144 YALE AGRICULTURAL LECTURES. 



Suppose, for instance, a heifer should come in in winter, or in 

 very cold weather, which would prevent the distension of the 

 tissues of the skin, and she should be fed on dry food, which had 

 little tendency to develop the milk vessels, or the organs of 

 secretion. These organs will adapt themselves to supply a small 

 yield of milk, and thus a habit may be fixed upon the animal 

 for life, or which it might be difficult to overcome entirely 

 afterward. Hence, some of the external signs of a good milk 

 ing cow are found on animals whose product does not justify 

 expectations. 



A young cow with her firsf and second calf should be made, 

 by judicious feeding, to give a large quantity, and to hold out 

 well, and by gentle treatment, to be docile and obedient. 



A certain shepherd-lecturer at a farm-school in Saxony, illus 

 trates his lectures on breeding by presenting before, his class 

 sheep of various breeds and diverse qualities. So far as my 

 information extends, it has never been attempted in this coun 

 try before to-day, when Mr. THEODORE S. GOLD placed on the 

 stage a Cotswold, a Merino, and a Southdown. The latter 

 arrived a little after the lecturer had. concluded, but was seen 

 by many then present. It is a new, and a most capital 

 idea ; and hereafter, he who will lecture on sheep without the 

 living illustrations ready for reference, will be behind the age. 



The sheep, as Mr. G. justly remarked, has been associated with 

 man from the time of Abel, and in some countries is now the 

 chief national wealth. In Saxony, not larger than Connecticut 

 and Rhode Island, there are 3,500,000 sheep; England and 

 Wales produce 26,000,000 ; while in the whole territory of the 

 United States we raise only 21,000,000. It must be remembered 

 that in the great sheep countries of Europe, farming has perhaps 

 arrived at its greatest perfection of development a circum 

 stance which should weigh well with our farmers, whose poor hilly 

 lands will barely keep them and their families above starvation, 

 under the present cropping with Indian corn and the cereals. 



