562 PHYSIOLOGY AT THE FARM. 



boiled linseed is added to the mess. Five Ib. of linseed will 

 make about seven gallons of gruel, and suffice for five good- 

 sized calves. As soon as they take freely to this . food, the 

 new milk may be replaced with that from the dairy, and the 

 calf is encouraged to indulge in a few sliced carrots, green hay, 

 or linseed meal, or finely-crushed oilcake. Among the multi- 

 tudes of substitutes for milk that have, at different times, been 

 recommended, we have found nothing better than those pre- 

 viously referred to, or linseed two parts, and wheat one part, 

 ground to meal, and boiled to gruel of moderate thickness, and 

 then mixed with an equal quantity of skimmed milk. It is 

 true we have omitted any allusion to the 'Irish Moss ' which 

 calves seem to relish well, though it does not prove of a fat- 

 tening nature. Tor the lot of calves named (25 to 30) a 

 couple of hundredweight of this article is found a desirable 

 addition, and lasts throughout the season." * 



One of the great objects of our treatise is to point out the 

 sources of the errors into which a blind aim at economy car- 

 ries the practical farmer, as well as the opposite errors into 

 which the amateur falls by a determination to succeed at any 

 cost. The too great use of skimmed milk in the early feeding 

 of calves has proved a very false economy. 



Playfair says, " It sometimes occurs in England that calves 

 are allowed to suck only for a few days, and afterwards are fed 

 upon skimmed milk. In separating cream from milk, we 

 remove most of its butter as well as part of the caseine. 

 Skimmed milk is therefore destitute of the principal ingredient 

 destined by nature for the support of respiration and sus- 

 tenance of the temperature of the young animal. The pro- 

 portion between unazotised and azotised matter is completely 

 altered, and the nutrition of the animal is placed in an un- 

 natural condition." 



'.'- . * Bowick, ' English Journal of Agriculture, ' pp. 140, 141. 



