THE TIM BUNKER PAPERS. 157 



farm ever since I can remember. Cows lose their calves, 

 grow thin with a cough, and die.&quot; 



&quot;Now, jest tell us, neighbor Frink, what that ere cow 

 has been fed on, for I don t want to feed mine the same 

 way,&quot; said Seth Twiggs. 



&quot; Well, she haint been fed high at all. She aint pizened 

 with oil meal, or any of them feeding stuffs they bring up 

 from the city. You see, I m rather short on t for fodder 

 and stable room, and I kept the ole cow on butts and swale 

 hay all the fore part of winter, and foddered her at the 

 stack. She d allers wintered eout well enuf, and I thought 

 she was so tuff, she wouldn t mind it. I put her on to oat 

 straw about the middle of the winter, and have kept her 

 in the yard ever since, but nussin don t seem to agree with 

 the ole critter. She allers was kontrary, blame her. 

 Guess she ll die jest eout of spite.&quot; 



&quot; Rather high feed,&quot; suggested Twiggs, looking across 

 that pile of skin and bones at me, as if I was authority in 

 the matter. 



&quot;Now,&quot; said I, &quot;the difficulty with this cow is starva 

 tion and exposure. If I was here sitting upon a crowned s 

 quest, I should find under oath, that this animal died of 

 hunger and cruelty, administered by Jacob Frink, of 

 Hookertown.&quot; 



This conversation of my neighbors last spring shows 

 the secret of a great deal of the disease among cattle in 

 all the Northern States. I have no doubt that they had 

 something a little extra up in Massachusetts, perhaps an 

 imported disease, that was wisely checked by stringent 

 legislation in that and other States. The stock interest is 

 so great in this country, that we can not well be too vigi 

 lant in guarding it. But I think starvation and exposure 

 kill more cattle every year, than the lung murrain did. 

 This disease is around in almost every neighborhood, and 

 thousands are slain by it, and other thousands are so dam 

 aged that they are of little or no profit to their owners. 



