Images de page
PDF
ePub
[graphic]
[blocks in formation]

hospital; in 1878 a system of water-works was opened, and the sanitary condition has since improved. Pop. (1891) 83,760.-DACCA DISTRICT has an area of 2797 sq. m., and consists of a level plain, intersected by a network of rivers and artificial watercourses. Two-thirds of the district is under cultivation; food-crops, oil-seeds, jute, cotton, safflower, and sugar-cane are grown. Trade is carried on chiefly by water, and the rivers are crowded at all seasons with steamers and native craft; the adventurous boatmen of the district have a name throughout Bengal. Floods, blight, or drought never seriously affect the district, but earthquakes are of common occurrence. Outside Dacca city sanitation is unthought of; fevers, dysentery, and goitre are among the endemic diseases, and epidemics of cholera and smallpox are not infrequent. Pop. (1872) 1,852,993; (1881) 2,116,350, of whom 59 per cent. were Moham

medans.

Dace, DARE, or DART (Leuciscus vulgaris), a fresh-water fish in the carp family Cyprinidæ (q.v.), and of the same genus as the roach, chub, minnow, &c. It chiefly inhabits the deep and clear water of quiet streams. It is found in Italy, France, Germany, &c., and in some of the rivers of England, but is very local. In form it is not unlike the roach, but rather more elongated; the mouth is rather larger, the scales smaller. The upper parts are dusky blue, becoming paler on the sides, and

Dace (Leuciscus vulgaris).

It

passing into white on the belly, the cheeks and gillcovers silvery white. It measures about 8 inches in length, and never exceeds a pound in weight. The dace is gregarious, and swims in shoals. spawns in early summer. Its flesh is preferred to that of the roach, but is not highly esteemed. The dace is perhaps the liveliest and most active of the Cyprinidæ, and affords the angler fair sport both with fly and bait.

Dachshund, a name adopted from the German, signifying 'badger-dog.' The dachshund has been common in Germany for many years, but was unknown in England until introduced by the late Prince Consort towards the middle of the 19th century; it then became very fashionable and popular, but is not now so common. The dachshund is a small dog, weighing about 20 lb., with short crooked fore-legs, and an extremely long body, its head rather resembling that of a miniature bloodhound. Its strong, large paws enable it to dig rapidly. Its colour should be black and tan, or brown. On the Continent the dachshund is extensively used for covert-shooting, but rarely so so in Britain, as his headstrong disposition somewhat spoils his usefulness. The dachshund is closely akin to the old English Turn-spit, employed to drive a wheel by which roasting-spits were turned. Dacia, the land of the ancient Daci or Getæ, including the country between the Danube, the Theiss, the Carpathians, and the Pruth. Dacians were the most valiant of all the tribes of Thracian origin (see THRACE). In the reign of Augustus they began to molest the Roman allies, and indeed from this time there was almost continual fighting between the Romans and the Daci,

The

DACTYL

who actually, under their brave king, Decebalus, compelled their civilised enemies, in the reign of Domitian, to purchase peace by paying tribute. In 101 the Emperor Trajan crossed the Danube, and after five years' desperate fighting, conquered the whole country, and formed it into a Roman province. Roman colonists were sent into the country, great roads were opened up, and a bridge was built over the Danube-the ruins of which are still extant. Under Aurelian the Danube was made the boundary of the empire, and Dacia was resigned to the barbarians, its Roman colonies being transplanted to Mosia.

Dacier, ANDRÉ, a French scholar, born of Protestant parents at Castres, in Upper Languedoc, 6th April 1651, studied at Saumur under Tanneguy Lefèbre; and in 1672 came to Paris, where in 1683 he married Anna (1654-1720), his old preceptor's daughter, and two years later was admitted with

her to the Roman Catholic Church. Dacier subsequently became royal librarian, member of the Academy of Inscriptions and of the French Academy, and perpetual secretary of the latter. He died 18th September 1722. His works include a Delphin edition of Festus and Verrius Flaccus (1681), as well as indifferent translations of Horace, the Poetics of Aristotle, some of the Dialogues of Plato, Epictetus, and Plutarch's Lives. His wife's works include Delphin editions of Florus, Aurelius Victor, Eutropius, Dictys Cretensis, and Dares Phrygius; and translations of Anacreon, Sappho, some plays of Plautus and Aristophanes, Terence, the Iliad and the Odyssey. Her admiration of Homer was more unbounded than discriminating, and involved her in many controversies.

