With respect to the use of hay-tea--often used in this country, but more common abroad, where greater care and attention are usually bestowed upon the details of breeding--Youatt says: "At the end of three or four days, or perhaps a week, or near a fortnight, after a calf has been dropped, and the first passages have been cleansed by allowing it to drink as much of the cow's milk as it feels inclined for, let the quantity usually allotted for a meal be mixed, consisting, for the first week, of three parts of milk and one part of hay-tea. _The only nourishing infusion of hay is that which is made from the best and sweetest hay, cut by a chaff-cutter into pieces about two inches long_, and put into an earthen vessel; over this, boiling water should be poured, and the whole allowed to stand for two hours, during which time it ought to be kept carefully closed. After the first week, the proportions of milk and hay-tea may be equal; then composed of two-thirds of hay-tea and one of milk; and at length, one-fourth part of milk will be sufficient. This food should be given to the calf in a lukewarm state _at least three, if not four times a day, in quantities averaging three quarts at a meal_, but gradually increasing to four quarts as the calf grows older. Toward the end of the second month, beside the usual quantity given at each meal--composed of three parts of the infusion and one of milk--a small wisp or bundle of hay is to be laid before the calf, which will gradually come to eat it; but, if the weather is favorable, as in the month of May, the beast may be turned out to graze in a fine, sweet pasture, well sheltered from the wind and sun. This diet may be continued until toward the latter end of the third month, when, if the calf grazes heartily, each meal may be reduced to less than a quart of milk, with hay-water; or skimmed milk, or fresh buttermilk, may be substituted for new milk. At the expiration of the third month, the animal will hardly require to be fed by hand; though, if this should still be necessary, one quart of the infusion given daily--which, during the summer, need not be warmed--will suffice." The hay-tea should be made fresh every two days, as it soon loses its nutritious quality. This and other preparations are given, not because they are better than milk,--than which nothing is better adapted to fatten a calf, or promote its growth,--but simply to economize by providing the simplest and cheapest substitutes. Experience shows that the first two or three calves are smaller than those which follow; and hence, unless they are pure-bred, and to be kept for the blood, they are not generally thought to be so desirable to raise for the dairy as the third or fourth, and those that come after, up to the age of nine or ten years. Opinions upon this point, however, differ.