1835.] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



183 



2100 pounds moved 8S0 feet in a minute, is equal 

 to 1,848,000 pounds moved one foot; which is equal 

 to 154,000 pounds falling 12 feet in the same time, 

 which is, also, equal in weight to 2464 cubic feel 

 of water. To which add one-fourth, for loss in 

 application, and we have 3080 feet per minute, or 

 rather more than 51 leet per second. 



For the sake of convej ing an idea of the pro- 

 bable cost on a large scale, 1 have supposed isola- 

 ted dams to be used at regular distances, but the 

 engineer will of course adapt his works to suit par- 

 ticular localities, sometimes preferring a continu- 

 ous canal, substituting water-wheels in place ol 

 locks, and thus discharging the water, as it is used, 

 into the next consecutive reach below. Or where 

 great length of level occurs, the wheels may be 

 made to discharge their water into the river, to be 

 again taken out of the next dam. 



°On canals already constructed, where they have 

 considerable lockage, and plenty of water, it is ob- 

 vious that the trackage may be effected by the 

 foregoing means; that is, by erecting a water-wheel 

 along sids of a lock, and extending a chain down 

 the margin of the canal on the one side, which 

 would be returned up the other. 



And as they no longer need the tow-path, they 

 may lay a light rail track, on which passenger cars 

 may be drawn by the same power at any required 

 velocity. 



But in many cases, where thay have not a su- 

 perfluity of water, they had better substitute wa- 

 ter wheels lor their lock gates, widen their tow- 

 path, and lay down a railway. 



In conclusion, I invite investigation by men of 

 science, as it is certainly a subject of great impor- 

 tance to the country, now so extensive engaged in 

 works of internal improvement. 



JAS. IIKRROIV, 



Civil Engineer. 

 Richmond, Va., 3fay26, 1S35. 



SPAYED COWS. 



[While the foregoing sheet containing the French 

 article on this subject was printing off, we discovered 

 that the piece therein referred to was in one of the vol- 

 umes of our library. It is. here given entire. The 

 piece stands in the American Farmer of 1831, as co- 

 pied from the New England Farmer, probably of a 

 date not much earlier, but not stated. If this piece 

 had not escaped our memory its being presented would 

 have rendered unnecessary the remarks in a proceed- 

 ing part of this No.] 



From the New England Farmer. 



Mr. Fessenden. — Some years since, I passed a 

 summerat Natchez and putup at the Hotel then kept 

 by Mr. Thomas Winn. During the time that I was 

 there, I noticed two remarkably fine cows, which 

 were kept constantly in the stable, the servant who 

 had charge of the horses, feeding them regularly, 

 three times a day, with green Guinea grass cut with 

 a sickle. 



These cows had so often attracked my attention, 

 on account of the great beauty of their form and 

 deep red color, the large size of their bags and the 

 high condition in which they were kept, that I 

 was at length induced to ask Mr. Winn, to what 

 breed of cattle they belonged, and his reason for 



keeping them constantly in the stable, in prefer- 

 ence to allowing them to run in the pasture, where 

 they could enjoy the benefit of air and exercise, 

 and at the same time crop their own food and there- 

 in save the labor and trouble of ieeding them? 

 Mr. Winn in reply to these inquiries, stated, that 

 the two cows which I so much admired, were of 

 the common stock of the country, and he believed 

 of Spanish origin — but that they were both spayed 

 cows and that they had given milk, either two or 

 three years. Considering this a phenomenon (if 

 not in nature, at least in art,) I made further inqui- 

 ries of Mr. Winn, who politely entered into a very 

 interesting detail, communicating facts, which 

 were as extraordinary, as they were novel to me, 

 and supposing that they will prove equally as in- 

 teresting to your numerous agricultural readers, as 

 they were to me, I am induced, on the request of 

 a friend, to offer them for publication in your very 

 valuable journal, in the hope, that some of the 

 farmers who supply our large towns with milk, 

 will deem them of sufficient importance, to make 

 experiments for the purpose of ascertaining wheth- 

 er the results which they may obtain, will corrob- 

 orate the facts stated by Mr. Winn, and which, 

 should they be fully confirmed, may lead to great 

 and important benefits, not only to farmers, but to 

 tavern-keepers and other inhabitants of cities, and 

 villages who now keep cows, in order that they 

 may be sure of a constant supply of pure and un- 

 adulterated milk. 



Mr. Winn, by way of preface, observed, that 

 he had in former years been in the habit of read- 

 ing the English Magazines , which contained ac- 

 counts of the ploughing matches which were, annu- 

 ally held in some of the southern counties of Eng- 

 land, performed by cattle, and that he had noticed that 

 the prizes were generally adjudged to the plough- 

 men, who worked with spayed heifers — and al- 

 though there was no connexion between that sub- 

 ject and the facts which he should state, it was 

 nevertheless the cause which first directed his mind 

 into that train of thought and reasoning, which fi- 

 nally induced him to make the experiments which 

 resulted in the discovery of the facts which he de- 

 tailed, and which I will narrate as accurately as 

 my memory will enable me to do it, after the lapse 

 of more than twenty years. 



Mr. Winn's frequent reflections, had (he said) 

 led him to believe — "that if cows were spayed soon 

 after calving and while in a full flow of milk, they 

 would continue to give milk for many years, with- 

 out, intermission or any diminution of quantity, ex- 

 cept what would be caused by a change from 

 green to dry or less succulent food." 



To test this hypothesis, Mr. Winn caused a 

 very good cow, then in full milk, to be spayed; the 

 operation was performed about one month after 

 the cow had produced her third calf; it was not at- 

 tended with any severe pain or much or long con- 

 tinued fever; the cow was apparently well in a 

 Jew days and very soon yielded her usual quanti- 

 ty of milk and continued to give milk freely, for 

 several years, without any intermission, or any 

 diminution in quantity, except when the feed was 

 scarce and dry — but a full flow of milk, always 

 returned, upon the return of a full supply of" green 

 food. This cow ran in the Mississippi low grounds 

 or swamp, near to Natchez, got cast in deep mire 

 and was found dead. Upon her death, Mr. Winn 

 caused a second cow to be spayed, the operation 