Dacoits, a name used for brigands herding in gangs in various parts of India, and living by dacoity or robbery with violence. According to the report of the general superintendent of the Thuggee and Dacoity Department in 1887, there were over 9000 men practising dacoity in India, which in some districts is carried on with great ferocity. In the Gwalior territory forty-six persons were killed by dacoits; and of the seventy-five villages in the Chanderi district, thirty-six had been dacoited since 1880. After the annexation, dacoity was very prevalent in Burma.

Amsterdam, the son of a Portuguese Jew, 14th Da Costa, ISAAC, a Dutch poet, born at January 1798. He studied at Leyden; and in 1822, a year after receiving the degree of doctor of philosophy, he embraced Christianity. His poems speedily gained him such reputation that, on the death in 1831 of Bilderdijk, whose warm friendship he had enjoyed, Da Costa succeeded him in the first place among the poets of Holland, which he held till his death, on 28th April 1860. His principal works are to be found in his Poëzij (2 vols. 1821-22), Politieke Poëzy (1854), and Hesperiden (1855). His Battle of Nieupoort, the last of his poems, is one of his masterpieces. Da Costa also made essays in the domain of history and theology, the most important of which, his Israel and the Gentiles, has been translated into English.

Dacotahs. See SIOUX, AMERICAN INDIANS.

Dacry'dium, a genus of coniferous trees of the yew family, but more allied to Podocarpus. There are twelve species-Malayan, Tasmanian, and of New Zealand. Dacrydium cupressinum of New Zealand is best known in Britain, on account of the beauty of its pendulous foliage. D. franklinii, the so-called Huon Pine, and D. taxifolium, the Kakaterra tree, yield valuable timber.

Dactyl (Gr. dactylos, finger'), the name of a measure or 'foot' in Greek and Latin versifica

[graphic]

DACTYLOLOGY

tion, consisting of a long and two short syllables, as in the word omnibus. It was so called from its resemblance to the finger, which consists of three joints one long and two short. The same name is sometimes applied to a trisyllabic measure in English verse, consisting of one accented syllable and two unaccented syllables, as in destiny (see VERSE). Dactylic verse consists of dactyls and spondees, and includes both hexameter and pentameter verse. Dactylology, the art of communicating thoughts by the fingers. See DEAF AND DUMB. Daddy-long-legs, or CRANE-FLY (Tipula oleracea), a familiar insect in the order Diptera, and a good type of its family Tipulidæ. The body, the legs, and the antennæ are very long. The latter have an arched curvature, and are longer in the males; the front of the head projects prominently; the posterior body, which is connected with

[blocks in formation]

the thorax by a very thin bridge, is broader in the females. The middle of the body is gray, with brown stripes, the abdomen reddish-brown, the legs brownish-yellow, and in part blackish, the wings brown, varying to red and white. This common European insect is towards an inch in length, is abundant from July to October in meadows and gardens, and is familiar to every one. The female is often seen laying her numerous eggs in damp places on the ground; the eggs are small, black, and shining; the larvae, known as 'leather-jackets,' live in the ground, and often do damage in vegetable gardens and fields; the pupa have spines on their abdominal segments, by which they push their way out of the ground. Of the genus Tipula about ninety European species are known. The largest form (T. gigantea) measures over an inch, and is not uncommon in Britain. T. hortulana is very common in gardens. The genus Ctenophora, commoner in wooded districts, is nearly allied. They have stouter bodies, and usually brighter colours. See MIDGE.

