Ch. XXXVIII.] ON VEAL. 449 



flesh coarse, even if it can be made fat. Tliis, indeed, is one of the most 

 frequent as well as annoying diseases to which the animal is subject; and 

 though not commonly fatal, is yet sometimes so violent that the calf, 

 beginning to droop, and feeling extreme pain, refuses to suck. Medical 

 remedies should be then immediately applied : a mild purgative should be 

 first given; after which the medicine commonly known as the " calves' 

 cordial" may be administered, along with the frequent use of thick gruel, 

 and occasional warm mashes of bran mixed with a little pea or bean flour *. 

 In its earlier stages, it is said that a little decoction of rennet is eff"ectual ; 

 and in Essex, where calves are more commonly suckled than in any other 

 part of England, the following remedy is used ; — 



Balls composed of the powder of fenugreek, flour, and powdered chalk, made up with 

 ale, to be given twice a-day, to the amount of two ounces weij^ht ; or fenugreek seed, 

 previously reduced to powder, is beat up with a couple of new laid eggs, the shells being 

 also finely powdered, and made into a proper consistence with gin, the quantity of which 

 should be increased after the first day. Or, two tea-spoonsful of rhubarb, and a table- 

 spoonful of peppermint-water mixed together : and, if one dose does not stop it, a 

 second is given with a little red wine added -f-. 



Chalk is, however, one of the best preventives, and a lump of it should 

 always be hung up in the pens of sucking calves ; but it is said, in the Sur- 

 vey of Buckinghamshire, that the scouring may be cured by merely sprink- 

 ling cold water on their loins. Judging from common circumstances, it 

 would be thought to have a contrary effect ; but the simplicity of the 

 remedy renders it at least worthy of trial, as, if not productive of good, it 

 is not likely to do harm. In the opposite disease of costiveness, a little 

 warm mutton broth, or water in which a piece of fat bacon has been well 

 boiled, will generally be found to afford relief J ; or, if very obstinate, two 

 ounces of Epsom salt may be dissolved in it. 



DAIRY ESTIMATES. 



The profit upon the fatting of calves for veal has been variously esti- 

 mated, and must necessarily differ according to the nourishment afforded by 

 the cow, and the price which can be obtained for the meat. Mr. Alton says, 

 "that a thriving calf which can be got newly dropped at from 6s. to 8s. may 

 be raised on the milk of one cow to the value of 505. or (50s. by the time it is 

 four or five weeks old ; and to 41., or more, when six or seven weeks of 

 age. If it be kept much longer, it would be proper to give it more than 

 the milk of one cow ; and by the time it is nine or ten weeks old, it will 

 in ordinary cases sell at from 5/. to 11. ; the calculation among farmers 

 skilled in that branch of dairy-husbandry being, that milk is worth at 

 the proper season, and when a thriving calf is fed, from B^d. to 4d. per 

 Scotch pint, or about l|c/. to 2d. per quart; and many have used their 

 milk in feeding veal when they could have sold at these prices." § 



This, it is to be observed, alludes to the markets of Glasgow and Edin- 

 burgh ; yet the estimate made by Mr. Main, in the vicinity of London, 

 supposes — "That if a calf be suckled for ten weeks, he will weigh from 

 eighteen to twenty stone dead weight, and will fetch about 5/. ; from which 

 is to be deducted 30s., for which the calf might have been sold at a week 

 old, and the salesman's commission : thus leaving 3/. 5s., or 6s. 6d. per 

 week for the cow's milk. That a good cov/ will fatten oft' two calves while 



* See Youatt's " Cattle." p. 559. 

 ■f- Essex Report, vol. ii. p. 281. 



J Gen. Rep. of Scotland, vol. iii., p. 76. Ayrshire Rep. p. 441. 

 § Alton oa the Dairy Husbandry, p. 95. 

 VOL. II. 2 G 



