445 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST, 



fjAN. I, 1887* 



special bottles. M. Nicolas commenced with 12 cows; 

 in 1878 he had 22 ; in 1883, 210, and at present, he 

 has neirly 300. He confines himself to one race — 

 the Xormand. It is this breed which is peculiar to 

 the rich pistures of Normandy, and that yield tlie 

 famous IsiL'ny and Gournay butters. The Normandy 

 or " Got( ntin " cow is a voluminous animal, and is 

 in%'ar!ably recognised by her brindled hide. The 

 Cotentin was formerly a good beef-producing cow, but 

 this has now become secondary to the milking quality 

 — some cows yielding from 24 to 32 quarts daily — 

 which is of course exceptional. 



The cows are purchased always in calf in Normandy 

 and kept for two years. Before being introduced 

 into the general shed, they are placed during four 

 or five weeks, in a little, special farm called the 

 "quarantine.'' This precaution has completely pre- 

 vented the introduction of the foot-and-mouth dis- 

 ease. Eight quarts of milk is the average daily yield 

 of each cow. The morning milk is placed iu wrought 

 iron pans, plunged all the day in marble troughs, 

 through which runs a stream of fresh water. The 

 cows are a second time milked at noon. At five in 

 the evening, the two milkings are mixed, submitted 

 to a cooling process and poured into special glass 

 bottles — with name of farm engraved thereon, — of f 

 of a quart to 5 quart each, hermetically closed and 

 forwarded to the central depot in Paris to be dis- 

 tributed to the branch depots, and then to clients 

 at their domicile at 14 to 16 sous the | quart, fol- 

 lowing season. The general expenses amount to one- 

 third of the selling price. 



M. Nicolas delivers from 1,300 to 1,600 quarts of 

 milk daily in Paris, and he aims to secure unifor- 

 naty of composition in butter caseum and sugar. A 

 leading chemist analyses samples of milk, and once 

 .a week the analysis is published iu a leading city 

 journal. The sheds and dairies are not only models 

 of care and cleanliness, but the soil is also studied 

 for the cultivation of the forage and the application 

 of fertiliziug agents. The scientific history of each 

 field is kept and the special plant-food in which it 

 is deficient, supplied. About 24 tons per acre of farm- 

 yard manure, specially azotised is the average applied. 

 Vast quantities of cake are consumed. The action of 

 each commercial manure on the various plants raised 

 is recorded as well as the influence of the food on 

 the general health of the stock, and in the produc- 

 tion of milk. M. Nicolas keeps his farm expeediture 

 with the same precision that he bestows on his wine 

 transactions. The capital expended, represents about 

 430 fr. per acre, and the annual sales of the milk, 

 amount to 350,000 fr.: that, which leaves a handsome 

 margin for profit. M. Nicolas believed that with 

 scientific aid united to ordinary commercial exacti- 

 tude, it was possible to pursue practical farming eco- 

 nomically and profitably, and he has succeeded. 



Profpsstr Holdeflei.'is of Breslau, makes cows 

 contribute to their own dietary by employing skim 

 milk in the rations to the extent of four to eight 

 quarts daily even if the milk be acid. In distillery 

 grains, cows absorb a much superior quantity of 

 Gaelic acid. The influence of this skim-milk diet tells 

 most favorably on the richness and nutritiveness of 

 the yield of milk. Oue-and-a-fourth quart of skim 

 milk contains 46 grammes of albumen, 63 of car- 

 burets, and 3 of fatty matters. By judiciously com- 

 bining the usual feeding stuffs the farmer in employ- 

 ing skim milk co\dd economise in the matter of pur- 

 chased food. M. Holdefleiss gives as a daily type 

 ration, 8 to 11 lb. of hay ; 40 lb. of sliced mangolds ; 

 8 to 11 lb. of cut straw, chaff and issues ; 5 quarts 

 of skim milk and 2 lb. of oil cake. These propor- 

 tions can be modified following circumstances. 



The Oomte de Bessenitz's experiments on fattening 

 hogs, point to very practical conclusions. The animals 

 were fed on crushed maize and cooked potatoes, made 

 into a me.ss with boiling water and butter milk, but 

 given cold. Others had crushed barley and rye, with 

 cooked, maslitd pi)tatots wetted with butter milk or 

 scullery wash. The results proved that maize was 

 more favorable to hog fattening than the same quan- 

 tity of biarley and rye ; aud farther that it is more 



profitable to diminish the cereals and to augment the 

 quantity of potatoes iu the feeds. 



