288 FIELD AND FERN. 



through from end to end for mottoes, and feeling 

 most thankful for " Ca^ the yowes to the knowes.-'^ 



The " Puir Mallies'^ have been silently encroaching 

 on the county. South of Carrick, especially, the 

 Galloways have had to yield to the sprittle-faces, 

 and " Galloway for ^oo" becomes a truer saying than 

 ever. On the subject of the best cow districts there 

 is much diversity of thought ; and some will have 

 it that Cunningham, Cumnock, Dunlop, and Kil- 

 birnie rank highest. "It^s a Kilbirnie cow^^ is a 

 passport at once ; but still, many lean to the notion 

 that the best are to be found between Kilmarnock 

 and Paisley, Largs, and Kilmalcolm, and West down 

 Clyde on the Mearns. 



A calf sucking would spoil the county theory as 

 to the shape of the " vessel,^' and hence all calves, 

 however promising, are pail-fed. The great majority 

 scarcely ever touch new milk after the first six 

 weeks, and then get a very scanty allowance of skim 

 milk or hay gruel for six weeks more. They are, in 

 fact, " dragged up^^ rather than reared to queyhood, 

 and are put on a rough damp bite at six months. 

 This treatment keeps the horn fine and the paunch 

 big, whereas sweet feeding would do precisely the 

 opposite. At six months their value will be about 

 j82, and at fourteen months they seldom fetch more 

 than £^ lOs. to o€5, as no estimate can be formed of 

 their future milking properties until they are two 

 years old, and therefore a buyer would work in the 

 dark. Some few are put to the bull at fifteen months. 



