CATTLE. 157 



advanta2:e of fnrm'sliing a long-continued snpp!}', before commencing a 

 course of fattening, of abundant milk, and butter of a superior quality, 

 the cow fattens easily and completely, and a certain benefit follows this 

 course. 



" 3. In spaying decrepit cows, that is to say, of the age of from six 

 to seven years, puny, small ones ; those which, though fine in appear- 

 ance, bear badly ; those which are subject to miscarriage; those which 

 frequently experience difficult calving, or delivery ; those difficult to 

 keep; and finally, all those that are taurelieren — that is to say, con- 

 stantly in heat — we have, in addition to an abundant production of milk 

 and butter, and a facility of fattening, the advantage of preventing a 

 degeneration of the species, and, moreover, of avoiding a crowd of ac- 

 cidents or maladies which frequently take place during or after gestation, 

 and of diminishing those which happen during the period of heat, such 

 as that of heavy cows mounting others, or being jumped upon by too 

 heavy bulls. 



" Except under peculiar circumstances, we should take care in spaying 

 the cow that its teats have acquired their complete development, and 

 that the milk has the proper qualities. The most suitable time is after 

 the third or fourth calving. 



"Many societies of agriculture, impressed with the important results 

 that this operation effects, fix yearly at their agi'icnltural meetings pre- 

 miums for the encouragement of the spaying of old cows. We doubt 

 not that other societies — who have not yet adopted this plan, not being 

 convinced of its importance, when they are — will imitate their example. 

 By this means they bestow upon the country a new source of products. 



" We have been engaged for four years in researches upon this valu- 

 able discovery; we believe that it is incumbent upon us to state the 

 results that we have obtained up to the present time. In the number 

 of twenty-seven cows, aged from six to fifteen years, that we have actual- 

 ly spayed, we have had the following results: 1. Increase of milk in 

 cows of six years ; 2. Constant production in those that have passed 

 that age ; 3. Milk richer than that of the cow not spayed, consequently 

 more buttery, and the butter both of a uniformly golden color, and 

 liaving an aroma and taste far superior to that of a cow that has not 

 undergone this operation. 



"Early in Julv, 1842, we obtained, as a subject of experiment, a cow 

 from Brittany, of the small kind, twelve years old, calved about two 

 months before, and which gave, when we obtained her, about six quarts 

 of milk daily. The next day after we performed the operation of spay- 

 ing — indeed the first eight days after that — the secretion of milk sensibly 

 diminished, in consequence of the light diet on which she had been put, 

 but, on the ninth day, the time at which the cure was complete and the 

 cow put on her ordinary food, the milk promptly returned, as to its 

 former quantity, and she at ihe same time assumed a plumpness that she 

 had not had previously. Customarily bringing together the yield of 

 three days for butter-making, being eighteen quarts, it produced con- 

 stantly two kilograms of butter of the best quality. P>om the month 

 of December to the following March, the quantity of milk diminished 

 about one-third, and the butter proportionally, the cow during that time 