Dado (Ital., 'a die'), in classical Architecture, the term applied to the cubic block which forms the body of a pedestal. It is also applied to the plane face and the series of mouldings which, in the interiors of buildings, form, as it were, a continuous pedestal. The interior dado is formed of wood, and, running round the bottom of the walls of a room, serves to protect the plaster or paper from injury. Dados and wall-linings were much used in Elizabethan and subsequent styles till this century, when, under the classic regime, they were

[blocks in formation]

dispensed with. The recent revival of the Queen Anne' taste, however, has led to the reintroduction of dados not only in the form of wooden panellings, but also in the painting and papering of the walls.

personified the beginning of the arts of sculpture Dæ'dalus, a figure in Greek Mythology who and architecture. He was of the old Athenian royal race of the Erechtheida. Having killed his nephew and pupil in envy at his growing skill, he had to flee to Crete, where he made the wellknown cow for Queen Pasiphaë, and afterwards for King Minos the famous labyrinth to confine the Minotaur. Minos next imprisoned Daedalus, but he escaped with the help of Pasiphaë, and formed wings for himself and his son Icarus, with which to fly across the sea. He himself flew safe across the

gean, but unhappily Icarus flew too near the sun, the heat of which melted the wax that fastened his wings to him, so that he dropped into the sea, and left his name to be borne by that part of the Egean into which he fell. Dædalus made his way to Sicily. Some accounts made him first alight at Cuma in Italy, where he dedicated his wings to Apollo. Works of art were freely ascribed to Dædalus in Greece, Italy, Libya, and the Mediterranean islands. The name Dadala was applied to the earlier painted and gilded wooden statues of the gods.

Daendels, HERMANN WILHELM, a Dutch general, was born in 1762 at Hattem, in Gelderland, took part in the revolutionary disturbances that broke out in Holland in 1787, and was in consequence compelled to seek refuge in France. In the campaign of 1793 he rendered important service to Dumouriez, and was elevated to the rank of a general of brigade. In 1799 he commanded one of the two divisions of the army of the Batavian republic, and in 1806 took service under the king of Holland. From 1808 to 1811 he was governorgeneral of the Dutch East Indian possessions, and published a work on them. On the overthrow of Napoleon, the new king of Holland, William I., intrusted Daendels with the organisation of the Dutch colonies on the coast of Africa, and

there he died in June 1818.

Daffodil (corrupted from Lat. asphodelus), the Eng. lish name of those species of Narcissus which have a large bell-shaped

[graphic]

corona.

The Common Daffodil (N. pseudo-narcissus) is a native of England and of most parts of Europe, growing in woods and hedges, and often cultivated in gardens, where it not unfrequently becomes double. It is naturalised in many places in Scotland and Ireland, but seems scarcely indigenous. From Herrick's lament to Wordsworth's dancing verse we have widely varied recognitions of the familiar golden cups of the daffodil as a source alike of poetic wealth and inspiration. See NARCISSUS.

Common Daffodil

(Narcissus pseudo-narcissus).

Dag, a hand-gun or thick pistol, used in the 15th and 16th centuries. It occurs in the Spanish Tragedy (1603).

[graphic]
[blocks in formation]

Daghestan ('mountain-land'), a triangular territory of Ciscaucasia, between the Caucasus and the west coast of the Caspian Sea. Area, 11,425 sq. m.; pop. (1883) 529,705. The surface is generally mountainous, being traversed by offsets from the Caucasus; the level tracts are chiefly near the coast, and here and in the valleys the land is very fertile. The country is well watered, the climate generally mild in the lowlands, and dry, except along the coast, where the rainfall is considerable. In the highlands large flocks of sheep are herded. The chief town is Derbend (q.v.). See CAUCASUS, and SHAMYL; also Cunynghame's Daghestan (1872).

Dago, an island near the entrance of the Gulf of Finland, forming part of the Russian government of Esthonia, and separated by the narrow channel called Sele-sund from the island of Oesel on the south. Area, 367 sq. m.; pop. 15,000, of whom one-third are Swedes and Germans. The coast is rugged, and the soil fertile only in the south and south-west; inland there are large forests and swamps (54 sq. m.).

Dagoba, the common name in Ceylon for a Buddhist tope. See TOPE.

Dagobert was the name of several of the Merovingian kings of France, the first of the name reigning from 631 to 638. See FRANCE.

