426 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
May  16,  1901. 
expect  the  next  generation  will  eliminate  the  cow  altogether  and 
manufacture  milk  by  some  patent  process. 
There  were  days  when  there  was  a  great  outcry  about  dishonest 
milkmen,  and  we  sadly  fear  the  outcry  was  justified.  All  sorts  of 
expedients  were  resorted  to  when  the  milk  ran  rather  short  in 
measure  and  had  a  bluish  tint.  The  cow  of  that  day  was  no  party 
to  the  fraud  ;  the  milk  was  manipulated  after  she  had  lost  control  of 
it.  Now  we  suppose  there  are  no  more  dishonest  milk  sellers  ;  indeed 
there  is  but  a  poor  chance  that  they  go  undetected,  and  the  public 
have  much  cause  for  thankfulness.  But  really  sometimes  in  our 
solicitude  for  the  public  do  not  we  go  a  bit  too  far  ?  Take  the  case 
of  cow  houses.  We  all  admit  they  were  terribly  unsanitary  and 
needed  a  Hercules  to  clean  or  clear  them  away  ;  but  have  not  some  of 
the  new  regulations  respecting  the  cubic  feet  and  dimensions  of  cow 
houses  almost  bordered  on  the  ridiculous  P  Now  we  do  not  want  to 
be  mistaken — we  yield  to  none  in  our  desire  to  see  cows  properly  and 
healthily  housed — but  we  do  not  want  miuiature  palaces,  and  H.M. 
inspectors  for  ever  at  our  heels.  Of  cleanliness  we  can  never  have  too 
much,  and  that  doctrine  will  have  to  be  preached  as  long  as  the  world 
and  cows  last.  The  great  outcry  at  present  is  the  standard  question. 
Are,  or  are  not,  the  authorities  to  fix  a  standard  for  all  milk  that  is 
sold,  a  standard  inflexible  as  the  laws  of  Mede  or  Persian?  It  is 
said,  and  with  truth,  that  the  standard  will  not  be  the  terror  of  the 
honest,  only  the  dishonest  will  quail  before  its  requirements.  So  it 
would  be  if  the  standard  is  reasonable;  but  it  appears  rather  to  us  as 
though  the  best  cow’s  milk  were  to  be  taken  and  all  judged  by  it. 
Low  all  cows  are  by  no  means  best,  and  there  will  be  a  difficulty  with 
converting  some  of  them  even  into  second  best.  We  anticipate  the 
next  remark.  Why,  then,  keep  the  inferior  ?  Why,  then,  indeed  !  You 
go  into  the  markets  and  try  to  buy  milk  cows  ;  it  is  not  a  very  good 
thing  to  do.  A  really  good  animal  is  not  often  in  the  open  market  ; 
and,  after  all,  cows  have  another  mission  in  life  beside  being  milk 
machines.  We  urge,  as  we  have  often  urged  before,  that  salutary 
reform  is  needed  among  the  dairy  stock  of  this  country  ;  but,  like  all 
great  reforms,  it  will  come  slowly.  A  cow  is  not  bred  in  three  weeks, 
like  some  of  the  lesser  creation  ;  and  when  you  have  bred  to  the  best 
of  your  ability,  often  disappointment  awaits  you.  Clever  dairy 
farmers  are  men  of  great  patience ;  they  think  it  no  trouble  to 
constantly  test  each  cow’s  milk  to  find  whether  she  is  paying  her 
way,  either  as  a  milker  or  a  butter  cow,  and  they  soon  get  rid  of  an 
unprofitable  member. 
We  have  been  very  much  struck  by  a  series  of  investigations,  re 
the  cow,  that  have  been  made  at  the  Yorkshire  county  farm  at 
Garforth.  The  first  thing  that  strikes  us  is  the  thoroughness  of  the 
tests  and  the  great  patience  that  prompted  them,  and  then  the  results 
following.  Before  we  speak  of  these  trials  we  would  say  that  the 
present  recommendation  respecting  the  milk  standard  is  this :  That  all 
new  milk  must  contain  3'25  fat  and  12  per  cent,  solids.  We  may 
remark  this  is  a  very  high  standard.  No  allowance  is  made  here  tor 
weather,  which  is  really  one  of  the  most  important  factors  in  milk¬ 
making.  We  do  not  say  winter  weather,  for  the  cows,  p  rhaps,  hardly 
feel  the  severity  of  the  weather  then  so  much  as  they  do  a  sharp  touch 
of  cold  in  what  are  termed  the  summer  months — those  nights  when 
we  turn  thankfully  to  a  fire,  albeit  the  almanac  says  the  dog  days  are 
upon  us.  We  do  not  for  a  moment  doubt  that  by  rich  good  feeding 
the  standard  of  fat  may  be  considetably  raised,  but  will  the  price  of 
milk  per  gallon  be  proportionately  raised  too?  We  doubt  it.  The 
consumer  thinks  he  pays  enough  as  it  is,  and  the  rich  food  is  costly. 
