TREATMENT OF FARM-STOCK. 55 



questions, and are so regarded by advanced farmers. It is as 

 absurd to suppose that one can obtain large milk-supplies 

 from cows, or that cattle can be fattened, by the use of forms 

 of food which chemistry proves do not contain the rich 

 elements of nutrition, as to dream of fertilizing fields with 

 dung destitute of those salts which plants require. In the 

 time of the old agriculture all was hap-hazard in this direc- 

 tion, the actual money value of no one article of food was 

 clearly known : now the whole field is illuminated by a flood 

 of light. It would seem that analogy might have taught the 

 lesson that animals, like human beings, thrive best when fed 

 at proper intervals, and that no more food should be placed 

 before them than can be consumed with a relish. Animals 

 fed at any time when most convenient in winter, and, to save 

 trouble, furnished with inordinate supplies of food, become 

 nervous and restless, lose their appetites and flesh, and 

 come out bad from the barn in the spring. Nature teaches 

 that habits of regularity and moderation lie at the basis of 

 animal health and strength ; and, when hints from nature 

 are supplemented and supported by the facts of analytical 

 research, a farmer is dull indeed who fails to learn from the 

 teachings thus afforded. Animals, if well cared for, carded 

 twice a day, and kept cleanly, thrive best in the barn in 

 winter. During a period of ten years my animals have not 

 been from under cover during a single hour in any day in 

 winter. Water is brought to them through pipes into the 

 stalls, and the manure is removed as soon as dropped, and 

 the cards are used freely. In this way the health of the 

 animals is kept perfect, and the flow of milk is regular and 

 in full quantity. As a matter of experiment, when a herd 

 of seventeen cows were supported at the farm, in the winter 

 of 1871, they were "permitted the range of the yard one hour 

 on several moderately cold days, and, in consequence, the 

 falling-off in milk was about nine quarts in the herd each 

 day when exposed. I have been greatly interested in ob- 

 serving the effects of cold upon the milk-secretion in both 

 summer and winter. 



During one summer, in the hot days in July and August, 

 the animals resorted to the lake to drink, and, after slaking 

 their thirst, they would wade into the water, and remain, 

 sometimes an hour or two, with the legs half immersed. 



