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weekly from tlieir milk. I have heard indeed, of one
cow yielding 22 quarts : but these are of course extreme
cases. The general average produce from Jersey
cows, may be stated at 10 quarts of milk per day,
and 7lbs. of butter per week. It is stated, that in
summer, from 9 to 10 quarts produce lib. of butter,—
and that in winter, when a cow is parsnip fed, the
same quantity of butter may be obtained from 7
quarts ; an extraordinary produce certainly.
The profit on the best cows, the calf included, is
estimated at about 12/.—30/. being the money received
for produce, and the keep reaching 18/. : but
this certainly applies only to the best cows. Two
vergées and a half, or somewhat better than an acre of
good land, is considered sufficient for a cow’s pasture.
The price of Jersey cows has considerably fallen
during the last fifteen years. A good cow may now
be purchased for 12/. , A prime milker will fetch 15/;
and the average may be stated from 8/. to 10/.
When we come to speak of the commerce of Jersey,
it will be seen, that the export of Jersey butter,
both fresh and salted, is very great ; and as its quality
is highly estimated, I shall make no apology for shortly
detailing the mode of its manufacture.
Vessels of metal or of wmod, are never employed in
the dairy. The coarse unglazed earthenware of Normandy,
is used. The vessels are round, of about
twelve inches in height,—seven inches in diameter at
bottom and nine inches at the top. The Staffordshire
coarse pottery, in form somewhat resembling the
French vessels, being glazed, is therefore never used
in the Jersey dairy. The milk stands at the height of
about ten inches in the vessel, till the meam be all
risen, which in summer, is usually the third day. In
winter, to hasten its rising, the vessels are covered
and placed on the earth at bed-time. Skimming is
consequently but once performed; and never, until
after the milk be coagulated. To the operation of
skimming, great attention is bestowed: the cream is
first detached from the edge of the vessel all round;
and then is drawn together as much as possible: and
by inclining the vessel over that which is destined to
receive the cream, sometimes the whole slips off at
once from the coagulated milk. At the bottom of the
vessel which contains the cream, there is a small hole,
stopped up by a peg, which is occasionally withdrawn
in order to drain off the serous portion separating the
cream. Butter is never considered so good in Jersey
when the cow is fed on lucerne or clover, as on
natural pasture. It is generally admitted, that Jersey
butter, when salted, preserves its good properties for
a longer period than English butter.
That, notwithstanding the attention bestowed upon
the Jersey cow, and the purity of its breed, guarded
as it is, both by law and rooted opinion, the Jersey
cow has nevertheless deteriorated, is certain. I was
present at the inaugurational meeting of the agricultural
society for Jersey, at which many facts illustrative
of this truth, were stated by the secretary.
There is no such thing as a breed of sheep m Jersey.
Sheep are only reared by those who have a
right of common, and who live in the neighbourhood
of the common; and the sheep are left entirely to
shift for themselves. It is in fact, only the poorer
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