470 THE FARMER'S AND 



Veal should be delicately white, though it is often juicy 

 and well flavored when rather dark in color. Butchers, 

 it is said, bleed calves purposely before killing them, with 

 a view to make the flesh white ; but this also makes it dry 

 and flavorless. On examining the loin, if the fat envelop- 

 ing the kidney be white and firm-looking, the meat will 

 probably be prime and recently killed. Veal will not 

 keep as long as an older meat, especially in hot or damp 

 weather ; when going, the fat becomes soft and moist, the 

 meat flabby and spotted, and somewhat porous like sponge. 

 Large overgrown veal is inferior to small, delicate, yet 

 fat veal. The fillet of a cow calf is known by the udder 

 attached to it, and by the softness of the skin ; it is prefer- 

 able to the veal of a bull calf. 



Mutton. The meat should be firm and close in grain, 

 and red in color, the fat white and firm. Mutton is in its 

 prime when the sheep is about five years old, though it is 

 often killed much younger. If too young, the flesh feels 

 tender when pinched ; if too old, on being pinched it 

 wrinkles up, and so remains. In young mutton, the fat 

 readily separates ; in old, it is held together by strong 

 strings of skin. 



In sheep diseased of the rot, the flesh is very pale-color, 

 ed, the fat inclining to yellow, the meat appears loose from 

 the bone, and if squeezed, drops of water ooze out from 

 the grains ; after cooking, the meat drops clean away 

 from the bones. 



Wether mutl-on is preferred to that of the ewe ; it may 

 be known by the lump of fat on the inside of the thigh. 



Lamb. This meat will not keep long after it is killed. 

 The large vein in the neck is bluish in color when the 

 fore-quarter is fresh, green when becoming stale. In the 

 hind-quarter, if not recently killed, the fat of the kidney 

 will have a slight smell, and the knuckle will have lost its 

 firmness. 



