Rearing of Calves. 
141 
Ibr other puiposos, the calves are allowed to come at difTerent 
periods, extending from October to May. Hence the calf- 
house previously described has generally a succession of occu- 
pants throughout the season ; and as one lot are ready to be 
removed, and placed loose in a small hovel, with yard attaclied, 
others fdl their places. We begin with new milk from the pail, 
which is continued for a fortnight after leaving the cow. l^hcn 
skim-milk — boiled, and allowed to cool to the natural warmth — 
is substituted to the extent of one-third of the allowance. In 
another week the new milk is reduced to half, and at the same 
time, ]iot hofore, boiled linseed is added to the mess.* As soon as 
they take freely to this food, the new milk may be replaced with 
that from the dairy, and the calf is enc-ouraged to indulge in a few 
sliced carrots and the other dry foods named. Among the multi- 
tude of substitutes for milk that have at different times been re- 
commended, we have found nothing better than those previously 
referred to.j It is true we have omitted any allusion to the 
" Irish moss," which calves seem to relish Avell, though it does 
not prove of a fattening nature. For the lot of calves named, a 
couple of hundredweight of this article is found a desirable addi- 
tion, and lasts throughout the season. 
In rearing calves after this fashion, success greatly depends on 
attention to a few minute details. Not that a list of rations 
should be given for different sizes, ages, &c., but the attention, 
care, skill, and labour needed thus to make good calves, are far 
greater than when either suckling from the cow, or feeding 
with a liberal supply of new milk from the pail, is the system 
adopted. For instance, even in the matter of giving their food, 
a wide difference will be seen in the appearance of two calves, 
the one fed by a careful, painstaking hand, the other allowed to 
gulp down its milk without time for admixture with the saliva. 
This is a very important matter, and one on which success or 
failure very frequently depends. The nearer the process of feeding 
is approximated to the slow, but beneficial, act of sucking, the 
better. Those calves which are in the habit of drinking much 
too fast are generally detected by a glance at their " paunchy" 
* Five pounds of linseed will make about seven gallons of gruel, and suffice for 
five good-sized calves ; considerable allowance must, however, be made for differ- 
ences of quality in the linseed, that from India not being gelatinous enough, and 
therefore boiling hard, instead of " coming down kindly." 
t A gentleman on the borders of Leicestershire, who has been in the habit of 
rearing largely, economically, and well, writes us that "he has tried many 
substitutes for milk, such as hay-tea, oilcake gruel, Irish moss, oatmeal, &c., but 
has come to the conclusion, after considerable experience, that nothing is so 
suitable as milk." Another gentleman, who is one of the most successful mana- 
gers we know of, gives it as his experience, that " the best substitute is linseed 
and wheat ground to meal (2 bush, of linseed to 1 bush, of wheat i, boiled to gruel 
of a moderate thickness, and then mixed with an equal quantity of skimmed milk. 
