MILCH COWS. 157 



able looking animal. I believe a calf will make a better cow for 

 being kept in a growing and healthy condition when young. 

 It gives her growth in all the elements together that constitute 

 a good cow. I am not in favor of doing as some of our stock- 

 raisers do, let a calf have the milk of one or two cows and all 

 the meal it will eat until it is eight or ten months old, to see 

 how large an animal they can get, almost worthless, except to 

 relieve some fancy farmer of a few hundred dollars surplus 

 funds. If farmers would make it a point to raise their own 

 cows we should have a much better milking stock than we now 

 have. 



My mode of raising calves is this : I let them suck until they 

 are four or five weeks old ; then I teach them to drink, which I 

 can do with very little trouble ; I then add a small handful of 

 pudding made from two parts of oat, one part corn, one part rye 

 meal, boiled similar to pudding for family use, which prevents 

 them from scouring, and 'they will eat it very readily. As to 

 the best breed for a man to keep depends upon circumstances, 

 whether for butter, cheese-making, or selling milk, and the 

 keeping to be furnished for them. Large breeds of cattle require 

 better feed than some of the smaller kind. In this vicinity the 

 grade Durhams have generally been considered as good for 

 dairying purposes as any. The Ayrshires are getting to be quite 

 common, and are liked very much by those that have had them. 

 Some farmers are introducing the Dutch breed, which are said 

 to be famous milkers, but have not been used in this vicinity 

 sufficiently to judge of their true merits. Good keeping and 

 kind treatment are very necessary to get large returns from any 

 breed of cows.* 



I will venture to suggest to the trustees of this society the 

 propriety of offering a premium for the best herd of cows raised 

 and owned by the exhibitor, for the purpose of encouraging the 

 raising of their own stock, by requiring the herd to consist of a 

 certain number, say not less than fifteen or twenty. 



Benj. p. Hamilton, Chairman. 



NORFOLK. 



From the Report of the Committee. 

 The Committee are sorry to report that with four premiums 

 at their disposal, of the value of over $50, the first being the 



