This meat, to be truly good, delicate, fine flavoured, and tender, ought not to be more than five or six weeks old, and, of course, fed exclusively upon the milk of the mother. Writers on cookery gravely tell us, that the whiteness of veal is partly caused by the calf licking chalk. This is nonsense. The chalk is given to prevent calves from scouring, not to make their flesh white. However, whiteness is no proof of veal being good and juicy; it is caused by frequent bleeding. The flesh of the bull calf is said to be the firmest, but not so white. The fillet of the cow calf is sometimes preferred for the udder. The kidney of good veal is well covered with healthy looking fat, thick and firm. The bloody vein in the shoulder should look blue; if it be of any other colour, the meat is stale. Fresh veal is dry and white. When it is spotty and clammy it is stale. The kidney is gone when the fat or suet upon it is not firm. The kidney goes first.

25. Lamb that is fresh will have the veins bluish in the neck and fore-quarter. If there be a faint smell under the kidney it is not fresh. When the eyes are sunk in the head, it is a sure sign the lamb has been killed too long. Grass lamb, which is the only lamb that is in perfection, comes in in April, but it is better in May and June; that is to say, when men with hard hands can afford to eat it, and when there are green peas to eat with it. House lamb, for those who can afford to pay for it, and like to eat it, may be obtained all the year round.