AYRSHIRE BREEDING. 145 



tends to morbid conditions of living. The increase of tuberculosis 

 all over the world seems to indicate that while we have advanced in 

 the matter of pedigrees, and record making, we have not been quite 

 so successful in making strong and vigorous animals, nor in keeping 

 them so when we have made them. That this is so is largely because 

 of the peculiar conformation of the cow. The ideal dairy cow is a 

 wedge shaped animal sloping from front to rear. In this differen- 

 tiation there is a transformation in the relative size and activity of 

 the vital organs. In winter she cannot be exercised like the horse 

 or the ox, and so the lungs of the cows, unless the stables be well 

 ventilated, and comfortable are peculiarly liable to disorder. So 

 prevalent has this disease become in Europe that physicians from all 

 the principal nations deemed it important enough to call a Congress 

 in Paris to discuss the whole question. The large mortality of calves, 

 among the dairy breeds bears evidence of the highly organized 

 physique, and its greater susceptibility to tuberculosis. Weak 

 bowels, and unthrifty growth tell their own story, and too often end 

 in the death of the calf. There is perhaps no better testimony to 

 the vigor of an animal, or the skill of the stockman than the health 

 and thrift of his calves. The more highly born the calf the more 

 sensitive it is to unsanitary quarters, and to kindly and rational 

 treatment of all the farm animals the calf is perhaps the most 

 responsive to proper living. Unless the calf pen is dry it can never 

 be warm. Heat, comfort, and contentment are absolutely essential 

 to all infant life. If withheld, a stunted growth will be the result 

 even if the calf has escaped death. The care of the calf during the 

 first twenty days of infancy is of more importance than any amount 

 of care and attention bestowed afterwards. 1 consider the attention 

 to the calf the most important of all the labor of a live stock farm. 

 The best bred stock, and the best known animals in the stockman's 

 world are those that were well nourished in infancy. 



Never were the prizes in the breeders profession greater than now, 

 and be who can offer the cleanest bill of health, and point to an 

 unbroken record of animals free from disease may always have the 

 preference in the sales market. Among farm animals we have no 

 parallel of the dairy cow, our illustrations must come from the 

 human. The man of to-day who is capable of prolonged effort in 

 his profession or business, who scores the greatest success is the one 

 whose life has been most rounded out by diversity of scene and 

 occupation. Generally he is an athlete whose body is the ready 



