The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1890-07-16
A QUEENS DAIRY.
MILK AND BUTTER ON VIC.
TORIA'S TABLE.
The Dairy is Handsomely Fitted mp
Building Near Windsor Castle
A Fine Herd-Other Feat.
ures OF the Farm.

As all students of history know, Wind.
sor Castle stands on sharp bluff over
looking the river Thames, and in the
midst of one of the most beautiful pas
toral valleys in the world. The domain
of this ancient stronghold has an extent
of many acres, to practically use which
the late Prince Consort established the
Shaw farm within its boundary. One of
the most interesting features of this is
the dairy. This building is of yellow
brick, with sandstone facings. It tcon-
sists on the ground floor of the milk
room, the churning-room, and the scald-
ing-zoom; the upper floor contains the
rooms set apart for the use of the woman
in charge; the milk-room is fitted up
with due attention to labor saving. The
walls and the floor are of subdued color
ing, being lined with encaustic tiles; the
shelves and the butter-table are of ordi
nary veined marble; the decoration
though simple is in excellent taste, con-
sisting of several small portrait medal.
lions in bas- relief of the royal children, a
few pieces of antiquated porcelain, and
small fountain at either end. In
the center of one side wall
stands the butter table, on which pre-
sides bisque figure of nymph empty
ing stone jar; the milk vessels are
shallow, white china jars of two gallons
capacity each. The COWS which supply
the milk are MIXED twice daily, at 5 A.
NJ. and 8 z. M. The milk is skinned
twice day, and butter is churned cu
six days of the week except when the
court is at the castle; then, when required
for immediate consumption, butter is
made twice every day. The dairy herd
numbers twenty head of Jerseys, beauties,
all pedigreed cattle; to supplement
these, thirty-ive head of non-pedigreed
shorthorn COWS are kept. These latter
are equal in appearance to pure bred
shorthorns. There is also herd of pure
bred shorthorns, sixty head in number,
which are q comeIy lot. The treatment
of the COWS in milk is as follows: They
are put or pasture about the 18th of
April for midday relaxation until the
middle of May, when they range both
day and night. Then, according to the
state of the weather, they are brought in
about the 18th of September, or the
first week in October. They arc allowed
daily exercise at pasture until the second
or third week in November, when they
are finally taken up for the winter.
The dairy COWS during the non-pastur-
ing months of the year arc fed three times
during every twenty-four hours. The
allowance is liberal, and consists of cut
fed; the component parts are chopped
hay, chopped roots (thc yellow mangel is
prcferred) wheat bran, crushed oats, and
about two pounds of corn meal subdivdicd
through the three feelings. The COWS
which are in full flow of milk have daily
IN their feed an extra allowance of two
pounds of linseed cake A large lump
of rock salt is kept in every manger;
two COWS stand in twin stall and share
water tank between them. Extreme
care is taken to keep the cow stables at
an even temperature and fully ventilated;
thus animal heat is economical and the
capacity of the cow is increased as milk
producing machine.
In March last one hundred head of
young stock calves and yearlings were in
the stables of the Shaw farm. This
farm proper consists of eight hundred
acres of pasture land, and one hundred and
fifty acres of arabic. There are in all
on the Shaw farm twenty Clydesdale
horses; of these ten are mares from
which three to five foals are annually
obtained. The system in vogue is to sell
!! the colts and to retain the fillies. The
glory of the Shaw farm is in its pigs;
these are super-excellcnt. In one pen
resides a Berkshire boar which is gem
in his family: the creature is dish-faced,
of most attractive countenance, his
nose is upward, and absolutely perfect,
being button. shaped, with a latent
power for roofing equal to a double
weed -grubbcr with steam attachment; D.;
close by is his beauteous mate, and also
near at hand arc to be found many of
their youthful progeny. There are some
specimens of the large white Yorkshire,
as also of the small Windsor Whites. To
complete the Shaw farm pretty sheet of
ornamental water faces an aviary where
handsome breeds of poultry are kept.
As the dairy herds could not consume
all the pasturage of the grass lands,
flock of four hundred head of cross
bred ewes is maintained. The animals
are half-bred Cheviots and Leicesters.
The f1eeceis medium and the mutton ex-
cellent. These ewes are bred to Halnp-
shire Downs, the lambs thus produced
are sold fat toward the end OF the season
as s'hoggets. In August, the ewes are
annually sold off, being then in good
flesh and ripe for slaughter. In the same
month also lean four-year-old ewes are
purchased in the south of Scotland, which
arc shipped by rail direct to Windsor. A
stringent reason for this change in the
focks is that the rich lowland soil causes
the feet to become delicate, and more
hardy focks are needed to take the place
of those fattened and sold off. Last
March the lambs on the Shaw farm
which had one and all been dropped at
pasture were in a most thrifty condition,
being then about thirty days old.
An annex to the Shaw farm is the
Flemish farm, two miles from the GEN.
trail range of its buildings. 1t consists
of 100 acres arabic, and 200 acres pas
ture land. Here the Clydesdale horses
are bred and stabbed; here also are herds