50 BOARD OF AGRICULTUEE. 



become useful breeders. I asked Dr. Salmon about it just 

 as he was leaving, and he said that there was good reason 

 for this belief. Where the disease is the result of contagion, 

 or is transmitted by germs, as the veterinarians pretty gener- 

 ally agree that it is, it may be understood that there is a fair 

 chance that after three times aborting a cow will resume her 

 usefulness and her value. 



Mr. Wheeler. If the suggestion of Prof. Miles is cor- 

 rect, that those cows that aborted still continued to breed at 

 every period, but lost their calves, then that remedy cannot 

 be relied upon. From my own investigation and experience, 

 I have known it to run a long time, and I have had a 

 great many such abortions in the same animal, provided it 

 is abortion each time, as Prof. Miles suggests. I am in- 

 clined to think that is the true solution of the matter. 



Mr. Brown. I know a farmer who has been feedinsr one 

 hundred milch cows, with the usual trouble from abortion 

 until he began to feed ensilage, then it almost disappeared 

 from his herd. He separated fifteen heifers and fed them for 

 several months before they calved, on ensilage, and every 

 one of them carried her calf the natural time. 



Mr. Emery. Perhaps acetic acid would have had just as 

 wholesome an effect as ensilao;e. 



Mr. Waterman. The only cases of abortion I have 

 known in my region have been in herds fed from silos. 

 They have lost heavily. 



Mr. Paul. I have listened to the discussions at the meet- 

 ings of this Board for a great many years, and the impres- 

 sion which I have before felt has been emphasized here this 

 afternoon. Suppose a person ignorant of farming should at- 

 tend these meetings to o-et knowledo^e and lis^ht? Would he 

 not go away with the impression that we came to no agree- 

 ment and do hot understand the matters we discuss ? 



The Chairman. Would you advise that we should never 

 discuss a subject upon which we are not fully agreed and do 

 not fully understand? The object of these meetings is to 

 bring out the experience of different individuals, and their 

 -opinions upon the several questions discussed. It is a well- 

 grounded opinion among many who have written on the 

 subject, that a grp^t deal of this abortion may come from 