Dagon, the national god of the Philistines, half-man, half-fish, is mentioned in the Old Testament as having temples at Gaza and Ashdod. Several names of places prove that the worship of Dagon existed also in other parts of Palestine. It seems to have come to Canaan from Babylonia, the Assyrian monuments presenting a figure with the body of a man and the tail of a fish, and the cuneiform inscriptions containing the name of a god Dakan or Dagan, which is probably identical with Dagon. Baudissin favours the old derivation of the name from dag ('fish'), with the formative syllable -on. Dagon and the fish-goddess Derketo or Atargatis probably answered to each other as male and female water-deities.

Daguerreotype is the name of the photographs fixed on a plate of copper thinly coated with silver by the successive action of the vapours of iodine, bromine, and mercury. Louis Daguerre, after whom the invention is named, was born in Normandy in 1789, was a scene-painter in Paris, made a famous diorama in 1822, and devoted the rest of his life mainly to perfecting the processes of photography, from 1826 till 1833 in conjunction with M. Niépce. He wrote two works on the subject, and died in the neighbourhood of Paris, 12th July 1851. The history of the invention is given at PHOTOGRAPHY.

Dahabecah, a boat used by voyagers on the Nile, which varies in size, has one or two masts, and accommodation for from two to eight passengers, including a raised cabin on the after-deck. The boat sails, is rowed, or is dragged by ropes, according to circumstances.

Dahl, JOHANN CHRISTIAN CLAUSEN, a Norwegian landscape-painter (1788-1857), who from 1821 onward was professor of Painting at Dresden. Dahlak, a group of three islands, with many smaller rocks, in the Red Sea, off the Bay of Massowah. They were famous in Roman times for their pearl-fisheries, but the beds have long since been exhausted and abandoned. The inhab

DAHLIA

itants number about 1500, are under the rule of a sheik holding authority from Egypt, and carry on a trade with the Arabian coast.

Dahlgren, KARL FREDRIK, Swedish poet and humorist, born at Stensbruk in Ostergötland, 20th June 1791, studied at Upsala, and acted from 1815 as preacher at Stockholm, where he died, 2d May 1844. As a writer he made his début in Atterbom's Phosphorus, and afterwards published novels, humorous tales, poems, and dramas. His works fill 5 vols. (1847-52).

Dahlgren Gun is so called after John Adolph Dahlgren (1809-70), an officer in the United States navy, by whom it was introduced in 1850. It is a muzzle-loading, cast-iron, smooth-bore gun, with great thickness of metal at the breech. Many Dahlgren guns are still in the United States service. In 1883 six of 10-inch calibre and muzzleloaders were converted into 8-inch breech-loading rifle guns, by lining and strengthening them with wrought-iron coils.

Dahlia (Dahlia Georgina)-after Dahl, a Swedish botanist, and pupil of Linnæus-a genus of large perennial composites (sub-order Tubuliflora, family Asteroidea). It was first brought from the botanic garden of Mexico to that of Madrid in 1784, whence it reached England in

[graphic][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

1789, and France in 1802, while in 1804 Humboldt Its extrasent a fresh supply of seed to Berlin. ordinary variability soon attracted the attention of florists, who brought to bear on it all the resources of selection and crossing, with so much success that by about the middle of the present century no fewer that 2000 varieties had been described, all from D. variabilis or D. coccinea or their hybrids, and chiefly from the first named. For a long time only double' dahlias were cultivated, but of late years the single dahlia, in which the florets of the disc remain tubular, has again come into fashion; while among double dahlias the less regular cactus dahlia is highly esteemed. They are easily cultivated, and propagated by seeds, cuttings, or tubers; but the tubers require to be taken up and stored in a dry place out of the reach of frost. They flower luxuriantly in autumn, until cut off by the first frosts. On account of the quantity of inulin in their tubers, they are cultivated for food in Mexico, but similar attempts in Europe have failed

[graphic]

DAHLMANN

because of their unpalatableness. See Nicholson's or other Dictionary of Gardening, also any florist's catalogue.

