RAISING NEAT STOCK. 181 



the start ; and whose organizations, instead of being impaired for 

 their business, by generations of high early feeding, are, rather, 

 more and more adapted to it. 



We all know that the oldest and best families of Shorthorns, 

 are not remarkable for constitutional elasticity and vigor. They 

 have not great muscular strength, are not nervous and powerful 

 in their action, and are deficient in the procreative faculties. Like 

 the thorough-bred horse, which has also been forced to early 

 maturity, and early decay, for many generations, they have become 

 enervated, and constitutionally delicate. High feeding has done 

 this, in both instances ; and as " a short life and a merry one," in 

 the animal is most profitable to the breeders of beef, and horses fit 

 only for the turf, high feeding has accomplished what was desired- — 

 the gain being greater than the sacrifice. 



Not so, however, with the cow. Her powers mature slowly, 

 and depend very much upon the strength of her constitution. 

 When this is impaired, her value is diminished. For in the work 

 of giving milk, in which her whole life is passed, the tax upon her 

 vital forces is such that none but the most robust can endure it. 

 In establishing a dairy breed, therefore, early maturity, with its 

 accompanying evils, is not desirable. On the contrary, it should 

 be avoided ; and that mode of feeding should be adopted, which 

 will be conducive to health in the individual, and in the breed, and 

 which will in no way exhaust the powers, or shorten the life of the 

 race. 



In addition to this, great regard should be had in raising dairy 

 stock to the effect which diflerent kinds of food produce upon the 

 animal economy. Whatever enlarges the bony structure of the 

 female calf, beyond what is necessary for her strength, is worse 

 than useless. A coarse-boned cow rarely reaches that standard of 

 excellence, both in the quantity and quality of her milk, which is 

 attractive to the breeder, or satisfactory to the consumer. 



So too of the fat. The fat-cells, that tissue of the body in which 

 adipose matter is deposited, are found in fat and lean animals alike 

 — the difference consisting in the amount of their contents and 

 their number only. For the supply of fat, certain organs are 

 provided, which are capable of receiving all that excess of non- 

 azotized compounds, such as starch, oil, &c., which is contained in 

 the alimentary matter taken into the body. Where there is a ready 

 absorption of these compounds into the vessels, fat is produced, 

 especially if with this absorption there is combined a vigorous 



