494 = 225 
Practical Agriculture. 
high-bred stock proving barren, and so much of their loss 
milking property, is due to the system of autumn calvin 
Nevertheless, agriculture is by no means an art of rigid a 
tainties and invariable formulze ; and though spring may 
theoretically the right time for calves to drop, calves are st 
reared with advantage when coming at other seasons, partic 
larly where there exists no adequate proportion of natu;' 
pasture. Calves must fall in September or October, becaij 
the arable-land farmer has his greatest supply of food in t 
winter ; and by house-feeding, with a milk diet largely sup 
mented and very speedily replaced by all sorts of good thin! 
the calves grow very rapidly, and a greater number can 
reared in this way than by simply letting one cow suckle o 
calf. 
Calves, again, intended for veal, are dropped in October a 
house-fed, turning out in spring nearly as big as yearlings unc 
the spring-calving and suckling system. 
Milk and butter are at their highest value in winter ; a 
hence dairy farmers in many districts, as in the best da 
regions of the Continent, prefer that their cows shall calve 
November, December, and January. 
Kemoving the Treatment of Calves. — When a calf is to be raised by hand. ; 
calf from its jg question how long it should be allowed to remain at fi: 
with its mother. Some dairymen take it away at once, i 
suffering the cow even to see it; unless, indeed, the dam b(i 
heifer, when a few days of suckling will make her easier to m;; 
afterwards. By escaping all " worrit" after her progeny, shes 
supposed to give her milk more kindly to the pail ; but, if bet: 
for the dairy, this is certainly worse for the little calf. A V' f| 
common practice is to leave the calf for three days with its .\ 
In Devonshire, by a prevailing though not universal custc, 
the calf is taken from the dam at eight or ten days old, sL 
given, for the first week, about 5 pints of new milk twice a di ; 
then some of the new milk is withdrawn, and an equal quanta 
of skimmed milk added for two or three weeks ^ when all 
new is taken away, and a few turnips and oatmeal are gii 
until the time for turning to grass. Commonly, except in 
severest weather, the calf never enters a shed until calvii 
working, or fattening. This shows the constitution and bar 
hood of the Devon breed, also the mildness of the south-west » 
climate. 
To what extent the practice of suckling prevails can har 
be ascertained, but references are made to this point in 
notices of the different breeds. Hereford calves, for exani]|i 
are generally suckled on their dams for three to six montki 
a 
while the bull-calves often run with them for eight or nB 
J 
