REARING CALVES. 



437 



cultural industry of the country. To produce 2 lbs. of veal, in fact, 

 I have sliown that something like 22 lbs. of milk must be consumed ; 

 but it is evident that 1,200,000,000 of pounds of milk represent an 

 amount of nutri; ive matter superior in value to 120,000,000 of pounds 

 of veal. Could llie production of the addi'ional quantity of meat in 

 the course of the second month be eflected by means of any other 

 food less costly than milk, which is itself a fluid of great value as 

 food, with ordinary forage, for example, or linseed tea, or oil-cake, 

 &c., the state of the question would be changed, and there would 

 then be no doubt of the advantage to the community of the addi- 

 tional supply of butcher-meat. This indeed is so well understood, 

 that all the efforts which have been made to improve upon the ordi- 

 nary and simply natural mode of rearing young cattle have been 

 directed with a view to economizing milk. The interesting work 

 of M. Ernest Perrault, from which I am about to make several ex- 

 tracts, was not written with any other purpose. 



M. Perrault set out Avith the view of ascertaining experimentally, 

 1st, whether the large quantity of milk generally allowed to sucking 

 calves is really indispensable, and whether it is possible to diminish 

 it without detriment to the animals ; 2d, whether a portion of the 

 milk can be replaced by hay-tea, an article prepared by pouring 14 

 or 15 pints of boiling water upon a pound of fine meadow-hay, and 

 infusing for a few hours. 



The observations were made upon three calves taken after wean- 

 ing. A was kept for 94 days on the usual allowance to calves at 

 Feuillasse ; B had a smaller quantity of milk, and from 42d day 

 after birth had an increasing allowance of solid food ; C in the 

 course of the comparative experiment had 476 pints of hay-tea, and 

 as it is impossible to regard the infusion as of higher nutritive value 

 than the article from which it is prepared, I shall set down this drink 

 as equal to 28J lbs of hay. The allowance of milk was stopped 48 

 davs after the weaning. 



A, B, and C' were "kept on their respective rations for 95 days. 

 The three were kept for the first 18 days on milk entirely, during 

 which it was calculated that each had had from the mother 337 

 pints H3re are the rations in a tabular and comparative manner. 



