Ch. XXXVIII.] ON VEAL. 447 



clialk, and others give them a ball, or two or three, made of linseed 

 jelly and barley-meal, in order to render them fat in less time than 

 could be done with milk alone*. It is also not uncommon to give 

 them, between the time of their being suckled, about a wine-glassful of 

 common gin, mixed up with as much flour as will make it into balls 

 about the size of a pigeon's egg, which are forced down the calf's 

 throat by drawing out his tongue f : the object of this being to stupify 

 the animal ; and, thus rendering him quiet, to promote his improvement. 

 On this practice of putting two calves to the same cow, and always allow- 

 ing her own to have its fill, besides the difficulty of getting a stranger calf 

 to suck her, there occurs that of ascertaining how that can be correctly 

 managed with advantage to his fattening ; for if he be allowed to suck before 

 the stranger, he will thus be filled with the poorest sort of milk, and the 

 other will obtain the stroakings, which, though perhaps less in point of 

 quantity, is of far richer quality : while if the stranger be first suckled, he 

 may perhaps not leave sufficient for the cow's own calf. 



The practice of bleeding those calves intended for the butcher, is,'com- 

 mon among many persons, who imagine that the veal is by such means 

 rendered whiter ; the operation is therefore often repeated, and the quantity 

 of blood taken away is generally as much as the strength of the animal will 

 allow; others, however, consider twice, with two quarts at each time, as 

 sufficient, and many ex]jerienced breeders view it as altogether injudicious. 

 It may, perliaps, have the effect of rendering the meat more delicate; but 

 we think it cannot but impede the growth of fat. 



The district of Strathaven, and some of the neighbouring parishes in 

 Lanarkshire, have long been celebrated for the excellence of the veal there 

 produced ; and the plan pursued is simply this : — 



The calves are all suckled by iiand, and some farmers give milk 

 to them only sparingly for three or four weeks, from an idea to render 

 their appetite more keen when at length plentifully supplied ; but others, 

 with as good effect, give them a full supply from first to last. For a 

 week or two after they are calved, they can only consume about one- 

 half of a good cow's milk ; but the quantity is gradually increased to 

 as much as the young animal can drink. Thus, by the time it is four 

 weeks old, it will consume the entire quantity ; and in two or three 

 more, if it be of large growth, and thriving, it will probably take the 

 greatest part of the milk of two cows. It is, therefore, common to 

 give to the very young calves, or rather to those which are being 

 reared for stock, the milk that is first drawn from the cow — which is 

 weak, and abounding in serum — and to give the last drawn, or 

 richest part of the milk, of two, or perhaps three cows, to those which, 

 being advanced to five or six weeks old, it then becomes expedient to 

 raise promptly to the greatest degree of size and fatness. 



Some mix eggs, and others put meal into the milk, in order to 

 increase its nutriment ; but the best feeders do not approve of these 

 admixtures, as they say it darkens the flesh. Bleeding is not approved, 

 nor there ever practised ; neither are infusions of linseed, or barley, 

 ever used, nor any other food given than an abundance of pure milk : 

 chalk is, however, never omitted J. 

 Nearly the same practice is pursued in a place called Abbey-Holme in 



* Middleton's Survey of Middlesex, second edition, p. 426. 

 f Complete Grazier, sixth edition, p. 60. 



X Alton on the Dairy Hubbandry, chap. iii. sect, i; ; and Quarterly Journal of Agri- 

 culture, vol. v. 



