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ours: But how can all these Cows be fhifted "from one Place to another, or chang'd in this "dry State for Milch Kine, with the fame Ad"vantage I fpeak of in private Farms? And I "am perfwaded that the Profits of raising Kine "from Calves will hardly make it up; for, in "general, we are fure all the Cows in Britain "can never be in the fame Condition of Milkbearing at one time; for if they were, we "must be oblig'd to want Milk all over the "Nation for Ninety Days together; or, in "Sir William Petty's Way, the Cows of a whole "Nation are dry near a fourth part of their "Time; but the Farmer who can change his

Cattle at his Pleasure, may be rich in Milk "conftantly. There are Opportunities and "Practices of this daily, as you may learn from “some Herdsmen about London, who keep Four

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or Five Hundred Cows apiece, and without "any Lofs at the Year's End, as fome of them "have told me; for the Cows, when they are "Fat or in good Plight, fell well to the Butcher, "and the Food which gives them Quantity of "Milk, renders their Flesh of Value for the "Market.

"So far I fhall at present answer Mr. A. B's "Letter, viz. that in a private Farm the Milk "of a Cow may yield moderately near 11 l. per Annum, at little more than a Half-penny per Quart Wine Measure.

66

I am, Sir,

Your most humble Servant,

W. Waller.

Та

To thefe Accounts we may very well add the following Obfervations relating to Cows, their Food and Pafture; and how far the Goodnefs of Milk, Butter, and Cheese, may depend either upon the kind of Cattle, the Soil where they are grazed, or the Management in the Dairy.

I obferve only three forts of Kine in England, which are remarkably different in their Colour, viz. the Black, the White, and the Red.

The Black fort is commonly the smallest, and it has been obferv'd is the ftrongest for Labour. We find Cattle of this Colour chiefly in the Mountainous Countries, where they are ftill much smaller than when they enjoy the free Nourishment of the low rank Grounds; but yet I have never obferv'd them of fo great a Stature or Bulk of Growth, when even they have had the richeft Pafture, as is common in the White and Red Kinds: And it is a Remark of the old Authors, not unworthy our Obfervation, that the Black Kine, about Sixty Years fince, were chiefly bred in Cheshire, Yorkshire, Lancashire, and Darbyshire; which Counties chiefly fupply, as I am inform'd, that large Quantity of rich Cheefe, which we receive under the Name of Cheshire Cheese: And it is ob fervable, that the Cows of this Black Strain yield feldom more than a Gallon of Milk at a Meal or Milking; but to make us amends they continue Milcht, or in Milk, till within a very few Days of Calving, fo that we can hardly fay they are ever dry: Whereas the other forts (which are remarkable for their Colour, as the White or the Red) will, after Calving, give large Meals of Milk, near three times as much as the former, but grow dry much fooner.

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The White Breed of Kine (according to fome Remarks of a very learned Gentleman, which I have now by me) were very frequent in Lincolnfhire about Thirty Years ago, from whence he firft brought them into Surry as a Curiofity; they are of different Make, and much larger than the Black Cattle, and give more Milk at a Meal, but go dry very foon: It is obferv'd likewife in the fame Remarks, that many of this Breed were then in Suffolk; and I wish he had gone fo far as to have given us fome Reasoning upon those Coarfe Cheefes which we call Suffolk Cheese, and why they happen to be harder and dryer than any in Europe.

The Red Kind is commonly the largest of any Sort we have in England; and it is obferv'd by fome Farmers, will give more Milk at a Meal than the Cows of any other Colour: It has likewife been the Opinion of Phyficians, that the Milk of the red Cow is more nourishing than that of any other Sort of Kine, as is remarkable by their prefcribing it to confumptive Perfons; and if I may be allow'd the Liberty of adding my own Reasons why it is fo, my Opinion is, that whatever Body is luxuriant in Growth, denotes that it enjoys perfect Health, in that it draws Plenty of Nourishment from its Diet; and if an Animal, Vegetable, or whatever it be, is large and well nourish'd in its Kind, and that its Parts separately or all together are proper Diet for any Particular of the Animal Race, the more fuch Bodies are vigorously nourish'd, the more nourishing they will be to whatever Creature ufes them in Dyet. One of my curious Correfpondents observes in Animal Bodies, the Black, or fuch as have black Hair, are generally hot and dry in their Conftitution, thofe which have Hair

of a reddish Colour are fill'd with more vigorous Juices, and those which have white Hair, have a faint or weak State of Body, or declining in their Strength; the white, grey, or filver Hairs in old Perfons, the golden Locks fo much admired among the Grecians, and always a Beauty in their Venus, with many other Remarks of the fame Kind, my Correfpondent gives me as Proofs, that the Quantity of fovereign Juices may be judged of in fuch Animals; as are chiefly diftinguishable by the Colour of their Hair. This is all I fhall at present take from his Letter, for the Ufe of the Subject I have in Hand; the reft may afford matter of Contemplation another time. But to proceed upon my own Obfervations; wherever I have had an Opportunity of éxamining into this Part of Farming, which relates to the Dairy, I have always found the red Cows to give much more Milk than the black Sort, where the Farmers have been wife enough to keep one genuine Breed of Kine from mixing with another, as fome curious Men do now in Somersetskire, and the adjacent Parts; where, as I am inform❜d, the red Sort of Kine was first bred, and is chiefly educated at this Time for the fake of its large Size, which will yield in the Markets for the Butchers ufe feveral Pounds Sterling per Beaft more than the natural black Cattle. The mixing of thefe Sorts, I fuppofe, has been a Means of producing the pied Kind, now pretty frequent, and of bringing the more lufty Race into a Degeneracy, as it has brought the dwarfish Strain to be of a larger Size than they were originally; and at the fame time, the Qualities which were admir'd in either diftinctly before the Coupling, are now fo confounded one with the other, that their original Perfections G

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are hardly to be traced out. The famous Chedder Cheeses which are fo large and costly that few of them appear but in the Houses of Men of Fortune, are made in this County and the adjacent Parts, and take their Name from Chedder a Town, as others do from Cheshire, a County. 'Tis, as I am well inform'd, the Cuftom in fome of these Western Parts, for all the People of a Parish to join their Milk every Day by Turns, for the making of a Cheese, which is the Reafon that they are fo very large, and greatly exceeding the Weight of thofe Cheefes made in fingle Dairies: But whether it is the fort of Kine, or the Feed, or the Management of the Milk in the Dairy, which gives the Richnefs to the Cheese, is worthy of enquiry.

We may repeat as we go along, that the red Cows do not only give, for the generality, more Milk at a Meal than thofe of other Colours, but bring better Calves too, notwithftanding it has been argued on the contrary; some even affirming it was impoffible that a Calf could be compleatly nourish'd in the Matrix, where the Milk was abundant in the Dam. Others again tell us, that the natural black Kine which give Milk all the Year cannot bring good Calves, because, say they, where this Milk is continued during the whole Time the Cow is pregnant, it must certainly draw away the Nourishment which is requifite to feed the Calf while it is enclosed in the Matrix.

To answer the first Difficulty, I think we need go little farther than what I have faid before, i. e. that the red or larger fort of Cow which gives great Quantities of Milk at a Meal, becomes dry fooner after her Pregnancy than others; fo that when the Calf begins to grow

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