1335.] 



F A R MERS' REGISTER. 



should be sprinkled upon the grain at the very in- 

 stant it is wet upon the surface', for if a delay of 

 some minutes should occur in sprinkling the lime, 

 the solution would be previously absorbed by the 

 substance of the grain, and the lime would no 

 longer act in the same manner. 



If this method is pursued with the precautions 

 that I have directed, wheat infected with smut, to 

 the highest degree may be confidently sown, with 

 a certainty that, it will not produce a single smutty 

 head, at, least in consequence of the disease ofthe 

 seed. Some persons believe that smut may still 

 be introduced into the crop from other causes; for 

 my part, none of the facts which I have been able 

 to observe, either in my agricultural practice, or 

 in the course of my particular experiments on this 

 subject, authorize me to subscribe to this opinion; 

 and I am inclined to think that the facts upon 

 which it may have been established were the re- 

 sult of an imperfection in the mode of liming 

 hitherto employed. 



From the Veterinarian. 



NEW FACTS IN PROOF OF THE ADVANTAGE 

 OF SPAYING MILCH COWS. 



By M. Regere, M. V., Bordeaux. 



Several instances have been related in your 

 journal of the good effect resulting from the spay- 

 ing of milch cows. I would beg leave to add 

 some cases which have come under my own ob- 

 servation. The cows were taken from the best 

 dairies, but, for obvious reasons, I selected those 

 that had met with some accident at the time of 

 calving. 



Case I. 



A large cow, fifteen years old, had calved on 

 the 24th of January, 1S34, and had, a few days 

 after parturition, given from three to four gallons 

 of milk per day. On the 22d of April following, 

 she yielded only two or two and a half gallons. 

 I then operated upon her. The pain of the ope- 

 ration, and the restricted diet to which she was 

 afterwards subjected, diminished the produce to 

 half that quantity. 



As soon as the consequent inflammation had 

 disappeared, and the cow returned to her usual 

 food, the flow of milk rapidly increased: and, in 

 fifteen days after the operation, the wound having 

 healed, she yielded daily from two to two and a 

 half gallons, and that quantity has not since di- 

 minished. She has also taken on a disposition to 

 fatten, and is in better condition than she ever 

 was before. She has once shown a desire for the 

 bull, but was not sent to him. 



Case. II. 



A small cow, six: years old, calved on the 26th 

 March. 1834, and at that time yielded two gallons 

 and a half of milk per day. On the 30th of April 

 she gave two gallons, and she was then spayed. 

 She suffered little from the operation; her milk did 

 not diminish, and she yields the same quantity to 

 the present day. She has not shown any longing 

 for the bull. 



Case III. 



A little cow calved on the 12th of April, 1834. 

 Some days afterwards she yield two gallons of milk 

 per day, and she was operated upon on the 13th 

 of May. She seemed, for a considerable time af- 

 terwards, to be in a poor state of health; her skin 

 became yellow; the hair fell off in patches, and 

 particularly about her four quarters. She moaned 

 sadly from time to time, and her appetite consider- 

 ably diminished. The quantity of milk remained 

 the same. 



On June 20th she seemed to be really ill, and 

 yielded, during seven days, little more than a gal- 

 lon of milk per day. The quantity gradually les- 

 sened after that period, and continued to decrease 

 until the end of July, when she was evidently 

 dropsical. She was sometimes better and some- 

 times worse, until the 4th September, when she 

 died. 



Two pounds of a bloody serosity were found in 

 the thorax. The lungs contained numerous tu- 

 bercles; some hard, and even stony, and some 

 soft, and others filled with purulent matter. 



On opening the belly it contained, at least, se- 

 ven gallons of a similar fluid. The fourth sto- 

 mach and some of the intestines were softened 

 and black, and the food contained in the first sto- 

 machs was fetid. The liver, enlarged and yel- 

 low, was softened, and it also contained many tu- 

 bercles, hard or soft. 



The womb was unaffected, except the extremi- 

 ties of the two cornua, which were of a yellow 

 color, and hard. Few traces ofthe operation of 

 spaying remained, unless in the sublumbar region, 

 in which a spot of a blackish color was seen 

 where each ovary had existed. A white tena- 

 cious tissue had united the incision made through 

 the abdominal muscles, and caused the panetes 

 of the abdomen to adhere strongly to the skin. 



This examination after death proved that the 

 cow was not lost from any morbid consequence of 

 spaying, but from ascites, produced by the lesions 

 stated, and which had existed before the opera- 

 tion. 



Cases IF and V. 



Two cows were operated upon in the month of 

 May of the same year. One eight years old, and 

 giving two gallons of milk per day, and that had 

 calved on the 10th of April, was spayed on the 

 Sfh of May. She suffered from the operation, 

 and did not give more than two or three quarts 

 per day; but she soon recovered, and when the 

 wound was healed, yielded her usual quantity, 

 and which she continues to do unto the present 

 period. 



The other aged ten years, and that had calved 

 on the 15th of April, ami cave, a month after- 

 wards, nine quarts of milk per day, was spayed on 

 the loth of May. In four days after the operation 

 she gave again her usual quantity of milk; this 

 increased to ten quarts, and she yields that unto 

 the present day. 



These cows showed a disposition for, and went 

 to the bull several times after the operation; and, 

 being incapable of conceiving, the oestrum [or 

 heat] returns on them periodically. The first has 

 been with the bull four times, and the other twice. 



These five cows have continued to yield the 



