  is  a  difficult  object  to  attain,  manure, 
it  used  at  all,  should  be  ploughed  in  during  the  winter  if  possible. 
Turnips,  with  the  help  of  the  mild  weather,  are  holding  out  better 
than  was  expected,  but  are  now  showing  strong  signs  of  running  to 
seed.  Swedes  in  such  a  case  might  jet  be  taken  up  and  stored  with 
advantage,  for  with  every  inch  of  new  growth  the  feeding  value  of  the 
roots  will  bo  enormously  reduced,  whilst  if  a  severe  spell  were  jet  in 
store  for  us  the  loss  would  be  quite  as  great  from  frost  as  from  running 
to  seed. 
The  season  is  very  favourable  for  making  further  sowings  of  Wheat. 
Will  farmers,  however,  consider  27s.  per  quarter  sufficiently  encouraging 
to  make  further  sowings  ?  We  think  not,  and  except  on  very  dry  soil 
should  advise  the  growth  of  Barley  or  Oats  as  being  more  likely  to  be 
profitable. 
METEOROLOGICAL  OBSERVATIONS. 
Camden  Square,  London. 
Lat.  .51°  32'  40"  N.;  Long.  0°  8'  0"  AV.;  Altitude  111  feet. 
Date. 
9  A.M. 
In  the  Day. 
Rain. 
1899. 
January. 
Barometer 
At  32°,  and 
1  Sea  Level 
Hygrometer 
Direc- ! 
tion  of 
Wind. 
Temp, 
of  soil 
at 
1  foot 
Shade  Tern, 
perature. 
Radiation 
Tempera¬ 
ture. 
Dry. 
Wet. 
Max. 
Min. 
In 
Sun 
On 
Grass 
inchs 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
inchs. 
Sunday  .... 
15 
29-931 
43-4 
41-9 
S.W. 
41-0 
53-9 
35-0 
54-0 
28-8 
0-45S- 
Monday  .... 
16 
•»-49S 
49-4 
47-4 
S.W. 
43-1 
51-2 
43-4 
70-3 
40-9 
0-038 
Tuesday  .... 
17 
29-987 
33-8 
31-2 
w. 
42-9 
48-9 
32-9 
61-6 
27-9 
0-134 
Wednesday 
18 
29-848 
48-9 
47-2 
w. 
41-7 
52-7 
34-2 
57-7 
29-9 
— 
Thursday  . . 
19 
29-625 
51-9 
49-3 
S.W. 
43-4 
53-4 
48-6 
57-2 
44-3 
0-027 
Friday . 
20 
-29-768 
46-8 
44-6 
S.W. 
44-0 
53-2 
43-8 
59-1 
36-9 
0-229 
Saturday.... 
21 
29 -501- 
53-2 
51-3 
S.W. 
45-0 
56-2 
46-8 
63-0 
43-7 
0-048 
29-737 
46-8 
44-7 
43-0 
52-8 
40-7 
60-4 
36-1 
0-934 
REMARKS. 
15th. — Fine  early  ;  incessant  rain  from  9.30  a.m.  to  2  P.M.  ;  dull  and  damp  after. 
16th. — Mild  day,  overcast  early  ;  showery  from  9.30  to  10.30  a.m.,  at  Ip.  JI.,  4.10  p.m., 
and  5.20  P.M.  ;  bright  sun  from  10.50  a.m.  to  noon  and  1.25  p.m.  to  4  p.m.  ; 
bright  night. 
17th.— Bright  and  fresh  from  early  morning  to  sunset ;  rain  from  7.30  p.m. 
18th.— Rain  till  3  A.M.,  mild  and  humid  after  ;  fair  day,  and  spots  of  rain  at 
night. 
19th.— Overcast,  with  spots  of  rain  or  drizzle  at  intervals,  and  slight  show'ers  in 
afternoon. 
20th. — Fair  early  ;  faint  sun  at  times  in  morning  ;  almost  continuous  rain  or  drizzle 
from  noon  ;  S.W.  gale  at  night. 
21st.— S.W.  gale  with  rain  or  drizzle  early,  and  in  evening;  overcast  day,  hut 
gleams  of  sun  about  noon. 
Mild  ;  wet  to  stormy. — G.  J.  SYMONS. 