Now  for  Garforth.  The  cows  numbered  eighteen.  The  test  lasted 
three  weeks  (March-April,  1900);  during  that  time  the  milk  was 
analysed  800  times.  The  rations  were  very  rich — 11  lbs.  per  diem  of 
cotton  seed,  maize,  wheatmeal  and  bran,  with  chaff  and  hay  ad  lib. 
Always  at  the  morning  milking  the  percentage  of  fat  was  lowest, 
falling  sometimes  below  2  per  cent.  Always  at  the  evening  milking 
the  highest,  once  reaching  7  per  cent.  The  cows  going  dry  produced 
very  rich  milk,  and  very  regular  in  composition.  The  morning 
average  of  the  milk  was  3'2  per  cent,  fat  ;  of  the  evening,  4*5 ;  while 
the  solids  (not  fat)  averaged  9’2  in  the  morning  and  8’9  in  the  after¬ 
noon.  Mr.  Ingle,  who  conducted  these  researches,  finds  that  the  fat  in 
cows’  milk  is  liable  to  greater  variation  in  quantity  than  is  generally 
supposed.  The  largest  pailsful  were  from  the  morning  milkings,  but 
it  was  a  case  of  quantity  in  lieu  of  quality.  We  presume  these  were 
ordinary  Shorthorns  of,  shall  we  say,  average  ability.  Of  course,  we 
quite  see  that  Jerseys  and  other  rich  milkers  would  dish  an  even 
higher  percentage  of  fat,  but  these  herds  are  in  the  minority  and  are 
not  the  dairy  farmer’s  ordinary  stock. 
Speaking  of  rich  feeding,  it  is  possible  to  overdo  it,  esptcially  where 
butter  is  the  object.  Too  much  artificial  food  will  be  likely  to  contribute 
a  taint  to  the  butter,  which  is  of  all  things  most  undesirable.  It  is 
necessary  on  some  pattuies,  and  especially  so  in  hot  dry  seasons,  to 
supplement  the  natural  lood  by  cakes  or  meal,  and  we  are  ourselves 
strongly  in  favour  ot  cotton  cake.  Linseed  cake  is  apt  to  show  itself 
in  sott  oily  butter,  which  is  most  difficult  to  manipulate,  and  unsatis¬ 
factory  as  a  food  product.  A  ration  of  2  lbs.  of  decorticated  cotton 
cake  and  2  lbs.  of  maizemeal  per  day,  given  at  milking  time,  at  the 
cost  of  2$d.,  will  prove  a  good  food  for  cheese  or  butter  cows.  In 
ordinary  seasons  a  mixture  of  decorticated  cake  with  crushed  oats  and 
bran  make  a  good  mixture,  but  if  the  pasture  be  very  bare  and  the 
summer  very  hot  linseed  cake  might  be  substitute!  for  decorticated. 
One  has  to  be  guided  by  circumstances,  and  the  circumstances  are  the 
weather  and  the  richness  of  the  grass.  No  two  seasons  are  ever  quite 
alike,  and  there  can  be  no  hard  and  fast  rule. 
Work  on  tlie  Home  Farm. 
The  spring  Corn,  which  was  sown  so  late  and  with  so  much  difficulty, 
may  after  all  beat  the  Wheat,  which  had  promised  so  well.  Complaints 
as  to  rustiness  and  loss  of  colour  amongst  Wheats  are  frequently  heard  ; 
whilst  the  genial  sunshine,  broken  occasionally  by  heavy  thunder 
showers,  has  foroed  the  growth  of  Barley  so  quickly  that  most  fields 
present  an  appearance  as  forward  as  usual.  In  some  respects  the 
season  reminds  us  somewhat  of  that  of  1893.  Wheats  have  been  too 
thick  all  the  season,  and  where  they  have  not  been  well  harrowed  it  is 
not  surprising  that  they  lose  colour.  A  dressing  of  100  lbs.  nitrate  of 
soda  per  acre,  put  on  as  soon  as  it  can  be  procured,  is  the  best  antidote 
to  this  exhibition  of  weakness.  If  the  crop  is  not  growing  and  improv¬ 
ing,  it  is  deteriorating.  There  can  b9  no  standing  still  during  summer. 
It  is  against  Nature  at  this  time  of  the  year. 
The  rain  is  a  perfect  godsend  to  strong  lands.  Spring  Corn  had  been 
sown,  but  it  was  useless  to  sow  small  seeds  on  such  a  rough  clotty 
surface.  Now  they  maybe  sown  after  the  Cambridge  roll;  the  fiat 
roll  should  follow,  and  a  set  of  harrows  if  the  state  of  the  grain  crops 
warrant  it. 
