30 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



moisture, and soon learn to allay tlieir thirst by eating before the dew is 

 dissipated, and on that account eat more than if they could go to water. 



"In the county of Suffolk, calves are usually weaned soon after 

 Christmas ; when they are fed with lukewarm skimmed milk and water, 

 having bran or oats in it, and some very sweet hay by them, till the 

 grass is ready ; though if the farmer have carrots, these form an excel- 

 lent article of food, and render the use of Oats unnecessary. About two 

 gallons of milk daily are sufficient for the support of a calf until he 

 begins to eat. It should be given regularly at the same hours ; and he 

 should be kept as quiet as possible, as rest is found to promote his 

 growth materially. 



" In Ayrshire, calves intended to be reared for dairy cows are fed on 

 milk for the first four, five, or six weeks, and are then allowed four or 

 five quarts of new milk at each meal, twice in twenty-four hours. Some 

 never give them any other food when young except milk, and lessen the 

 quantity when they begin to eat grass, or other food, which they gen- 

 erally do when about five weeks old, when grass can be had ; and the 

 milk is wholly withdrawn about the seventh or eighth week. But if 

 reared in winter, or before the grass rises in spring, they must be longer 

 supplied with milk, as a calf will not so soon learn to eat hay or stra^v, 

 nor thrive so well on them alone as it will on pasture. Others feed 

 partly with meal mixed in the milk, after the third or fourth week ; or 

 gradually introduce some new whey along with the meal, and afterwards 

 withdraw the milk altogether. Hay-tea, linseed jelly, treacle, &c., are 

 also sometimes used with advantage ; but milk,^hen it can be spax-ed, is 

 by far the best as well as the most natural food. 



" Another mode of rearing calves has been suggested by his Grace, 

 the late Duke of Northumberland, the design of which is to render the 

 use of new milk unnecessary, while the expense is reduced in the pro- 

 portion of two-thirds. It is effected in the following manner : let half 

 an ounce of common treacle be well mixed with a pint of skimmed milk, 

 then gradually add one ounce of finely powdered linseed oil cake, 

 stirring it until the mixture be properly incorporated, after which it is 

 to be added to the remainder of a gallon of milk ; and the whole, being 

 made nearly of the temperature of new milk, may then be given to the 

 animal ; after a short time, the quantity of pulverized oil cake may be 

 increased. This method is said to have been advantageously adopted ; 

 but Lord Egremont has used linseed jelly, in the proportion of a pint to 

 a gallon of skimmed milk, without treacle, and it did not answer. 



" An infusion of hay, called indiscriminately hay-tea or hay-water 

 has been also applied to the purpose of rearing calves with the smallest 

 quantity of milk. In order to make this infusion, such a portion of fine, 

 sweet hay cut once or twice, is put into a small earthen vessel, as will 



