SECRETARY'S REPORT. 71 



OX on which our observations were made were of the Cotenline 

 breed ; the two animals each about six years old, weighed respect- 

 ively 1232 and 1199 lbs. The products of the cow and the ox 

 were only compared from the first of May to the first of August ; 

 during which time they had such and so much herbage as aftorded 

 ample nourishment. Each day the milk was measured, and the ox 

 was weighed from time to time. The milk yielded by the cow 

 during May, June and July amounted to 470 wine gallons. On 

 the first of May the ox weighed 1199 lbs.; on the 5th of June, 

 1331 lbs. ; on the 15th of July, 1463 lbs ; and on the first of Au- 

 gust, 1494 lbs. He had thus gained in that period (ninety-two 

 days) 295 lbs. The 470 gallons of milk contained 180 lbs. of 

 casein, including insoluble salts ; 141 lbs. of butter and 202 lbs. 

 of sugar of milk, including soluble salts. Admitting that the ox 

 had accumulated half as much fatty matter as was yielded by the 

 cow in the milk, there remain 224 lbs. of lean flesh, which, when 

 dried so as to get rid of the water it contains, will amount to 

 scarcely a fourth of its original weight. The ox then produced 

 only half the ftitty matter, and not quite a third of the nitrogenized 

 matter yielded by the cow ; moreover, the latter had also afforded 

 198 lbs. of another nutritive matter, (sugar of milk.) The cow 

 either consumed more food than the ox, or if she did not, it was 

 consumed to greater advantage." (or both.) 



The observations of M. Durand would have been more complete 

 had the herbage consumed by each been weighed, which does not 

 appear to have been the case ; but he infers from the weights and 

 from an analysis of their excrements that the cow consumed more 

 than the ox, but after remarking upon this and other related points 

 at some length, he concludes as follows, " Thus under what- 

 ever point of view we regard a good milch cow, it appears that 

 she affords (he most economical vieans hy which we can derive from, 

 our pastures the alimentary matters which they contain.'^ And then 

 he adds, " It is proper to observe that the cow which formed the 

 subject of the experiment belonged to the variety aflbrding the 

 best milkers in Europe."* Let us for a moment analyze and com- 

 pare the results here reported. The gain in the ox was 295 lbs., 

 live weight ; deduct two-fifths for ofial, and we have a net gain of 



* Does it not appear also that the ox was as remarkable for thrifty growth, ae 

 the cow for yielding milk ? 



