138 My Little Farm 



them better calves ; and though the cow has 

 something to say to it, I have not known her to 

 fail once so long as her own calf was one of the 

 number. When, at the end of three months, 

 she has finished with four, she will accept a fresh 

 lot of three, provided her own is continued with 

 these for a few days before finally dropping out. 

 Whether these things can be done in the field I 

 do not know. I have done them in the house, 

 with the cow tied up, and I think this is much 

 better for the cow than to have them out with her 

 all day or all night. In the wild state a cow feeds 

 her own calf quite well, and I question whether 

 she has a fifth of the milk yielded by one of mine. 

 Considered from this standpoint of Nature, the 

 achievement ceases to be strange, and there is 

 money in it. 



