Page:Willich, A. F. M. - The Domestic Encyclopædia (Vol. 1, 1802).djvu/455

423&#93; CAL for this purpose. The principal ingredients of which are, a small quan tit y of linseed-oil-cake finely pulverized, which may be increas- ed as occasion may require, in pro- portion as the calf becomes accus- tomed to it, and gradually mixed with some skimmed milk, sweet- ened with treacle. This must be made nearly as warm as new milk, whin first taken from the cow. An infusion of hay, called indiscri- minately hay-tea, or hay-water, mixed with linseed, and boiled down to the consistence of a jelly, has likewise been tried with suc- cess ; as also a species of water- gruel, consisting of nearly one- third barley, and the remainder of oats, ground very fine. A similar composition is used in the county of Cornwall; the only difference being the addition of scalded or skimmed milk. These are some of the principal modes adopted for the rearing and weaning of calves ; from which, in general, the rest differ but little. The fattening of calves, from the esteem in which their flesh is held, is an objeel: of importance, especi- ally in the vicinity of London, where the lands are not so profit- able for breeding cattle, as in other parts of the country; and the me- thods used for that purpose are as various as those for rearing them. Since the improvements which have taken place in rural economy, calves have a much greater variety of food than before. Grains, po- tatoes, malt-dust, pollard, and turnips, together with sweet hay, now constitute their common ali- ment. But, in order to make them fine and fat, the best and most efficacious way is, to keep them as clean as possible, by ele- vating opg iij such ■■ aiiinner. CAL W-i that the sun. may not have too great power over them, and to such a height above the level of the ground, that their urine may pass off; by giving them fresh litter every day, and suspending over the coop a large chalk-stone, so that they can easily lick it. Be- sides this, it is usual to bleed them when they are about a month old, and again just before they are slaughtered ; which practice contri- butes in a considerable degree to the beauty and whiteness of the fiesh, and is therefore more frequently repeated by some persons ; bur, this is not altogether necessary : twice bleeding being fully suffici- ent for that purpose, in the opinion of the most experienced breeders. It is, however, to be observed, that those calves which are intend- ed for bulls, or to be gelt for oxen, ' should be selected as soon as pos- sible ; as for the latter operation they should not be older than twenty days. Distempers. From the first day of their birth, calves are subject to various distempers, which require great attention. The earliest is that generally called the scouring, for which an ingenious correspon- dent in the Annals of Agriculture (vol. xix. p. 437) prescribes a mix- ture of powdered chalk and wheats meal wrought into a ball with gin, as a medicine that may be given with safety.' They are also liable to be hoven, in which case the thr Listing of a penknife through that part of the swelling which rises highest near the hip-bone, and in- troducing a large quill into the ori- fice, have been attended with suc- cess in relieving them". ' The skouic is another distemper which is par- ticularly fatal to calves, and attacks them 3 few days after their birth. E - i The