inated into fat and muscle. The breed, then, is
of very considerable consequence in determining, not only the quality of
the meat to the consumer, but its commercial value to the breeder and
butcher.

846. UNDER THE ARTIFICIAL SYSTEM adopted in the rearing of domestic
cattle, and stock in general, to gratify the arbitrary mandates of
luxury and fashion, we can have veal, like lamb, at all seasons in the
market, though the usual time in the metropolis for veal to make its
appearance is about the beginning of February.

847. THE COW GOES WITH YOUNG FOR NINE MONTHS, and the affection and
solicitude she evinces for her offspring is more human in its tenderness
mid intensity than is displayed by any other animal; and her distress
when she hears its bleating, and is not allowed to reach it with her
distended udders, is often painful to witness, and when the calf has
died, or been accidentally killed, her grief frequently makes her refuse
to give down her milk. At such times, the breeder has adopted the
expedient of flaying the dead carcase, and, distending the skin with
hay, lays the effigy before her, and then taking advantage of her
solicitude, milks her while she is caressing the skin with her tongue.

848. IN A STATE OF NATURE, the cow, like the deer, hides her young in
the tall ferns and brakes, and the most secret places; and only at
stated times, twice or thrice a day, quits the herd, and, hastening to
the secret cover, gives suck to her calf, and with the same,
circumspection returns to the community.

849. IN SOME COUNTRIES, to please the epicurean taste of vitiated
appetites, it is the custom to kill the calf for food almost immediately
after birth, and any accident that forestalls that event, is considered
to enhance its value. We are happy to say, however, that in this
country, as far as England and Scotland are concerned, the taste for
very young veal has entirely gone out, and "Staggering Bob," as the poor
little animal was called in the language of the shambles, is no longer
to be met with in such a place.

850. THE WEANING OF CALVES is a process that requires a great amount of
care and judgment; for though they are in reality not weaned till
between the eighth and the twelfth week, the process of rearing them by
hand commences in fact from the birth, the calf never being allowed to
suck its dam. As the rearing of calves for the market is a very
important and lucrative business, the breeder generally arran