The heifer should not be pampered, nor yet poorly fed or half starved, so as to receive a check in her growth. An abundant supply of good healthy dairy food and drink will do all that is necessary up to the time of having her first calf, which should not ordinarily be till the age of three years, though some choose to allow them to come in at two or a little over, on the ground that it early stimulates the secretion of milk, and that this will increase the milking propensity through life. This is undoubtedly the case, as a general rule; but I think greater injury is done by checking the growth, unless the heifer has been fed up to large size and full development from the start, in which case she may perhaps take the bull at fifteen or eighteen months without injury. I have had several come in as early as two years, and one at less than twenty months. This last was not by design, however, and I would rather have given a considerable sum than had it happen, as she was an exceedingly beautiful pure-bred Jersey, and I was desirous to have her attain to good size and growth. Even if a heifer comes in at two years, it is generally thought desirable to let her run farrow for the following year, which will promote her growth and more perfect development. The feeding which young stock often get is not such as is calculated to make good-sized or valuable cattle of them. They are often fed on the poorest of hay or straw through the winter, not unfrequently left exposed to cold, unprotected and unhoused, and thus stinted in their growth. This seems to me to be the very worst economy, or rather no economy at all. Properly viewed, it is an extravagant wastefulness which no farmer can afford. No animal develops its good points under such treatment; and if the starving system is to be followed at all, it had better be after the age of two or three years, when the animal’s constitution has attained strength and vigor to resist ill treatment. To raise up first-rate milkers, it is absolutely necessary to feed on dairy food even while young. No matter how fine the breed is, if the calf is raised on poor, short feed, it will never be so good a milker as if raised on better keeping; and hence, in dairy districts, where calves are raised at all, they ought to be allowed the best pasture during the summer, and good sweet and wholesome food during the winter. CHAPTER VI. CULTURE OF GRASSES AND OTHER PLANTS RECOMMENDED FOR FODDER. As already stated, the grasses in summer, and hay in winter, form the most natural and important food for milch cows; and whatever other crops come in as additional, these will form the basis of all systems of feeding. The nutritive qualities of the grasses differ widely; and their value as feed for cows will depend, to a considerable extent, on the management of pastures and mowing-lands.