52 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



gives. In the two instances which I have mentioned of abor- 

 tion in my herd, the heifers became pregnant immediately 

 afterwards without any trouble, and made good cows : so I 

 have no doubt that those two cases resulted from some 

 mechanical injury. 



Mr. STRATTOisr. Perhaps my experience in the matter of 

 ensilage will be as good as that of any one present. I will 

 say that I lost calves by abortion before I began to feed 

 ensilage ; I am now feeding a ton a day, and I have some 

 cases of abortion. So I think it is safe to say that ensilage 

 is neither a cause nor preventative. 



Mr. FiTZPATRiCK. I have not been very much troubled 

 with this disease, yet I have had some abortions'amongst my 

 cows. It is not through excessive feeding, for I do not feed 

 very high. I have had it happen from fright, caused by 

 dropping a trap door with a loud noise behind the cows. I 

 think abortion may be caused by anything that deranges- 

 the system or is injurious to the health of the animal. 

 Then ergot will, of course, cause it. As cows are now kept, 

 they are generally milked too long. We milk up to within 

 a few weeks of the time of calving, which is a severe 

 tax, and tends to constitutional weakness and consequent 

 abortion. 



The Chairman. We have at Amherst, in the county of 

 Hampshire, an institution of our own, an Agricultural Col- 

 lege, where a young man can obtain a better education to fit 

 him for the work of life, and at less expense, than at any other 

 institution in the country. This college has had its troubles ; 

 it has not always, — and I, as one of the trustees, have a 

 right to say so, — it has not always been managed in the best 

 manner ; but Avithin the last few years the trustees have 

 given their attention closely to it, and when we had a man 

 to take charge of that institution, as we did have in the 

 lamented President Chadbourne, it was brought up and 

 strengthened so that it has become a great power, and is 

 being appreciated by the people as worthy of their confi- 

 dence and patronage. We have now at the head of that 

 institution a man who, after the death of President Chad- 

 bourne, and after long search and examination, the trustees 

 invited as President ; a man whose whole heart is in his 



