TAKING REINS IN HAND 



Still, the theory of M. Guenon^ has its 

 value ; and I am persuaded that he was worthily- 

 adjudged the gold medal at the hands of the 

 Agricultural Society of Bordeaux. But with 

 this, and all other aids— among which I may 

 name the loose preemptory reflections and sug- 

 gestions of certain adjoining farmers — I was 

 by no means proud of the appearance of the 

 little herd of twelve or fourteen cows with 

 which operations were to commence. 



The popular belief, that all jockey ism and 

 cheatery is confined to horse dealings, is too 

 limited. Whoever will visit the cow stables 

 in Robinson street, or near to Third avenue, 

 upon a market day, may observe a score or two 

 of animals with painfully distended udders (the 

 poor brutes have not been milked in the last 

 forty-eight hours), throwing appealing glances 

 about the enclosure, and eyeing askance cer- 

 tain bullet-headed calves, which are tied in ad- 

 joining stalls, but which have no more claim 

 upon the maternal instincts of the elder ani- 

 mals, than the drovers themselves. It is all a 

 bald fiction; the true offspring have gone to 

 the butchers months ago ; and if the poor, sur- 



* The interested agricultural reader may consult 

 "Choix des Vaches Laitieres, par M. Magne, Paris," for 

 full exhibit of the system. 



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