the operation, especially when the teat is forcibly rubbed down between the finger and thumb in stripping. The consequence of this irritation being repeated is the thickening in a part of the lining membrane, which at length becomes so hardened as to constitute a stricture which at length closes up the orifice of the teat. The stricture may easily be felt from the outside of the teat, and the teat is then said to be corded. After this the teat becomes deaf, aud no more milk can afterwards be drawn from the quarter of the udder with which the corded teat communicates.

2261. Cows are easily rendered troublesome on being milked; and the kicks and knocks which they usually receive for their restlessness only render them the more fretful. If they cannot be overcome by kindness, thumps will never make them better. But the fact is, restless habits were engendered in them by the treatment they received when first taken into the byre, when, most probably, they were dragooned into submission. Udders and teats are very tender immediately after calving, and especially after the first calving; and when unfeeling horny hands tug the teats in stripping, as if they had been accustomed to the operation for years, no wonder that the young and inexperienced cow should wince under the infliction, and attempt to get quit of her tormentor by kicking. Can the creature be otherwise than uneasy? and how can she escape the pain but by striking out her heels? The hobbles are then placed on the hind fetlocks, to keep the heels down. The tail is then employed by her as an instrument

of

annoyance, and it then is held by some one while the milking is going on; or it is tied to the creature's leg by the hair of the tuft. Add to these the many threats and scolds uttered by the dairy-maid, and you will have a faint idea of how a young heifer is broke into milking. Some cows, no doubt, are very unaccommodating and provoking; but, nevertheless, nothing but a gentle course of conduct towards them will ever render them less so. Some cows are only troublesome to milk for a few times after calving, and become soon quiet; others kick pertinaciously at the first milking. In this last case, the surest plan, instead of hobbling, which only irritates, is

for the dairy-maid, while standing on her feet, to place her head against the flank of the cow, stretch her hands forward, and get a hold of the teats the best way she can, and let the milk fall to the ground; and while in this position, it is out of the power of the cow to hurt her. Such ebullitions of feeling, at the first milking after calving, arise either from feeling pain in a tender state of the teat-most probably from inflammation in the lining membrane of the receptacle; or simply from titillation of the skin of the udder and teat, which become the more sensitive as the heat wears off; or the udder, being still hard, gives pain when first touched-and should the udder be difficult to soften, the advice of Mr Youatt may be tried, by allowing the calf to suck at least three times a-day until the udder becomes soft. This will doubtless cure the udder, but it will cause another species of restlessness in the cow when the calf is taken entirely from her. Still, rather let the dairy-maid suffer this inconvenience than the udder of the cow be injured. Be the cause of irritation what it may, one thing is certain, that gentle discipline will overcome the most turbulent temper in a cow.

2263. A few years ago, a plan of drawing milk from the cow was recommended by Mr Blurton, Field Hall, Staffordshire, by introducing tubes into two teats, and milking the other teats at the same time. He was once of opinion that a tube in each teat would draw away all the available milk at the time from the udder; but, finding his mistake in this, he has adopted the following method of milking. I may mention that he names his tubes siphons, but they have not the form, and therefore cannot have the property, of the siphon, which first elevates the fluid in a vessel to draw it over its rim, whereas his tubes just allow the milk to run out of the bottom of the udder through the open teat. His improved plan of milking is this :-" The milker sits down as in the common method, fixing the siphon can

(pail) firmly between his knees: he then takes hold of the near-hand teat with a slight pressure of his right hand, and with his left introduces the small tube of the siphon an inch or more into the teat, putting the thumb on the large tube, to prevent the milk from running out till completely introduced-and so on with the near fore teat, reserving the two farthest teats to be milked by hand. By this method I find that I can milk three teats with my right hand, assisted by the siphons, in the time I can milk one with my left, and this with ease and comfort to myself. I must here also observe, that the action of milking one or two teats by hand, is quite sufficient to induce the cow to give her milk down freely from those milked by the siphons; as I have before observed, the cow does not possess the power of retaining her milk in any one quarter of the udder, while it flows freely from the others."

2264. These tubes, containing a small and larger end, beyond which they cannot pass into the teat, may be made of ivory, bone, or metal. They should be thrown into the pail and milked on before being used, and when taken out of the teat, let fall into the can. On being used, they should be dipped in boiling water and blown through. They do not seem to possess any advantage over the hand; on the contrary, the hand must be employed to complete what they cannot accomplish, and must be in use when they are employed.

