TREATISE ON MILCH COWS 



TREATISE ON MILCH COWS. 



THE TRANSLATOR TO THE READER. 



Nonsense ! Who can believe any such thing ? What ! by merely looking at a 

 cow, to be able to tell how much milk she is capable of being made to yield ; 

 and, also, how long she can continue to give milk after being got with calf! — 

 to be able thus to ascertain, not only what are the qualities of a full grown cow, 

 but what are to be the qualities of any heifer-calf, by looking at her while yet 

 but two or three months old ! Surely, if ever there was a humbug, this is one. 



Softl}*, Mr. Reader ! You are very incredulous, no doubt, but I defy you to be 

 more so than I was when in your present position. What is more, I defy you 

 to cling to your skepticism over an hour or so. However strong and firm it may 

 be at this moment, it will, in a little while, have vanished into nothing ; and its 

 place will be filled by another solid proof in addition to the many you must al- 

 ready have stored up, that 



" There are more things in heaven and earth , 



Than are dreamt of in your philosophy." 



When this discovery was first mentioned to me, as one which had recently 

 been published in France, I smiled at the credulity of some people. My informant, 

 perceiving what effect the announcement had upon me, said, " It is so, however ;" 

 and then, nothing but politeness toward a stranger, for the first time under my 

 roof, prevented my replying, " You do not really believe this to be possible." 



He offered to send me the book ; and, though I had not the least idea of 

 throwing away my time in reading it, civility would not allow me to decline. 

 It came, and I opened it with the Intention merely of looking into it sufficiently 

 to say that I had done so. When, however, in turning the pages over, I saw 

 that this piece of quackery, as I felt very sure the pretended discovery must be, 

 had engaged the attention of distinguished Agricultural Societies in France, and 

 had earned " Gold Medals " for its author, in a country where they are not prone 

 to be lavish of such substantial marks of approbation, my curiosity was awakened, 

 and I had soon read enough to bring home to me once more, for the thousandth 

 time, that homely old truth, " We live to learn." 



Since then, many things have occurred to strengthen my confidence in the re- 

 ality of this discovery, and in its high practical value to all interested in the pre- 

 servation and improvement of milk stock — and who is it that is not interested in 

 its productiveness ? The most recent of these incidents is as follows : 



A friend to whom I had lent the translation accompanied with the plates which 

 are requisite to make it intelligible, showed it to a man from the country whose 

 calling had rendered him quite conversant with the subject of cattle. This per- ' 

 son's curiosity was so far awakened, that, beside attending to the explanations 1 

 made to him, he^took a sketch of some of the escutcheons. After an absence of ! 

 some weeks, he returned to the city where this had happened, and came to see ' 

 my friend. " That thing (said he) is as true as a book. There is no mistake ( 

 about the matter. Since I was here, I have looked at more cows than ever you ] 

 saw, and I am perfectly satisfied that the thing is just as the Frenchman says. 

 I have become convinced, too, of another thing: that our breeds of cattle are by 

 no means the great things they are cracked up to be." N. P. T. 



12^ This important Treatise will be continued in the February Number of this Work 

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