Dahlmann, FRIEDRICH CHRISTOPH, German historian, was born May 13, 1785, at Wismar. His earlier studies in Copenhagen and Halle were devoted to archæology and philology; but his attention was subsequently directed to the study of politics and the history of the middle ages. From 1813 on, he filled the chair of History at Kiel, and in 1829 was appointed to that of Political Science in Göttingen, where he published (1830) his invaluable Quellenkunde der deutschen Geschichte. Banished in 1837 by King Ernst August of Hanover, on account of his protest against the abolition of the Hanoverian constitution, he went to Leipzig, next to Jena, where he wrote his historical masterpiece, Geschichte von Dänemark (3 vols. 1840-43). In 1842 he became Professor of History at Bonn, and took a prominent part in the political affairs of Germany after the movement in 1848, heading the constitutional liberals, who were unfortunately too reasonable to be successful. At the close of the struggle, he returned to his academic duties, to which he devoted himself till his death, 5th December 1860. See Life, by A. Springer (2 vols. Leip. 1870-72).

Dahn, JULIUS SOPHUS FELIX, publicist, historian, and poet, was born at Hamburg, 9th February 1834, the son of a well-known actor and actress. He studied law, philosophy, and history at Munich and Berlin, became extraordinary professor at Munich (1862), next year ordinary professor at Würzburg, and in 1872 was appointed to the chair of German Jurisprudence at Königsberg. Among his contributions to public law are Das Kriegsrecht (1870), Handelsrechtliche Vorträge (1875), Deutsches Rechtsbuch (1877), and Deutsches Privatrecht (1878). Of his historical works the chief are Prokopius von Cäsarea (1865), Die Könige der Germanen (1861-71), Westgotische Studien (1874), Langobardische Studien (1876), Urgeschichte der germanischen und romanischen Völker (3 vols. 1881-84), and Geschichte der deutschen Urzeit (1885). Dahn's versatility is as remarkable as his erudition is profound. He has written a series of popular historical romances, and of lyrical and dramatic poems. Of the former may here be named, Ein Kampf um Rom (1876), one of the most powerful of modern German novels, Odhins Trost (1880), and Die Kreuzfahrer (1885).

Dahna. See ARABIA, Vol. I. P. 362. Dahomey, a kingdom of Western Africa, extending inland from the Slave Coast, in about 6° 15′ —7°30′N. lat., and 1° 30′-2° 30' E. long. Its limits, however, are not clearly defined, and it is only certain that their extent has been greatly overestimated; the seaboard is confined to a district of 35 miles, between Cotanu and Mount Pulloy, and elsewhere the kingdom is encircled by tribes either subjugated or in active hostility. The boundaries of Dahomey and Ashanti do not meet to the north of the Avon lagoon, as shown on some maps. The long lagoon which, shut in from the ocean by a protecting bank of sand, affords an easy route along nearly the whole of this coast, extends in Dahomey, from its western frontier almost to the Denham lagoon, in the east. About midway is the port of Whydah, whence a road extends inland to Abomey, a distance of 65 miles. Dense forests and dismal swamps cover nearly two-thirds of this distance, but from the Great Swamp of Agrimé vast undulating plains rise for many miles, in the direction of the Kong Mountains. The Avon and Denham lagoons receive the rivers of the country, none of which are very important. The soil is a rich, red-coloured clay, and is extremely fertile.

[blocks in formation]

Groves of oil-palms encircle each town, and palmoil is made in large quantities. Maize, beans, and peas, as well as cassava, yams, sweet potatoes, limes, oranges, pine-apples, and other tropical fruits, grow in splendid luxuriance; cotton, sugar, and spices of all kinds are also grown, and sheep, goats, swine, and poultry are raised, though not in large numbers. Cotton cloth is made, and weapons and tools are forged from native iron.

