THE GALLOWAYS. 105 



neglected or stinted in his food during the first fifteen months, 

 he does not attain his natural size, nor does he feed so well 

 afterwards. 



"The practice of allowing the calf to suck its mother, is 

 objected to by some, and is apparently slovenly, and not econom- 

 ical ; but the rearing of cattle is considered of more importance 

 than the money that could be realized from the milk and butter 

 saved by starving the calf. It is also imagined that the act of 

 sucking produces a plentiful supply of saliva, which materially 

 contributes to the digestion of the milk and the health of the 

 calf. The Galloway farmer maintains that an evident difference 

 may be perceived between the calf that sucks its dam, and 

 another that is fed from the pail the coat of the former is sleek 

 and glossy, indicating health ; while the hide of the other is dry 

 and hard, nor is the unthrifty appearance removed until some 

 time after the animal has been weaned and fed wholly on grass. 

 It is also said that a greater proportion of calves, fed from the 

 pail die of stomach complaints, than of those that suck the cow. 



" It is desirable that the calves should be dropped in the latter 

 part of winter or in the beginning of spring. A Galloway 

 farmer attaches a great deal of importance to this, for he finds 

 that nearly a year's growth and profit is lost if the calf is born 

 in the middle of the summer. 



" The regular Galloway breeders rarely sell any of their calves 

 for veal;* that is obtained only from those who keep cows for 



" *It is an old proverb in Galloway, that a good farmer would rather kill his son 

 than a calf. ' The people of this country do very seldom, or rather not at all, kill 

 or sell their calves, as they do in other places, so that it is a rare thing to see veal, 

 except sometimes, and at some few gentlemen's tables. They give two reasons for 

 this : one is, because, they say, a cow will not give down her milk without her calf, 

 and so, should they sell or kill the calfe, they should want the use of the cow ; but 

 this, I suppose, might be helped, would they but traine up the cow otherwise at her 

 first calving. The other reason is of more weight, viz.: since a great part of their 

 wealth consists in the product of their cattel, they think it very ill husbandry to 

 sell that for a shilling, which, in time, would yeeld pounds.' Symson's ' Large 

 Account of Galloway,' 1689." 

 5* 



