290 DAIRY COWS IN LONDON. want of exercise, and consequent cutaneous perspiration, Rhodes's cows may give a somewhat greater quantity of milk than Laycock's; but on the other hand, when we think of an animal tied in the corner of a stall for twelve, or eighteen, or twenty-four months together, we cannot help associating the idea of disease, or tendency to disease at least, with such an unnatural state of things; the feet and digestive system would particularly suffer, and we should suspect a little vitiation of all the secretions, and some deterioration in the quality of the milk." It is estimated that 12000 cows* are kept in the environs of London for supplying the inhabitants with milk. It is therefore evident that nine tenths of the milk consumed is furnished by the small dealers, who each keeping their half dozen cows, etc., in places retired from the public eye, and in a manner that will best subserve their own interests, it is not likely under these circumstances that better milk will be produced, than in the larger establishments. The accounts of the London dairies, in some particulars, appear to be conflicting; but from all we can * The quantity of milk yielded by all these cows, at nine quarts each per day, amounts to 39,420,000 quarts, or 27 quarts of genuine milk for each individual. The retail dealers usually sell the milk for fourpence per quart, after the cream is separated from it, and then about three shillings per quart for the cream; besides this, a great deal of water is mixed with this skimmed milk: so that we far underrate the price when we calculate that the genuine milk sells at sixpence per quart, which makes the money expended in milk in the British metropolis amount to £985,000, or nearly a million of pounds per annum. If we again divide the £985,000, by 12,000 (the number of cows), we have the almost incredible sum of more than eighty-two pounds as the money produced by the milk of each cow. This is divided among a variety of persons, and after all affords but a scanty sub sistence to many of them; but it unequivocally proves the rascality that pervades some of the departments of the concern.-Youatt. DEFECTS OF THE DAIRIES. 291 learn, it may be safely inferred that the condition of the greater part is little superior to those in New-York. Loudon says: "The defects of the London dairy establishments, appear to be, chiefly, want of cleanliness, and imperfect ventilation." And again: "The idea is by no means pleasing, of consuming milk chiefly manufactured from grains, and distillery wash, and produced by cows deprived of all exercise in the open air." Another writer remarks: "We cannot omit to animadvert on the culpable filthiness of cows, both in the metropolis and vicinity, where these animals are literally crammed, not with wholesome food, but with such matters as are calculated to produce an abundance of milk. This unnatural practice, however, would be in some degree venial, if the milk was vended in a pure state. It is indeed a notorious fact, which we think it our duty to state, that vessels both of hot and cold water are always kept in the milk-houses for the accommodation of mercenary retailers. Those persons purchase a certain quantity of unadulterated milk at a low price; but as each must make his or her profit, they mix it with such proportions of water as they think necessary to make their milk of sufficient standard; when it is hawked about at exorbitant prices. Circumstances of this fraudulent kind ought to be more generally known; and we trust the vigilance of the police will be extended to the suppression of other practices in the trade, equally bold and pernicious."* For the foregoing facts, where other reference is not given, we are chiefly indebted to Loudon and Youatt, who are standard authorities on these subjects, and whose accuracy, so far as they go, may not be questioned. Their attention, however, was not directed to the infringement Domestic Enc,, Vol. IV. p. 78. of natural laws and the consequent effects on the health and lives of human beings, but solely to the management of cattle with a view to economical results. Detailed accounts, therefore, of the specific forms of evil under consideration, would have been inconsistent with their object; yet enough has been incidentally disclosed to show that the whole system is characterized by ignorance of physiological principles, and a mercenary recklessness of consequences; whilst the people, unconscious of the evils inflicted upon them, are making no exertions for their correction. That they may be corrected and a more rational mode of treatment be introduced, is, we believe, everywhere practicable to well-directed efforts. Loudon says: "Already country dairies have sprung up at the distance of from five to twenty miles from London, and milk and cream are sent to town in close vessels in spring-carts which go at a rapid trot. When, instead of spring-carts rail-roads are established, on which carriages may go at the rate of thirty miles an hour, the milk and butter used by the commonest people of London, will be of as good quality, as that now used almost exclusively by gentlemen who have country-seats." If this may be affirmed of the British metropo lis, the complete reform of this enormous evil in other cities, should not be regarded as visionary or impracticable. We subjoin an account of Harley's dairy establishment at Glasgow, which being esteemed very complete of its kind, has been celebrated since 1813. The professed object of the proprietor is, to supply the public with new milk free from adulteration, and to have the stables, cows, and milk kept in a more cleanly condition than by the usual mode. The cow-house contained one hundred cows. It stood upon a vaulted cellar, which was divided into three apartments; the middle one for the manure, that at one end for potatoes and other roots to be used as food; and in the other, cows not giving milk were kept. The excrement was dropped into the centre division through apertures in the gutters (see the cut, a a,) eighteen inches in diameter, covered with cast-iron plates. Sometimes a cart was brought into the cellar, and the excrementitious matter at once dropped into it, and carted away. The covers had finger-holds for lifting them, and the refuse was drawn along the grooves into them by a broad hoe or scraper fitted to the groove. It was often found necessary to mix ashes with it, to render it of a fit consistence to be carted away. The second division of the vaults was fitted for the process of fattening; darkness and quiet being considered favorable circumstances. In the third, roots were effectually preserved from frost. At one end of the cow-house a tank was formed fifty feet long, sixteen feet wide, and six deep, with its surface on a level with the bottom of the cellar; it was arched over, and had a man-hole for cleaning out the sediment, four feet in diameter; into this tank the whole of the urine was conducted, after being filtered through the urine gutters into spouts beneath it, reaching the whole length of the house. Each filter consisted of a vessel covered with a plate of cast-iron, pierced with small holes, the surface of the plate being on a level with the surface of the gutter; the use of the vessel under it, is to receive the sediment, for which purpose it is made four inches wider than the cover, and in this extra width the water runs over into the cast-iron spout, by which it is conducted to the tank. It enters the tank by a division surrounded by boards pierced with holes, so as to filter it a second time, in order that the water may be pumped up with greater ease. This water was sold to gardeners, and others, at from 1s. to 1s. 6d. per hundred gallons. The roof was supported in the middle by castiron pillars (b); there were no ceilings, but the slates were hung to the quarterings of the rafters on pins, with a good lap; this being found warm enough in the coldest weather, and favorable for ventilation in the hottest: there were also windows in the roof, both for light and ventilation. The heat was generally kept from 60 to 64 degrees. The passages (c) were paved and five feet wide, and two inches and a half higher in the middle than at the side. : The floor on which the cows stood in Harley's cowhouse, was raised six inches above the passages; this not only showed the cows to better advantage, but kept them dry and clean and two and a half feet of the floor next to the trough, was made of composition, similar to what is commonly used in making barn floors; because the principal weight of the cows being upon their fore-feet, and as in lying down the whole weight is upon their knees, it was obviously desirable to have that part of the stall as smooth and soft as possible. It is conceived, indeed, that joists and flooring would be the best for that purpose, were it not for the expense. The back part of the stall was of hewn |