THE DAIRY QUESTION — THE COMING STYLE. 251 



The disposition to hold up the milk may, in most cases, 

 be overcome by patience and gentleness, and feeding the 

 cow while milking ; bathing the teats and udder with luke- 

 warm water and gently handling them, will almost always 

 induce her to "give down'' her milk, and once the habit 

 is fixed it will never be forgotten. 



As to the calf, it should of course be allowed to be with 

 its mother for the first tw^enty-four hours, as it is necessary 

 to its welfare to draw the first milk ; but, after this period, 

 it should be taken entirely out of sight and hearing of its 

 mother. 



Of course success in this direction will not always be 

 attainable ; but if a young cow be made the subject of the 

 experiment, and especially if she is being fed so as to in- 

 crease her flow of milk and render its retention beyond 

 one day incompatible with her comfort, it will seldom fail ; 

 and once this step is gained, the calf can be taught to 

 drink milk from a pail for the first two weeks and then 

 be fed on slops, potatoes, bran, corn-meal, or from two to 

 four ounces (no more) of cotton-seed meal a day, mixed 

 with the bran, until able to graze, and then the owner will 

 no longer be obliged to share the milk, or be dependent on 

 the life of the calf for any yield at all from its mother. 



The introduction of "blue blood" among the ill-used, 

 degenerate Florida cows, is a far better method of improv- 

 ing the ^tock than by the general importation of pure- 

 blood cows. 



Again and again has this been tried, and with disaster 

 in almost every instance. Sometimes out of a dozen or 

 more fine stock, imported from Northern or Western 

 States, not one has survived the change ; Jerseys, Devons, 

 Ayreshires, Durhams, Holsteins, all have gone the same 

 road. 



And yet, in spite of this ill-fortune, some of the younger 



