408 FARMING FOR LADIES. [chap. xxi. 



COW kindly, and coax her to yield her milk, 

 the animal will withhold a large portion of 

 it, and acquire a habit of doing so, until it 

 at last becomes gradually dried up. Good 

 temper, it may be truly said, is the foun- 

 dation of happiness to us all ; and in no 

 servant, out of the nursery, is it more neces- 

 sary than a dairy -maid ; for as to a ma7i 

 milking a cow, the fellow should be put in 

 petticoats, and, in Ireland, would be hooted 

 by every woman in the village. 



There is perhaps no animal more suscep- 

 tible of kindness, nor more pointedly resent- 

 ful of ill-treatment, than a cow ; for if beaten 

 and driven hastily, or even if spoken to 

 harshly, or scolded at, she will take a dislike 

 to that person, and withhold her milk ; though 

 yielding it freely to another who uses her 

 gently, and speaks to her softly. We are 

 unacquainted with the impulse which enables 

 the cow to "hold her milk;" but that she 

 has the power of retaining it, is well known 

 to every one accustomed to the dairy. 



If the cow be unruly while being milked, 

 it must be done in the house, for the purpose 

 of having her head secured, and even her 



