advantage in a dairy farm to have the principal grafs fields as near to the dairy or homestead as pofsible. In this point of view also, the practice of feeding cows in the house rather than turning them out to pasture in the field, must appear to be obviously beneficial.

Second, The practice of putting the milk of all the cows of a large dairy into one vefsel, as it is milked, there to remain till the whole milking be finished, before any part of it is put into the milk-pans, seems to be highly injudicious, not only on account of the lofs that is sustained by agitation and cooling, but also, and more especially, because it prevents the owner of the dairy from distinguishing the good from the bad cow's milk, so as to enlighten his judgment respecting the profit that he may derive from each. Without this precaution, he may have the whole of his dairyproduce greatly debased by the milk of one bad cow, for years together, without being able to discover it, as I have already had occasion to illustrate, page 165. A better practice therefore would be, to have the milk drawn from each cow separately put into the creaming-pans as soon as milked, without being ever mixed with any other: and if these pans were all made of such a size as to be able to contain the whole of one cow's milk, each in a separate pan, so that the careful dai (an excellent provincial word denoting the person who has the chief concern in a dairy, without distinction of gender) would thus be able to remark, without trouble of any sort, the quantity of milk afforded by each cow every day, as well as the peculiar qualities of that cow's milk. And if the same cow's milk were

ing the name of the cow written beneath the stand, there never could be the smallest difficulty in ascertaining which of the cows it was the owner's interest to dispose of, and which of them he ought to keep and breed from.

Third. If it be intended to make butter of a very fine quality, it will be advisable, not only to reject entirely the milk of all those cows which yield cream of a bad quality, but also in every case to keep the milk that is first drawn from the cow at each milking entirely separate from that which is got last; as it is obvious, if this be not done, the quality of the butter must be greatly debased, without much augmenting its quantity. It is also obvious, that the quality of the butter will be improved in proportion to the small-. nefs of the proportion of the last drawn milk that is retained; so that those who wish to be singularly nice in this respect, will do well to retain a very small proportion only of the last drawn milk.

To those owners of dairies who have profit only in view, it must be ever a matter of trial and calculation, how far it will be expedient in them to carry the improvement of the quality of their butter, at the expence of diminishing its quantity. In different situations, prudence will point out different kinds of practice as most eligible; and all persons must be left, after making accurate trials, to determine each for himself. It is likewise a matter of some importance, to determine in what way the inferior milk that is thus set apart, where fine butter is wanted, can be employed with the greatest profit. In the highlands of Scotland the people have adopted a practice, merely from considera

tions of convenience and economy, without thinking of the improvement of the butter, which answers many good purposes. As the rearing of calves is there a principal object with the farmer, every cow is allowed to suckle her own calf with a portion of her milk, the remainder only being employed for the purposes of the dairy. To give the calf the proportion allotted to it regularly, it is separated from the cow, and put into a small inclosure made for that exprefs purpose on every farm, along with all the other calves belonging to that farm. At regular times, all the cows are brought to the door of this small inclosure, where the young ones fail not to meet them. Each calf is then separately let out, and runs directly to its mother, where it is allowed to suck till the dairy-maid judges that it has had enough, when she orders it to be driven away, having previously shackled the hinder legs of the mother, by a very simple contrivance, to oblige her to stand till. Boys, who attend for that purpose, drive away the calf with switches, and return it into the inclosure, while the dairy maid milks off what was left by the calf. They proceed in this manner until the whole of the cows are milked; and thus do they obtain a small quantity of milk, it is true, but that milk is of an exceeding rich quality; which, in the hands of such of the natives as know how to manage it, is manufactured into the richest marrowy butter that can be any where met with. This richness of the Highland butter has been long remarked, and has been very universally ascribed to the old grafs that the cows feed upon in those remote glens; but it is in fact

which has long prevailed in those districts. Whether a similar practice could be economically adopted elsewhere, I do not take upon me to say; but, doubtless, other secondary uses might be found for the milk of inferior quality. On some occasions, it might be converted into butter of a secondary quality; on others, it might be sold sweet, where the situation of the farm is within reach of a town; and in other situations it might be converted into cheeses, which, by being made of sweet milk, if made with care and skill, might be of a very fine quality. Other uses still might be devised for the application of this milk, which I cannot now stop to enumerate.

2

Although I do not mean in this essay to enter profefsedly on the dairy management for the purpose of making cheeses, it is necefsary, for the purpose here stated, and other considerations that will soon occur, to suggest a few hints on that head, so nearly connected with the object of our present discussion. It will be found, when it comes to be investigated, that the reasoning usually adopted on this subject is in many respects erroneous. It is, for example, very generally supposed, that the goodness of cheese depends almost entirely upon its richness; by which is meant, the proportion of oily matter, whether natural or adventitious, that it contains; nothing, however, is more certain, than that this is not the case. If the sapor, the pleasant relish to the taste, be adopted as the rule for ascertaining excellence, nothing can be more certain, than that this does not depend upon this circumstance, Parmesan cheese is in general deemed, in respect to sapor, among the best kinds of cheese that are made;

but it contains no remarkable proportion of oily matter. To many palates, the small round Dutch cheeses are very pleasing to the taste, yet these are made entirely of skimmed milk.

If softness to the feel, and that kind of consistency which appears mellow and butyraceous, be the rule for ascertaining the richness of cheese, neither will this be found to depend necefsarily upon the proportion of oily matter that they contain. I have seen cheeses made of skimmed milk, that ate exactly like the finest kind of cream cheese, which approaches to the taste and consistency of butter; and I have seen cheeses made entirely of cream, which had much less of that buttery taste and appearance than the other. In short, much more depends upon the skill and dexterity of the operator, than on the quality of the materials. Many cheeses are made in England of as rich milk as the Stilton cheeses, which seem not to contain nearly the same proportion of cream; and I had lately occasion to notice, that a great many cheeses are made of the same kind of milk with the Suffolk cheeses, which have nothing of that horny hardness and indigestible quality, for which these are remarkable.

If the taste and consistence that the cheese acquires when acted on by heat in the process of toasting be afsumed as a criterion for judging of its richness, neither will it be found that this depends upon the proportion of cream that enters into their composition. I have seen very indifferent cheese that has been made of skimmed milk, which when toasted was richer to the taste, and more soft in consistence, than Stilton