"In

2265. Mr Blurton very properly advocates clean milking, and describes a very good plan by which will be drawn away all the milk from an udder much better than by any tube. aftering," he says, "I have adopted the plan of using the left hand to press down the thick milk into the receptacle and teat, at the same time milking with the right hand; then, in a similar manner, discharging the whole from the remaining quarters of the udder." He adds what is very true, that "it must not be supposed that this method is distressing to the animal; on the contrary, her quietness during the process is a satisfactory indication that it occasions no pain, but rather an agreeable sensation.” *

2266. I have said that the udder, in some cases of heifers, becomes uneasy even before calving, (2224,) and they are very subject to inflammation soon after calving. "The new or increased function which is now set up," says Mr Youatt,

and the sudden distention of the bag with milk, produce tenderness and irritability of the udder, and particularly of the teats. This in some cases shows itself in the form of excoriations or sores, or small cracks or chaps on the teats; and very troublesome they are. The discharge, likewise, from these cracks mingles with the milk. The cow suffers much pain in the act of milking, and is often unmanageable. Many a cow has been ruined, both as a quiet and a plentiful milker, by bad management when her teats have been sore. She will also form a habit of retaining her milk, and which very speedily

and very materially reduces its quantity. The teats should be fomented with warm water in order to clean them, and get rid of a portion of the hardened scabbiness about them, the continuance of which is the greatest pain in the act of milking; and, after the milking, the teats should be dressed with the following ointment: Take 1 oz. of yellow wax, and 3 oz. of lard, and melt them together, and when they begin to get cool, rub well in oz. of sugar of lead, and one drachm of alum finely powdered."+

2267. Cows differ very much in the time they continue to give milk, some not continuing to yield it more than 9 months, whilst others afford it for years. The usual time for cows that bear calves to give milk is 10 months. The cow that died in consequence of the corded teats, mentioned above (2136,) gave milk for 3 years, and bore a calf every year. A cow of mine that slipped her calf, and was not again served by the bull, gave milk for 19 months; but many remarkable instances of cows giving milk for a long time are on record. "The immense length of time for which some cows will continue to give milk," says a veterinary writer, "if favourably treated, is truly astonishing; so much so as to appear absolutely incredible. My own observation on this subject extends to four most remarkable cases: 1. A cow purchased by Mr Ball, who resided near Hampstead, that continued to give milk for 7 years, subsequently to having her first and only calf. 2. A large dun Suffolk cow, shown to me as a curiosity by a Yorkshire farmer. This animal, when I saw her, had been giving milk for the preceding 5 years, during which period she had not any calf. The five years' milking was the result of her second calving. During that period attempts had been made to breed from her, but ineffectually. 3. A small aged cow, belonging to a fermier near Paris, that gave milk for 3 years subsequent to her last calf. 4. A cow in the possession of Mr Nichols, postmaster, Lower Merrion Street, Dublin. This animal was in Mr Nichols' possession 4 years, during the entire of which time she continued to give an uninterrupted supply of milk, which did not diminish in quantity more than 3 pints per diem, and that only in the winter months. He disposed of

her for butchers' meat, she being in excellent condition. The morning of the day on which she was killed, she gave her usual quantity of milk."

2268. The same writer enters fully into a subject with which I was not previously acquainted— namely, the possibility of securing permanency of milk in the cow. This is effected, it seems, by simply spaying the cow at a proper time after calving. The operation consists in cutting into the flank of the cow, and in destroying the ovaries of the womb by the introduction of the hand. The cow must have acquired her full stature, so that it may be performed at any age after 4 years. She should be at the flush of her milk, as the future quantity yielded depends on that which is afforded by her at the time of the operation. The operation may be performed in ten days

+ Youatt On Cattle, p. 552.

after calving, but the most proper time appears

to be 3 or 4 weeks after. The cow should be in high health, otherwise the operation may kill her or dry up the milk. The only preparation required for safety in the operation is, that the cow should fast 12 or 14 hours, and the milk taken away immediately before the operation. The wound heals in a fortnight or three weeks. For two or three days after the operation the milk may diminish in quantity; but it regains its measure in about a week, and continues at that mark for the remainder of the animal's life, or as long as the age of the animal permits the secretion of the fluid; unless, from some accidental circumstance

-such as the attack of a severe disease-it is stopped; but, even then, the animal may be easily fattened.

2269. The advantages of spaying milk cows are thus summed up:-"1. Rendering permanent the secretion of milk, and having a much greater quantity within the given time of every year. 2. The quality of the milk being improved. 3. The uncertainty of, and the dangers incidental to breeding, being to a great extent avoided. 4. The increased disposition to fatten, even when giving milk, or when, from excess of age, or from accidental circumstances, the secretion of milk is checked; also, the very short time required for the attainment of marketable condition. 5. The

meat of spayed cattle being of a quality superior

to that of ordinary cattle." * With these advantages, of course, breeders of stock can have nothing to do; but, since the operation is said to be quite safe in its results, it may be presented to the notice of cowfeeders in town.

