Sec. 3.] 



COWS. 



31 



19. Species of Auimals.— Tlie Bevue Ilorticole, of Paris, gives a very inter- 

 esting acconnt of a discussion in tlie Academte upon the species of animals. 

 The primitive source of animals is lost ; the fossil bones of the horse are 

 identical with those of the present day. There is no account of anything 

 new in animal life since the Mosaic account of creation. 



20. Animal StrncturCi — " The bony frame-work of the animal owes its so- 

 lidity to plwspliate of lime, and this substance must be furnished by the 

 food. A perfect food must supply the animal with these three classes of 

 bodies, and in proper proportions. What proportions are the proper ones 

 we have at present no means of knowing with accuracy. The ordinary 

 kinds of food for cattle contain a large quantity of vegetable fiber or woody 

 matter, which is more or less indigestible, but which is indispensable to the 

 welfare of herbaceous animals, as their digestive organs are adapted to a 

 bulky and rough food. The addition of a small quantity of feed rich in oil 

 and albuminous substances to the ordinary kinds of food, has been found 

 highly advantageous in practice. Keither iiay alone, nor concentrated food 

 alone, gives the best result. A certain combination of the two presents the 

 most advantages." 



The above is the view of an eminent professor of agricultural chemistry 

 (S. W. Johnson), and it contains a great fact that should be adopted into the 

 every-day practice of every farmer, and not only for his stock, but his own 

 household. Every animal of a higher organization than a worm needs a 

 diversity of food to make up a healthy animal structure. 



SECTION iir.-cows. 



f — ^'■"^>.»_^- 



^^^^^^^^^^'*' '^ * *■*'"'' Cow?— This is a question that many 

 '^ owners of cows can not answer, because there is no 



standard. Every one has his own, and one perso!i 

 may recommend a cow on sale as positively good, 

 that is not half as valuable as one that comes oidy 

 Tip to the standard of another person's idea of good- 

 ness. Besides, one cow may be good for producing 

 milk for sale by the quart ; another good for making 

 p^ .r butter, where that alone is the object; a third one 



r 'v-^y , "• (iD may be good for a cheese dairy and very poor for 



l.^VrP^"; J.J butter; and a Iburth not good for either purpose, 



and should at once be turned out for beet'. Fannei-s 

 do not experiment enough with their cows to ascer- 

 tain these facts. We have known one cow discarded 

 from a butter dairy because she gave less milk than another, when one was 

 to be sold, wjthout any other proof that the rejected one was not equally 