The people are negroes, of the Ewe group, generally of small stature, but very robust and active. They are sociable, equally fond of dancing and of rum, but warlike and prone to theft. The Dahoman kingdom dates from the beginning of the 18th century, and reached its zenith under Gezo, who

[ocr errors]

ruled from about 1818 to 1858. Since then its power has declined, and even its population has fallen off; but little reliance can be placed on the estimates of the numbers, which range from 150,000 to 900,000, the former number being probably most correct. The army may be taken at 10,000 men; the Amazons (devoted to celibacy), who are distinguished for their bravery and ferocity, may perhaps be limited to 1000. Fetich-worship prevails, taking the form of serpent-worship along the coast; a temple with over a hundred of these sacred snakes exists at Whydah. The king is the most absolute of despots. Wholesale murder is one of the chief features in religious and state ceremonies; but, according to Sir Richard Burton, who has been greatly exaggerated, and they are princivisited Dahomey in 1863, the number of the victims pally foreign captives. Still, as many as 500 human victims have been sacrificed at one of the grand 'customs which take place every October. The revenue formerly depended greatly upon the sale of slaves; but the vigilance of the cruisers employed to prevent the traffic has ruined the trade. Hence the monster slave-hunts which periodically took place are a thing of the past. In 1876 the coast of Dahomey was placed under a strict blockade by subject, for which the king of Dahomey refused Great Britain, on account of an outrage on a British satisfaction.-ABOMEY, the capital, stands on a rolling plain, nearly surrounded by marshes. It is about 8 miles in circumference, and is surrounded by a deep ditch and clay walls, pierced by six gates. There are three palaces belonging to the king here, several large squares, and a number of farms, which Whydah has a pop. of about 12,000; and Cana, are cultivated within the city. Pop. about 30,000. where is the king's country residence, 8 miles SE. of Abomey by a good road, about 5000. See Burton's Mission to Gelele, King of Dahomey (new ed. 1864); Skertchly, Dahomey as It is (1874); and Bouche, La Côte des Esclaves et le Dahomey (Paris, 1885).

Dahra, a district of Algeria, to the east of Mortaganem, and near the coast. In June 1845 a tribe of Kabyles took refuge in a cave here, and on their repeatedly refusing to surrender, Pélissier, the French commander, caused them to be suffocated by kindling large fires of green branches at the mouth of the cave. Some 500 Kabyles thus met their death. See PÉLISSIER.

Daimiel, a town of Spain, 28 miles ENE. of Ciudad Real by rail, with manufactures of woollens, brandy, &c. Pop. 9652.

Daimios, the old territorial nobles of Japan, who, before the revolution of 1871, enjoyed almost absolute power within their own domains, paying little more than nominal allegiance to the mikado. At the restoration of the mikado, however, they were obliged to surrender their castles and musterrolls to the government, who took away their privileges and relieved them of the duty of paying allowances to their retainers. See JAPAN.

[graphic]
[blocks in formation]

Dairy is a word used in speaking of a number the cows calve, and this goes on year by year from of cows kept for milking purposes, or to indicate the age of two or three (depending upon size and the buildings in which Milk (q.v.) is sold or manu- condition) until ten years old, when all should, factured into Cheese (q. v.) or Butter (q.v.). The byre without exception, be replaced by heifers. A ring or cow-house should be connected by a covered way appears on the horn to mark each year after the with the milk-house proper, and the arrangements third year, and by this the age can be determined. for ventilation made so perfect that it should not Where winter dairying is also practised, the cows be possible to detect in the vicinity of the milk any are made to calve at all times of the year, so that smell from the cows, pigs, or other source. The a number come in possibly every week, to replace milk-house should on no pretext be made a common others that have ceased to milk satisfactorily. The storeroom for meat, game, onions, or any material temperature of the cow-house has to be maintained which will taint the air and then the milk and the at such a high point, to keep up the full flow of cheese or butter, as the case may be. The first milk during winter, and the feeding is made so essential in a dairy is the absolute cleanness not forcing and unnatural that the constitutions of cows only of the floors and walls of the building, but of would show the effects of this high-pressure system all its furnishings. This is secured by daily wash- if they were kept to calve another year. In conseing and by the scalding or steaming of all vessels quence, few farmers who adopt this system of or implements which come in contact with milk management retain their cows more than one milkor its products; the object being to destroy the ing period. They shut them in the house both microbes which live and multiply in milk and summer and winter, and give a full supply of food bring about its acidity and decay. The thermo- all the while, to maintain their condition. Some meter in the dairy should stand at 55° F. in sum- send them to auction as soon as the yield of milk mer, and 60° F. in winter. At temperatures higher falls to the net cost of its production. Others than these milk is liable to spoil, owing to the attempt to feed the cows after this until they put greater activity of the above-mentioned germs; on flesh, so that they command a higher total price many degrees below this it gets chilled, and will and a higher rate per stone in the fat market not manipulate satisfactorily. An abundant supply than ordinary milking cows. Unquestionably of pure water is necessary, and means for boiling the system of changing cows after one milking water must also be provided, not only to secure period pays farmers who are favourably situated for scalding water for washing, but to raise, when the disposal of milk to private families, better than necessary, the temperature of the products of milk keeping them for a number of years and bringing during manufacture, or maintain a suitably high them round' to calve each season; yet there is one temperature in the air of the cheese-room or the serious drawback as regards the suspension of the milk-house. A small steam or gas engine is improvement of dairy cattle, by neglecting the frequently employed in a dairy conducted on a selection of calves for rearing from the best milking large scale, to supply the power necessary for a mothers. The system is only possible, without centrifugal Cream Separator (q.v.), also for churn- doing serious injury to the breeds of cattle, because ing whole milk or cream, and at times for driving it is not general throughout the country, but conthe compressed-air refrigerator. The latter is used fined to dairies supplying milk to large centres of to lower the temperature of vaults in which fresh, population. summer-made butter is stored until the winter season, when the prices for good grass' butter are high. As the cost of the necessary machinery is considerable, the method can only be made to pay when the business is extensive.

