CALVING THE FIRST TIME 329 



for the escape of gas. On its withdrawal, the wound in the 

 stomach contracts on account of the opening having been 

 made when that organ was greatly distended. A clean 

 pocket-knife may be used for the operation in a case of 

 extremity; but as there is nothing left on its removal to 

 preserve the channel, a portion of the food blown from the 

 stomach by the force of the escaping gas is liable to lodge 

 under the skin, and in course of time to produce a suppurat- 

 ing sore. The chronic form of the ailment should be treated 

 by the administration of repeated doses of salts, with 2 oz. of 

 a mixture of ground gentian and ginger, or of treacle along 

 with J oz. of carbonate of ammonia or turpentine, 1 as tonics. 

 A mixture of good permanent grasses and other plants, 

 grown on soil naturally fertile, but in a state of Nature, is by 

 far the best food for making the most perfect dairy products. 

 Grass or forage crops from highly-manured land or irrigation 

 meadows, although they may increase the quantity, diminish 

 the quality of milk, and more particularly its products, and 

 make it often more difficult to manipulate in manufacture. 

 The remark relating to quality (which does not refer to the 

 total amount of solids) also applies to cakes and most other 

 supplementary foods given to cows while on the grass. If 

 there be not an objectionable taste or smell, the natural con- 

 ditions are not infrequently changed in some other way a 

 change which would be observed, for example, in the altered 

 texture, and in the keeping power of the butter, or in a greasy 

 condition of the cheese. 



Breeding, and Calving for the first time. The ordinary 

 dairy farmer should not buy, but breed his own stock if 

 possible, paying the greatest attention to selecting the calves 

 of the best milkers to rear for bulls and heifers. When this 

 is done there is less risk from imported disease ; and, as a 

 farmer is able to breed better cattle than he can buy, he can 

 with care produce animals of better quality than are to be 

 found in the market. The milking powers of a herd may be 

 vastly improved within a few years by this means. 



This is no new doctrine, for Marshall's Rural Economy of 

 Gloucester (1789) says, " Dairy farmers should soon be beggared 

 if they had their cows to buy, and that they know what they 



1 Turpentine should not be used too frequently, as animals are liable 

 to die from the effects of turpentine poisoning. 