ON THE REARING OF CALVES.

2270. We left the new-dropped calf comfortably housed in its crib amongst plenty of clean straw, until we should have time to attend to it. Let us now consider how it should be reared until it shall go to grass to provide for itself.

2271. For convenience, the calves' house should be placed immediately adjoining the cow-byre. This apartment is seen at R, Plate II., fitted up with cribs. It is 35 feet in length, and 18 feet in width, and the roof ascends to the slates. Calves are either suckled by their mothers, or brought up on milk by the hand. When they are suckled, if the byre be roomy enough that is, 18 feet in width-stalls are erected for them against the wall behind the cows, in which they are usually tied up immediately behind their mothers; or, what is a less restrictive plan, put in numbers to

gether in large loose boxes at the ends of the byre, and let loose from both places at stated times to be suckled. When brought up by the hand, they are put into a separate apartment from their mothers, and each confined in a crib, where the milk is given them. The superiority of separate calves to having a number together is, that it prevents them sucking one another, after having had their allowance of milk, by malpractice certain diseases may be engenthe ears, teats, scrotum, or navel, by which

dered.

2272. The crib is large enough for one calf at 4 feet square and 4 feet in height, sparred with slips of tile-lath, and having a small wooden wicket to afford access to the calf. The floor of the cribs may be of earth, but the passage between them should be flagged, or of asphalt. Abundance of light should be admitted, either by windows in the walls, or sky-lights in the roof; and fresh air is essential to the health of calves, the supply of which would be best secured by a ventilator in the roof, such as fig.

81. A door should communicate with the cow-house, and another, having upper and lower divisions, into a court furnished with a shed, as k Plate II., which the calves may occupy until turned out to pasture. The crib should be fitted up with a manger to contain cut turnips or carrots, and a high rack for hay, the top of which should be as much elevated above the litter as to preclude the possibility of the calf getting its feet over it. The general fault in the construction of calves' houses is the want of both light and air, light being cheerful to animals in confinement, and air essential to the good health of all young animals. When desired, both may be excluded. The walls of the calves' house should be plastered, to be neat and clean. Some people are of opinion that the calves' house should not only have no door of communication with the cow-house, but should be placed at a distance from it, that the cows may be beyond the reach of hearing the calves. Such an objection could only have originated from an imperfect acquaintance with the character of these animals. A cow that is prevented smelling and suckling her calf, does not know its voice, and will express

tion of milk has been drawn from her by the hand.

2273. The front and door of a calf's crib is represented by fig. 199, in which a is the wicket door which gives access to

it,

bare the hinges, and c is a thumbcatch to keep it shut. This sort of hinge is very simple and economical. It consists of those rails of the wicket intended for the hinges, being elongated towards b, where they are rounded off; and their lower face is shaped into a round pin, which fills and rotates in a round hole made in a billet of wood, seen at the lower hinge at b, securely screwed to the upright door-post of the crib. Another billet d is screwed immediately above the lower rail, b, to prevent the door being thrown off the hinges by any accident. Cross-tailed iron hinges, of the lightness suited to such doors, would soon break, by rusting in the dampness usually occasioned by the breath of a number of calves confined within the same apartment.

2274. A court should be attached to the calves' house. It is 30 feet in length by 25 feet in width, and there should be erected in it, for shelter to the calves in cold weather, or at night before they are turned out to pasture, or for the night for a few weeks before they are put into the larger court when at pasture, a shed k, Plate II., 30 feet in length by 12 feet in width, fitted up with mangers for turnips, and racks for hay. A trough of water w is also requisite in this court, as well as a gateway for carts, by which the dung may

2275. The state of the navel-string is the first thing that should be examined in a new-dropped calf, that no blood be dropping from it, and that it is not in too raw a state. Inattention to this particular may overlook the cause of the navel-ill, the treatment of which is given below; and, insignificant as this complaint is usually regarded, it carries off more calves than most breeders are aware of.