Professor Wilckens of Vienna after a long series 

 of interesting statistics, and Lootechnic comparisons, 

 arrives at the fullowing conclusions :— The age of a 

 bull has no determining influence on the sex of the 

 progeny. On the contrary, in the case of cows and 

 generally young ones, their tarly calves are females, 

 while with regard to older cows the contrary is 

 observed; also rich feeding tendu to produce female, 

 and the poor dietary male calves. 



It appears that the " Mistletoe bougb," though 

 pretty iu song aud story, is not at all popular in 

 Normandy, where it is a veritable plague iu the apple 

 orchards, although it is profitably exported to England. 

 A deputy is to introduce a Bill into Parliament, mak- 

 ing the extirpation of mistletoe compulsory, as such 

 also exists iu the case of May bug.s, &c. Birds and 

 notably thrushes are very partial to the berries of 

 the mistletoe and they are the agents which propa- 

 gate the parasite. If the branch, on which the 

 parasite commences to sprout, be not cleared effect- 

 ually of the nuisance nothing cau extirpate it later, 

 save the amputation of the branch. A law-suit is pend- 

 ing to decide if a farmer who keeps poplars, on which 

 to grow mistletoe for the London market, can be 

 allowed to continue to keep up that nursery for con- 

 taminating orchards in his vicinity. 



ANCIENT HINDOO PHARMACY. 



From a paper in the Archiv der Fharmacie we extract 

 the following interesting notes on medicine and pharm- 

 acy as practised by the ancient Hindoos. This race, 

 it is well known, presented high intellectual attain- 

 ments, which, together with the fact that Indian 

 fauna and flora are peculiarly rich, is probably the 

 reason why they have left in their writings distinct 

 traces of intimate acquaintance with the science of 

 medicine. In the Vedas, notably in Rig- Veda, Samu- 

 Veda, aud Atharva-Veda, we have many interesting 

 facts regarding their modes of treatment, and these 

 indicate, what we would expect, that much of the 

 efficacy of the remedies employed was attributed to 

 the religious and other ceremonies which accompanied 

 the preparation and admiui.straticn of physic. The 

 holy Soma, (A.-ciUjiias acida), for example, had the 

 credit of being the basis of the most eflicacious 

 remedies, and it was said to drop from the celestial 

 fig-tree in the Himalayas. The physicians formed a 

 distinct caste, called I'aidc/a, and were esteemed al- 

 most as highly as the Brahmins. Migasthems, am- 

 bassador of Silencus Nicator (300 B.C.), states, from 

 personal observation, that the Vaidga method of 

 treatment consisted as much in regulation of diet as 

 iu administering physic. It is not the case that 

 they derived their knowledge from Grecian sources, 

 for until 327 n.c there was no direct communication 

 between the two countries except isolated journeys 

 by early philosophers (such as Scylas, about 515 B.C.). 

 There is no mention of the Grecians in the Vedas ; 

 but it is possible that knowledge of Hindoo medicine 

 may have come to the Grecians through the Persians. 

 It is noteworthy, too, that translations from the Vedas 

 exist in Tamul, Tibethan. Arabic, and Persian works ; also 

 through the Tibethan into Sanscrit, in which langu- 

 age medical literature holds high rank. 



Pupils of the Vaidga were received at the age of 

 12, and their curriculum lasted for 5 or 6 years. 

 Thfir admission, which took place in the winter 

 season and at full moon, was attended with elaborate 

 religious ceremonies. The instruction given consisted 

 of lessons in minor surgery, such as bandaging and 

 elementary anatomy, performed on dummies consist- 

 ing of various fruits and wax-coated models ; and the 

 preparation and proper uses of medicinal agents, 

 which we may put down as materia medica and 

 pharmacy. Under practice of physic, such subjects as 

 ajitidotes, mental diseases, diseases of women and 

 children, and external treatment had a place ; pathology 

 and chemistry were also, to a limited extent, included 

 in the required knowledge of the accomplished physi- 

 cian. 



