Charles Dickens.]

THE COW WITH THE IRON TAIL.

149

number of important objects, all seen from a
green hill, as yet, we believe, unknown to our
landscape painters.

But what has this panorama and this green
hill, to do with London milk? Step down
with us to yonder hedge, a little below the
spot where we have been standing. We
approach the hedge—we get over a gate, and
we suddenly find ourselves on the upper part
of an enormous green sloping pasturage,
covered all over with cows. The red cow, the
white cow, the brown cow, the brindled
cow, the colley cow, the dappled cow, the
streaked cow, the spotted cow, the liver-
and-white cow, the strawberry cow, the
mulberry cow, the chesnut cow, the grey
speckled cow, the clouded cow, the black
cow,—the short-horned cow, the long-horned
cow, the up-curling horn, the down-curling
horn, the straight-horned cow, and the cow
with the crumpled horn—all are here—be-
tween two and three hundred—spread all over
the broad, downward sloping pasture, feeding,
ruminating, standing, lying, gazing with mild
earnestness, reclining in characteristic thought-
fulness, sleeping, or wandering hither and
thither. A soft gleam of golden sunshine
spreads over the pasture, and falls upon many
of the cows with a lovely, picturesque effect.

And what cows they are, as we approach
and pass amongst them! Studies for a Mor-
land, a Gainsborough, a Constable. We had
never before thought there were any such
cows out of their pictures. That they were
highly useful, amiable, estimable creatures,
who continually, at the best, appeared to be
mumbling grass in a recumbent position, and
composing a sonnet, we never doubted; but
that they were ever likely to be admired for
their beauty, especially when beheld, as many
as these were, from a disadvantageous point
of view, as to their position, we never for a
moment suspected. Such, however, is the case.
We have lived to see beauty in the form of a
cow—a natural, modern, milch cow, and no
descendant from any Ovidian metamorphosis.

We will now descend this broad and popu-
lous slope, and pay a visit to Friern Manor
Dairy Farm, to which all these acres—some
two hundred and fifty—belong, together with
all these "horned beauties." We find them
all very docile, and undisturbed by our
presence, though their looks evidently denote
that they recognise a stranger. But those
who are reclining do not rise, and none of
them decline to be caressed by the hand, or
seem indifferent to the compliments addressed
to them. In passing through the cows, we
were specially presented to the cow queen, or
"master cow," as she is called. This lady has
been recognised during twelve years as the
sovereign ruler over all the rest. No one, how-
ever large, disputes her supremacy. She is
a short-horned, short-legged cow, looking at
first sight rather small, but on closer exami-
nation you will find that she is sturdily and
solidly built, though graceful withal. " She is

very sweet-tempered," observed the head
keeper, " but when a new-comer doubts about
who is the master, her eye becomes dreadful.
Don't signify how big the other cow is—she
must give in to the master cow. It's not her
size, nor strength, bless you, it's her spirit.
As soon as the question is once settled, she's
as mild as a lamb again. Gives us eighteen
quarts of milk a day."

We were surprised to hear of so great a
quantity, but this was something abated by a
consideration of the rich, varied, and abundant
supply of food afforded to these cows, besides
the air, attendance, and other favourable cir-
cumstances. For their food they have man-
gold-wurtzel, both the long red and the orange
globe sorts, parsnips, turnips, and kohl-rabi
(Jewish cabbage), a curious kind of green
turnip, with cabbage leaves sprouting out of
the top all round, like the feathery arms of
the Prince of Wales. Of this last mentioned
vegetable the cows often eat greedily; and
sometimes endeavouring to bolt too large a
piece, it sticks in their throats and threatens
strangulation. On these occasions, one of the
watchful keepers rushes to the rescue with a
thing called a probang (in fact, a cow's throat
ramrod), with which he rams down the ob-
structive morsel. But besides these articles
of food, there is the unlimited eating of grass
in the pastures, so that the yield of a large
quantity of milk seems only a matter of course,
though we were not prepared to hear of its
averaging from twelve to eighteen and twenty
quarts of milk a day, from each of these two
or three hundred cows. Four-and-twenty
quarts a day is not an unusual occurrence
from some of the cows; and one of them, we
were assured by several of the keepers, once
yielded the enormous quantity of twenty-eight
quarts a day during six or seven weeks. The
poor cow, however, suffered for this munifi-
cence, for she was taken very ill with a fever,
and her life was given over by the doctor.
Mr. Wright, the proprietor, told us that he
sat up two nights with her himself, he had
such a respect for the cow; and in the
morning of the second night after she was
given over, when the butcher came for her,
he couldn't find it in his heart to let him have
her. " No, butcher," said he, " she's been a
good friend to me, and I 'll let her die a quiet,
natural death." She hung her head, and her
horns felt very cold, and so she lay for some
time longer; but he nursed her, and was
rewarded, for she recovered; and there she
stands—the strawberry Durham short-horn—
and yields him again from sixteen to
eighteen quarts of milk a day.

Reverting to the " master cow " we en-
quired whether her supremacy in the case of
new comers was established " mesmerically"
by a glance—or how ? The eye we were as-
sured had a great deal to do with it. The
stranger cow read it, and trembled. But
sometimes there was a contest; and a cow-fight,
with such fresh strong creatures as these,—