_Breeding Cows._--The period of gestation in the cow is about nine months. The earliest time at which it is at all safe to breed from these animals is when they are one year and eight months old. Shorthorns breed early, whilst the mountain varieties are seldom in calf before they are three years old. The practice of very early breeding, though approved of by some extensive rearers of stock, is not to be commended for sound physiological reasons. Cows calve at all times of the year; but the most favorable time is near the end of winter, or in early spring. The cows should at this time be in fair condition--neither too fat nor too lean. Parturition should take place in a roomy, covered place, provided with abundance of clean litter. If such a place be not available, a nice paddock close to the house must answer. After having given birth to the calf, the cow should receive an oatmeal drink, or some warm and nutritious mash, and afterwards be liberally fed. The cow is usually allowed to run dry four or five weeks before calving: this period should not be curtailed; on the contrary, it would be better to extend it to six weeks, so as not to allow her condition to become too poor. _The Wintering of Young Stock._--There are certain localities wherein the rearing of young stock is one of the easiest tasks which devolve upon the farmer. Well-drained and shady fields, yielding abundance of sound herbage, and through which streams of _pure_ water unceasingly flow, are just the proper _locale_ for economically feeding young animals. But there are districts in which those favorable conditions do not exist; yet they are not better adapted to other uses. It is only the feeders of young stock in wet, moory, sandy, or undrained, heavy soils who really have cause for anxiety and incessant watchfulness. In rearing a calf the great object is to cause a rapid and uninterrupted increase in the weight of its body. At first the food of the animal should be furnished solely from the maternal founts; but at an early stage of its existence--about the third or fourth week--other food may wholly, or in part, be substituted for the natural aliment. It is important that no great interval should elapse between the hours of feeding. The digestive apparatus of the young animal is small, and its powers of assimilation are very energetic. The food with which it is supplied should, therefore, be given in moderate quantities, and very frequently. This is, in fact, what takes place when the calf is allowed free access to its dam; for the instant it feels a desire for aliment, the supply is at once available. Of course, there may be objections to this plan on the score of economy; but as a general rule, too much liberality cannot be exercised in feeding growing animals; and there is nothing more certain than that the calf which is illiberally fed will never be developed into a valuable, matured animal. When carefully tended from their birth,