128 THE COMPLETE GRAZIER. BOOK i. 



water, and carefully closed. At the end of two hours a brown, rich, 

 and sweet infusion will be produced, in appearance not unlike alewort, 

 or strong tea, which will remain good for two days, even during 

 summer. It is to be used in the following manner : 



" At the end of three or four days after a calf has been dropped and 

 the first passages have been cleansed, as already recommended, let the 

 quantity usually allotted for a meal be mixed, consisting, for a few 

 days, of three parts of milk and one part of the hay-tea : afterwards the 

 proportions of each may be equal; then composed of two-thirds of hay- 

 tea And one of milk ; and, at length one-fourth part of milk will be 

 sufficient. This preparation (the inventor of which was, many years 

 since, honoured with a gold medal by the Dublin Society of Arts) is 

 usually given to the calf in a luke-warm state every morning and 

 evening; each meal consisting of about three quarts at first, but 

 gradually increasing to four quarts by the end of the month. During 

 the second month, besides the usual quantity given at each meal 

 (composed of three parts of the infusion and one part of milk), a small 

 wisp or bundle of hay is to be laid before the calf, who will gradually 

 come to eat it ; but if the weather is favourable, as in the month of 

 May, the beast may be turned out to graze, in a fine sweet pasture, 

 well sheltered from the wind and sun. This diet may be continued 

 until towards the latter end of the third month, when, if the calf 

 grazes heartily, each meal may be reduced to less than a quart of milk 

 with hay- water ; or skim-milk, or fresh butter-milk, may be sub- 

 stituted for new milk. At the expiration of the third month the 

 animal will scarcely require to be fed by hand, though, if this should 

 still be necessary, one quart of the infusion given daily, and which 

 during the summer need not be warmed, will be sufficient." 



The economical mode above detailed has been adopted in some 

 counties of England, with the addition of linseed-cake finely pulverised 

 and boiled in the hay-tea to the consistence of a jelly, without employ- 

 ing any milk in the mixture. 1 



In Devonshire the method commonly followed in rearing calves is 

 very similar. The greatest number are usually dropped between 

 Candlemas and May, and some much later ; but the most experienced 

 breeders prefer the early ones. They are permitted to suck as much 

 as they like three times a day during the first week or ten days, after 

 which they are suckled by hand, and fed with warm new milk during 

 three weeks longer. They are then fed, during the two following 

 months, twice a day, with as much warm skim-milk as they can drink ; 



1 In the " Letters and Papers of the Bath and West of England Society," vol. r., we have 

 a singular instance of success in this mode of rearing, by Mr. Cook. In 1787 he bought 

 three sacks of linseed, value 21. 5s., which lasted him three years. One quart of seed was 

 boiled in six quarts of water, for ten minutes, when a jelly was formed, which was given to 

 the calves three times in the course of the day, mixed with a little hay-tea. Thus he was 

 enabled to rear, in 1787, seventeen calves ; in 1788, twenty-three ; and in 1789, fifteen, 

 without any milk at all. He states that his calves throve much better than those belonging 

 to his neighbours, that were reared with milk. Pot-liquor has also been found an excellent 

 substitute for milk ; and it is well known that the great ox bred by Mr. Dunhill (already 

 mentioned on page 21) was chiefly reared on it. 



