TREATMENT OF BREEDING COWS. 241 



But with a thorough bred cow, worth perhaps, $500 or $1,000, 

 the case is different, and if the cause of it can be in any way- 

 overcome, the remedy should be resorted to. In addition to the 

 few remarks we have made, we consider the subject of sufficient 

 importance to introduce a part of a recent discourse on "The 

 Reproductive Powers of Domestic Animals: by Henry Tanner, 

 Professor of Rural Economy in the Queen's College, Birming- 

 ham;" from the Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society, 

 England : 



"An enfeebled condition of the breeding organs is one of the 

 first sources of trouble for the breeder. It seldom precedes, but 

 often accompanies, that delicacy of constitution to which refer- 

 ence has been made. Instead of the females breeding in a 

 regular manner, we find them come into season, again and again, 

 after most irregular intervals. This results from one of the fol- 

 lowing causes: either the female does not become impregnated, 

 or else the embryo is imperfectly developed. The non-impreg- 

 nation of the female, may generally be traced to an excessive 

 fatness in one or both animals, and an absence of constitutional 

 vigor. The breeding powers are most energetic when the 

 animals are in moderate condition, uninfluenced either by ex- 

 treme fatness or leanness. The impregnation of the female is 

 in some cases prevented by natural defect or malformation ; but 

 I am strongly inclined to believe that such cases are compara- 

 tively rare. 



"Many animals are condemned as barren which are only tem- 

 porarily so, in consequence of injudicious feeding and manage- 

 ment, or relatively 30^ in consequence of the male being unsuited, 

 from too close proximity of blood, or from both animals being 

 deficient in constitutional vigor. Examples of each of these 

 cases are frequent. Some very well bred heifers which had been 

 condemned as barren, because, after very persevering trials with 

 various bulls, they failed to breed, I placed for four or five 

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