70 D o M E s T i c ANIMALS. 



them have access to some good hay ; next, I reduce the quan- 

 tity of new milk, and give them sweet milk minus the cream, 

 and by degrees teach them to drink coppered milk, feeding ten 

 or twelve together in a trough. This I consider better than 

 milk w r hich is just on a change from sweet to sour. As soon as 

 practicable after there is a good bite of grass, I turn them into 

 pasture, even with the cows, for they know not their dams. 

 I still feed them with milk until about three months old, and 

 all through the season if it can be had. In this wise calves are 

 hearty, learn easy to eat anything which may be offered, and 

 will winter better than calves which have drawn the milk from 

 cows, and have received 'more knocks than nubbins.' They 

 are also more gentle, easier turned to the yoke, or to milk, and 

 are not afraid of their masters ; but, on the contrary, learn to 

 know the hands that feed them. By giving them a good 

 chance the first winter, they generally make good thrifty 

 cattle." 



4. Milking. In reference to milking, Martin Doyle says: 

 " Cows in general are milked but twice a day, morning and 

 evening; but some of the Durham cows, particularly when in 

 full season and abundantly fed, will require to be milked at 

 noon also. In this case nothing is really gained in the quantity 

 of milk, and its quality is weakened, as twelve hours are re- 

 quired for the due chemical preparation of the milk. There- 

 fore the tendency to this want of retention in a cow is not to 

 be encouraged ; the milk should only be drawn off at supernu- 

 merary times, if the udder be excessively distended, and the 

 milk flows spontaneously. At each regular time of milking, 

 the contents of the udder should be completely drawn off the 

 last drop is the richest : when there are two, three, or more 

 cows, the dairy-maid, if she understands her business, will go 

 with a separate vessel and milk the strippings into it until 

 each udder is perfectly dry. This small portion of rich milk 

 will give her moro cream than a larger quantity, and she re- 

 serves it, if she be a prudent person, for her own tea. 



" A cow should be handled with exceeding gentleness, other- 