Sheep  pastures  are  getting  quite  large,  and  we  heard  a  farmer  the 
other  day  grumbling  because  he  had  too  much  keep  for  his  sheep  ;  his 
seeds  are  too  good  !  At  the  same  time  he  is  short  of  grass  for  his 
cattle.  At  present  sheep  are  much  cheaper  relatively  than  cattle,  so  it 
would  be  very  unlike  the  usual  farmer’s  character  to  keep  sheep  and 
sell  cattle  ;  even  though  his  pastures  would  be  favourable  to  his  doing 
so,  he  will  surely  do  the  contrary.  Is  not  wool  down  to  fid.  per  pound  ? 
No  doubt  farmers  would  like,  if  they  could,  to  give  up  sheep  altogether, 
and  deprive  the  consumer  of  English  mutton  because  he  will  not  wear 
English  wool.  Such  action  would  have  a  great  similarity  to  the  present 
action  of  the  coal  miners. 
Cattle  are  doing  well,  and  the  cows  and  heifers,  with  pairs  of  calves 
sucking,  are  now  taking  the  calves  out  near  home  preparatory  to 
grazing  in  a  further  pasture.  Care  has  to  be  taken  to  see  that  each 
calf  gets  its  proper  share.  Cows  that  have  not  been  long  dry  and  are 
intended  for  feeding  should  be  kept  carefully  away  from  a  field  where 
there  are  sucking  calves.  It  is  very  annoying  to  find  such  a  cow  come 
back  to  give  a  little  milk  through  her  allowing  a  strange  calf  to  suck, 
besides  the  danger  of  downfall  if  this  is  not  discovered. 
Chinese  Agriculture. — At  Tientsin,  the  scene  of  the  reoent 
fighting,  the  soil  of  North  China  is  alluvial  or  loamy,  and  is  usually 
capable  of  producing  good  crops  when  there  is  an  adequate  rainfall.  The 
most  important  cereal  is  Wheat,  which  is  grown  everywhere,  with  but 
slight  difference  in  the  mode  of  cultivation.  Spring  Wheat  is  grown  in 
only  a  few  districts ;  as  a  rule  the  ground  is  ploughed  for  Wheat  in  the 
autumn  after  the  other  crops  have  been  housed,  and  as  soon  as  there  is 
a  good  fall  of  rain.  The  Wheat,  like  almost  all  the  other  crops,  is  put 
in  with  a  drill,  mixed  with  pulverised  manure.  Much  of  the  land  yields 
two  full  crops  a  year,  and  after  the  Wheat  is  gathered  in  June  the 
ground  may  be  planted  with  Beans,  Sweet  Potatoes,  Maize,  or  some 
other  late  crop  ;  but  it  is  regarded  as  better  to  let  the  ground  lie  fallow 
until  after  the  autumn  harvest,  when  Wheat  may  be  put  in  again,  the 
iaoreased  yield  compensating  for  the  loss  of  the  extra  crop.  The  Chinese 
understand  the  rotation  of  crops,  and  usually  cultivate  in  accordance 
with  it ;  but,  as  a  rule,  they  are  indifferent  to  the  quality  of  the  seed 
planted,  and  they  often  think  it  economy  to  sell  the  good  seed  and  keep 
imperfect  and  withered  grains  for  planting.  Indian  Corn  is  one  of  the 
standard  crops,  though  the  yield  per  acre  is  small ;  Barley,  Oats,  Buck¬ 
wheat,  Sesame  fused  to  flavour  Wheat  in  cakes),  and  Tobacco  are  also 
growD.  Sweet  Potatoes  are  found  everywhere,  and  form  the  cheapest 
food  of  the  people.  BeaDS  are  grown  in  great  quantities,  chiefly  the 
coarse  black  Beans,  used  for  feeding  animals  and  making  a  crude  oil 
which  is  much  in  demand.  The  Bean  cake  left  after  the  oil  is  extracted 
is  an  important  article  of  commerce,  being  used  as  manure  for  the  Sugar 
Cane  and  other  crops.  Pea-nuts  and  their  oil  are  also  largely  produoed, 
as  is  Opium.  Cotton  is  of  great  importance  in  certain  districts. 
Compared  with  Carolina  CottoD,  the  Chinese  plant  is  a  very  poor  one, 
the  boll  being  not  much  larger  than  a  Walnut ;  but  the  clothing  of 
hundreds  of  millions  of  Chinese  cimeB  from  it,  but  the  cheaper  though 
less  durable  yarns  from  India  aud  Japan,  as  well  as  more  recently  from 
China  itself,  are  ousting  those  made  by  hand  by  the  peasantry  of  North 
China.  Market  gardening  of  all  kinds  exists,  and  the  Chinese  excel  at 
it.  Chinese  agriculture,  like  everything  Chinese,  illustrates  the  talent  of 
the  race  for  doing  almost  everything  by  means  of  almost  nothing.  They 
fatally  lack  initiative,  but  if  new  methods  are  forced  upon  their 
attention  they  may  be  persuaded  to  adopt  them,  and,  once  having  done 
so,  they  will  not  again  give  them  up. 
