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THE GENESEE FAEMEE. 107 



roota, and straw, increases with the increase of manure needed to produce good crops. 

 In 1845, New York contained 6,443,865 sheep; in 1850 the number was reduced to 

 3,453,241 ; decrease in five years 2,990,624. The number of sheep slaughtered in the 

 five years named, was much larger than the difference between the larger and smaller 

 sums, otherwise the natural increase would have prevented so great a reduction. It was 

 necessity that cut their throats. To replace three millions of sheep by dairy stock, at 

 least four hundred thousand cows would be required. We shall take another occasion 

 to demonstrate beyond all dispute, that not less than eight and a half of the twelve and 

 a half million acres of land under improvement in New York is suffering deterioration 

 at the rate of three dollars a year by parting with its elements of fertility. What we 

 desire at this time is to call attention to the science of transforming the proper food of 

 cows into milk, so that any given quantity of forage shall yield the maximum of dairy 

 products. 



The elements of this science are both anatomical and physiological ; they relate to 

 the digestive, respiratory, assimilative, and milk-secreting organs of the cow. Improper 

 feeding will result in a far greater loss of milk from any given amount of food con- 

 sumed even by a good cow, than would be likely to occur from a poor cow, if properly 

 fed. In the first place, each and every lactiferous animal is compelled to support the 

 natural warmth of her body by respiration, which never ceases, and literally burns up 

 nearly, if not quite two-thirds of the aliment which passes through the walls of the 

 intestines into the blood vessels; and from whose blood milk is separated. Not only 

 does breathing take priority of milk-makiug in the economy of nature, but the daily 

 and indispensable repair of every muscle, bone, membrane, ner^e, and other organ, also 

 claims priority to the full secretion of milk. In a word, the blood of a cow takes care 

 of her system first, before it yields more than a trifle to feed her offspring, for whose 

 benefit milk is elaborated. 



Milk being the natural surplus of food in the blood vessels, over and above what the 

 ever pressing calls of respiration and nutrition demand, we trust that it is not difficult 

 for the reader to comprehend the fact that a given amount of aliment thrown into the 

 stomachs of four cows, may yield twice the surplus, after supplying all the wants of 

 their systems, to be transformed into milk, which could be obtained if the aliment had 

 five systems to warm and support instead of four. In the case assumed, there is nutri- 

 ment enough to keep four cows in sound and vigorous health, and allow each to have a 

 surplus in her blood, equal to the formation of four or five gallons of milk in twenty- 

 four hours. Divide this mass of food or aliment into five parts instead of four, and the 

 breathing and other vital functions of the fifth cow, (we care not how excellent a milker 

 she may be,) will consume and substantially waste full one-half of what might have 

 been milk in the lacteal glands of four cows. 



It is not enough to have first rate cows ; the dairyman should know so much of their 

 anatomy and physiology, as to be able to use the living machines in his possession to 

 the best advantage. A good machine of any kind in the hands of an ignorant unskill- 

 ful operator, uniformly turns out bad work. That is, the net profit is much less than it 

 ought to be. Without entering into any explanation of the science of dairy physiology, 

 the reader may make this induction from our remarks ; The dairyman should keep no 

 poor cows, and as few good ones as will consume the food to be converted into milk. If 

 he intends to feed high, let the transition from low to high feeding be gradual ; all 

 sudden changes are injurious, whether upward or downward in their course. Provide, 

 by the aid of corn grown for forage, by manurino- pastures and meadows, and by root 

 culture, a plenty of food for whatever cows are kept for dairy purposes. Have yards 

 and stables so arranged and littered with strav/, muck, forest leaves, or some other 

 absorbent, as to preserve from waste or loss all the droppings of domestic animals. 

 After the writer came to Washington in 1849, to take charge of the agi'icultural 



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