literally crammed, not with
wholesome food, but with such things as are calculated to produce an
abundance of milk, cannot be too severely reprobated as injurious to the
public health. It is also notorious, that vessels of hot and cold water
are always kept in these cowhouses for the accommodation of mercenary
retailers, who purchase a quantity of milk at a low price, and then mix
it with such a proportion of water as they think necessary to reduce it
to a proper standard; when it is hawked about at an exorbitant price.
The milk is not pure in its original state, and being afterwards
adulterated, it is scarcely fit for any purpose in a family. The first
object in the article of food, is wholesomeness; and grass growing
spontaneously on good meadow-land is in general deemed most proper for
cows intended to supply the dairy. The quantity of milk produced by
those which feed on sainfoin is however nearly double to that of any
other provender: it is also richer in quality, and will yield a larger
quantity of cream: of course the butter will be better coloured and
flavoured than any other. Turnips and carrots form an excellent article,
and cannot be too strongly recommended, especially as a winter food; but
they should be cleaned and cut; and parsnips, with the tops taken off
will produce abundance of milk, of a superior quality; and cows will eat
them freely though they are improper for horses. Of all vegetable
productions, perhaps the cabbage is the most exuberant for this purpose,
and ought by all means to be encouraged. The drum-headed cabbage, and
the hardy variety of a deep green colour with purple veins, and of the
same size with the drum-head, are particularly useful in the feeding of
cows, and afford an increase of milk far superior to that produced by
turnips. They are also excellent for the fattening of cattle, which they
will do six weeks sooner than any other vegetables, though the cabbage
plant is generally supposed to impart a disagreeable flavour to butter
and cheese made from the milk of cows fed upon it, yet this may easily
be prevented by putting a gallon of boiling water to six gallons of
milk, when it is standing in the trays; or by dissolving an ounce of
saltpetre in a quart of spring water, and mixing about a quarter of a
pint of it with ten or twelve gallons of milk as it comes from the cow.
By breaking off the loose leaves, and giving only the sound part to the
cows, this disagreeable quality may also