WEANING AND BEARING MR. CRAMP'S PRACTICE. 271 



the stomach from feeding on milk. It seldom pays to 

 fatten a calf beyond ten or twelve weeks. 



WEANING AND REARING CALVES. A calf may be 

 weaned by being gradually accustomed to suck milk 

 in a pail through the fingers. Many are reared upon 

 very little milk mixed with hay-tea, linseed, or other 

 slops ; fed on straw in the winter, and in summer 

 upon the common. Such cannot be expected to turn 

 to much account. The best cattle are reared from 

 the teat, well wintered in good shelter, and full fed, 

 until they attain their proper growth. Warmth and 

 dry lodging are of the utmost consequence to the 

 improvement of all young animals. Calves may, 

 however, be reared to good proof, by being suffered 

 to suck a very moderate quantity daily, the bulk of 

 their food consisting of skimmed milk, thickened 

 with oat or wheat meal ; their winter food being 

 carrots or Swedish turnips sliced, and oat-straw, 

 with a small quantity of hay daily. 



To such of my readers as desire to make the most 

 of a single cow, I cannot do better than recommend 

 the perusal of a small pamphlet, published formerly 

 by the board of Agriculture, entitled "Hints to 

 Dairy Farmers ,-" being an account of the manage- 

 ment, food, and produce, of a single milch cow, kept 

 by Mr. Cramp, keeper of the House of Correction at 

 Lewes, in Sussex ; an account which will prove to 

 demonstration, and to the regret of every well-wisher 

 to his country, that our dairy business, the product of 

 which is so precious, and never equal to our con- 

 sumption, is by no means managed in general upon a 

 profitable or the most productive plan. Cutting and 



N 4 



