COWS. 27 



was. I am glad to see a growing feeling of protest 

 against the necessity of fattening in order to win, as 

 the ambitious must certainly do now, upon the lists 

 of the Royal. 



I must advise you further, my young friend, that 

 however pretty an idea it may be " to crop th' en- 

 ticing bud," there is exceeding danger to your herd 

 if they be allowed to browse upon copse or fences as 

 they are coming into leaf. It is a fertile source of 

 " red water," if not worse. 



You will often, to your sudden alarm, see a cow 

 apparently in pain at the first glance, deliberately 

 chewing a bone which she has picked up, until she 

 literally foams at the mouth. I thought my best 

 Guernsey had gone mad when I first saw a case. 

 This propensity observant and ingenious breeders 

 have made use of so far as to keep a small box of 

 crushed bones beside their calves, in the delighted 

 belief that they had discovered a royal road to the 

 formation of osseous frame. 



The Irish near the coast boil down fish for their 

 cows ; nor is the taste of the milk affected thereby. 

 The Orcadian has often to rough it on the mucous 

 seaweed that fringes the seaboard. 



A propos to the doctrine that genteel manners pay, 

 I find it recorded by Buffon, " that oxen which eat 

 slowly are more capable of work than those which 

 eat quick. " Oxen," he adds, " fed on dry lands are 

 more lively, vigorous, and healthy, than those on 

 low humid grounds. All are stronger on hay than 

 grass." 



Oxen when idle— otiosus 60s— were to be supplied 



