cow TROUBLES 



rot some time I have a wrestle with them that starts 

 me quoting poetry: 



"On Astur's throat Horatius 



Right firmly placed his heel; 

 And thrice and four times tugged amain, 

 Ere he wrenched out the steel." 



When I have thrown down my load I find that 

 every tine has three or four stalks on it so that it 

 looks like Neptune's trident entangled with sea- 

 weeds. But though it is a nuisance clearing out the 

 stalks in this way I have a vivid recollection of try- 

 ing to pitch manure that had corn-stalks mixed with 

 it and I have made up my mind that that will never 

 happen again. I try to keep them out of the manure 

 as far as possible, even though I may be robbing the 

 "stercoraceous heap" of some of its most valuable 



fertilising constituents. 



* * * * 



The more I work among cows and study their 

 ways the more puzzling they become to me. Some- 

 times when I am feeling a bit conceited I think I 

 understand them pretty well and then something 

 happens that puts me entirely out of countenance. 

 One warm day last week, when I had let them out 

 to water, I thought I would let them stand out and 



23 



