164 PATIENCE AND KINDNESS. 



respects advantageous. Instead of depending on tho 

 uncertain or perhaps precarious supply of the dam, 

 which may be more at first than the young animal can 

 consume or digest, and at other times too little for its 

 supply, its food can, by hand-feeding, be regulated to 

 suit the age, appetite, and purposes for which the calf 

 is intended ; other admixtures or substitutes can be 

 introduced into the milk, and the quantity gradually 

 increased or withdrawn at pleasure. This is highly 

 necessary when the calves are reared for stock. The 

 milk is in that case diminished, and other food intro- 

 duced so gradually that the stomach of the young ani- 

 mal is not injured as it is when the food is too suddenly 

 changed. And, in the case of feeding of calves for the 

 butcher, the quantity of milk is not limited to that of 

 the dam (for no cow will allow a stranger calf to suckle 

 her), but it can be increased, or the richest or poorest 

 parts of the milk given, at pleasure. 7 ' 



In these districts, where, probably, the feeding and 

 management of calves is as well and judiciously con- 

 ducted as in any other part of Britain, the farmers' 

 wives and daughters, or female domestics, have the 

 principal charge of young calves ; and they are, no 

 doubt, much better calculated for this duty than men, 

 since they are more inclined to be gentle and patient. 

 The utmost gentleness should always be observed in 

 the treatment of all stock ; but especially of milch cows, 

 and calves designed for the dairy. Persevering kind- 

 ness and patience will, almost invariably, overcome the 

 most obstinate natures; while rough and ungentle hand- 

 ling will be repaid in a quiet kind of way, perhaps, by 

 withholding the milk, which will always have a tendency 

 to dry a cow up j or, what is nearly as bad, by kicking, 

 and other modes of revenge, which often contribute to 

 the personal discomfort of the milker. The disposition 