2276. The first food which the calf receives consists of the beistyn. Being of the consistence of the yolk of the egg, it seems an appropriate food for the young calf. On giving it its first feed by the hand, in a crib, it may have risen to its feet, or been content to lie still. In whichever position it is found, let it remain so, and let the dairymaid take a little beistyn in a small dish-a handy formed like a miniature milk-pail, fig. 197, and of similar materials, is a convenient one-and let her put her left arm round the neck of the calf, and support its lower jaw with the palm of the hand, keeping its mouth a little elevated, and open, by introducing the thumb of the same hand into the side of its mouth. Then let her fill the hollow of her right hand with beistyn, and pour it into the calf's mouth, introducing a finger or two with it for the calf to suck, when it will swallow the liquid. Let it get, in handful after handful, as much as it is inclined to take. When it refuses to take more, its mouth should be cleaned of the beistyn that may have run over. Sometimes, when a calf lying is begun to be fed, it attempts to get upon its feet, and, if able, let it do so, and rather assist than prevent it. Some people are afraid to give a calf as much beistyn at first as it can take, because it is said to produce the navel-ill. This is nonsense: let it take as much as it pleases; and as to the navel-ill, it proceeds from neglect of the proper inspection after the calf is born. I have thus minutely described the simple process of first feeding a new-dropped calf by hand, because very absurd modes are adopted of doing this. Nothing is more common than to plunge the calf's head into a large quantity of beistyn, and because the liquid bubbles around its mouth with the breath

ner.

from the nose, and it will not drink, its head is the more forcibly thrust and kept down into the tub. How can it drink with its nose immersed amongst the fluid? and why should a calf be expected at first to drink with its head down, when its natural instinct would lead it to suck with its head up? It should always be borne in mind, that feeding calves by the hand is an unnatural process; nevertheless, it is a convenient, practicable, and easy one, provided it be conducted in a proper manThe young calf must be taught to drink, and a good mode of teaching it is as I have described above. In this way it is fed as often as the cow is milked, which is at first three times a-day at least. After the first two or three days, however, another plan should be adopted, for it should not be accustomed to suck the fingers, as it will not drink without their assistance. The succeeding plan is to put a finger or two of the right hand into its mouth, and holding the small pail of milk with the left under its head, bring the head gradually down into the pail, where the fingers induce it to take a few gluts of the milk; and while it is doing this, the fingers should be gently withdrawn, while the head should be held down in its position with the hand, taking care not to dip the nostrils into the milk. In a few days more the fingers will not be required, and in a few more still the calf will drink of its own accord.

2277. For the first month the calf should have as much sweet milk warm from the cow as it can drink. It will be able to drink nearly 3 quarts at each meal—that is, in three meals a-day, in the morning, noon, and evening, it will drink 8 quarts. After the first month, to the end of the third, it gets its quantity of milk at only 2 meals, morning and evening. It is supported 3 months in all on milk, during which time it should have as much sweet milk as it can drink. Such feeding may be considered expensive, and doubtless it is, but a good calf cannot be well brought up in any other way, for no substitute will answer the purpose of new milk. Some people grudge giving sweet-milk to calves after a few days, and take the cream off it, and give the skimmed milk. This is considered thrifty management; but although it may insure immediate gain in

VOL. I.

the cream, it insures ultimate loss in the calf. It is impossible to derive a double advantage from a given quantity of sweetmilk. If butter is preferred to calves or good beasts at an after period, the immediate wish is attained, and the farmer has had his preference; but he ought to know that he cannot have butter and good beasts from the same identical milk. Others, seemingly more generous, give half-sweet and half-skimmed milk to the calves; whilst some provide a substitute for the milk, by making gelatine of boiled linseed or sago, and give no milk at all. When milk is really scarce, expedients are permissible; but when plentiful, and used merely in the farm-house, or sold, the recourse to expedients is a practical avowal that the farmer does not wish to bring up his stock as he might.

2278. The jelly from linseed, or lythax, as it is called, is easily made by boiling good linseed in water, and while it is in a hot state to pour it into a vessel to cool, where it becomes a firm jelly, a proportion of which is taken every meal, and bruised down in a tubful of warm milk, and distributed to the calves. They are very fond of it, and in the third month of the calf's age, when it can drink a large quantity of liquid at a time, and during a day, it is excellent food for them.

2279. Sago may be prepared in the same way; but without milk it is a very improper food for calves, as it contains no ingredients to afford the substance of muscle or bone to the young animal.

2280. But a better substance for calves than either, in my opinion, is pea-meal. It should not be boiled, but made into brose, by pouring hot water upon it, and stirring the mixture till it is fine. It becomes gelatinous on cooling; and when cold, a portion of it is put into as much new warm milk, and mixed so intimately with the hand, as not a lump of the meal shall be felt in the mixture, which should be of a consistence which a calf can easily drink.

2281. When the calves suck their mothers, and are in large cribs at convenient parts of the cow's byre, in a loose state, they are let out of the cribs to the

2 L