[graphic]
[ocr errors]

Dairying has developed much within recent years. The growing demand for milk in large towns has increased the volume of the milk-trade, and modified the system of management. Summer dairying, while suitable for the making of cheese, and so far for butter also, must be supplemented by winter dairying to keep up the supply of milk and fresh butter throughout the year. For summer dairying it is usually arranged that the cows calve during March, April, and May, so that they go to pasture when they are coming to the period at which, with a proper supply of succulent food and suitable surroundings, they should develop their greatest yield of milk. They lie out day and night, and have the whole summer and early autumn before them-the period in which grass, the most natural food of a cow, is most abundant, best, and cheapest. In some instances the grass is supplemented by 2 or 3 lb. a day of cotton-seed or other cake, and when the grass begins to fail in autumn, some variety of green food, as cabbages, rape, vetches, &c. As frost begins to appear the cows are housed at night, and in spite of liberal and careful feeding, fall off in their yield of milk. Nevertheless, it is the better practice to house them in good time, because they keep in better condition during winter than if left out too long, and for the few remaining weeks of the milking period they give a larger average return. All naturally dry off,' some more rapidly than others. Milking should be stopped abruptly at the end of the year-experience points to this being the best and simplest method of drying off cows at this season. After two or three months of rest,

Eight to ten cows is a sufficient number for each milker, and the operation should be performed as quietly and as expeditiously as possible. Men are usually employed in England, and women in Scotland. When cows give a large flow of milk, or when it is wanted for town consumption, milking is done thrice daily; but in the great majority of cases throughout the country it is only performed morning and evening. Heavy milking cows consume a large quantity of water, which should be supplied to them at least twice daily. Cows not in milk are often allowed to drink only once a day, though it would be better to let them do so twice. To offer tepid water to a cow immediately after calving is an unnatural and altogether unnecessary precaution; she should have cold, but not iced, water in small quantities, and given frequently until she is satisfied. Cows consuming & large amount of sloppy food and roots do not require much water.

It is important that the water should be pure and clean. Outbreaks of typhoid fever among children have been traced to cows drinking water contaminated with the germs of this disease. Though sewage irrigation grass is extensively used, under the soiling' system, by cowfeeders near to towns (Edinburgh, for example), no injurious results have been traced to this practice. Irrigation grass has been largely superseded within recent years by supplies of better quality got from immense crops of Italian ryegrass (Lolium italicum), grown without irrigation by means of heavy and repeated dressings of nitrate of soda. In no place can this system be seen to greater perfection than around Edinburgh. In some parts clover and vetches take the place of ryegrass. Succulent food is essential for the production of large returns of milk. As the grass season ends in October, the succulent portion of

[graphic]
« PrécédentContinuer »