The Nursery 119 



cabbage ; from January to May, mangolds ; all 

 given as fully as eaten, and from the moment the 

 young thing feels inclined to eat them. These 

 stuffs, grown at home, come at the lowest cost, 

 and they can often take the place of bag stuff 

 quite successfully, saving much expense. For 

 instance, during summer, the high albumenoid 

 proportion in the vetches makes cake of all kinds 

 quite unnecessary, and an addition of India meal 

 alone completes a well balanced food, at least for 

 the older calves. It seems, too, that through the 

 green vetch, the albumenoids must be conveyed 

 in an ideal form. At least, the calves inform me 

 to that effect every year. In so far as I can see, 

 any animal of the cow kind can be made as fat as 

 possible on green vetches and India meal properly 

 proportioned ; and seeing that I can produce a 

 statute acre of good vetches for .3 ios., I submit 

 it to my masters whether any more economic 

 method of meat production has yet been found in 

 our little islands. Calves, not beef, are my main 

 work, and it is not good to have your eggs in too 

 many baskets ; but I believe that my 3 ios. in 

 vetches, plus about an equal cost in India meal 

 and a little linseed cake in the last month, will 

 finish the fattening of the two biggest bullocks in 

 Ireland, assuming fair condition at the start ; and 

 this is a result which ought to give a profit of 

 50 per cent, on the cost of production. Yet our 

 land lies comparatively idle, our ample capital is 

 exported at 5 per cent, or less, our labour 

 emigrates, the war rages, and the price of beef goes 



