362 



PRINCIPLES OF IMPROVING DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 



time there is reason to believe tbat they undergo a 

 change which will be present!}' described. The cream 

 thus formed does not consist of oily particles alone, 

 but includes a considerable amount of curd or casein, 

 with the sugar and salts in the milk. These substan- 

 ces are separated from the oil or butter globules by 

 agitating the cream in a churn, or otherwise, w'hen 

 the oily particles unite in a common mass by the rup- 

 ture of the delicate, vesicle-like covering thatsurrounds 

 each globule. 



. Churning does not, however, render the separation 

 of the curd, sugar, and salts, left in the buttermilk, 

 perfect, and some art is required to free new butter 

 of these damaging ingredients, which so frequently 

 cause the butter to become rancid. Good butter 

 being an article in general request, and valuable in a 

 commercial point of view, its economical production 

 is an important branch of husbandry. To obtain 

 correct ideas of this secretion, it is well to regard it as 

 so much fat taken from the blood and the food of the 

 cow. If her daily feed be poor in the elements of 

 butter or fat, her blood cannot well be adapted to 

 the production of rich milk. This fact so obvious as 

 to appear much like a truism, is little appreciated by 

 many who keep cows for their milk and butter. Some 

 animals have yielded two and a half pounds of butter 

 a day, or seventeen and a half pounds a week. Such 

 are not only large cows, but are large consumers of 

 rich aliment, which is mainly directed to lactation. — 

 It is by use, and by jmshing, that any organ is devel- 

 oped in an extraordinary degree. This policy may 

 be pursued so far as to impair the health of the cow, 

 in extreme cases ; but a thousand suffer from too lit- 

 tle nutrition where one is injured by over-feeding. — 

 Recent experiments made with clover hay and timo- 

 thy, to determine their relative value for the produc- 

 tion of milk, resulted in favor of clover. Pea hay 

 (made extensively at the South) is probably quite 

 equal to clover hay ; and, judging from the known 

 composition of the two plants, it may be better. For 

 making butter, there is perhaps no other forage plant 

 superior to maize grown for soiling purposes, and fed 

 green or partly cured. 



The relative and exact value of diiFercnt Idnda of 

 food for the production of milk rich in butter, or rich 

 in curd, has never been investigated by actual experi- 

 ments as searchingly as the importance of the subject 

 demands. Between the stoma:h of the cow, where 

 digestion commences, and the udder, from which sev- 

 eral gallons of milk are daily drawn, the popular mind 

 encounters a great mystery, into which it appears un- 

 willing to inquire. Hence fewer experiments have 



been tried in reference to the production of milk than 

 in any other branch of rural economy. This copious 

 secretion has, however, been carefully analyzed ; while 

 the microscope has thrown much light on the struc- 

 ture of the large mammary gland, and the process by 

 which it converts blood into milk. It is a curious 

 fact that the mammary gland exists alike in both sexes 

 in all mammalia, only it is very rarely developed in 

 males. There are, however, well authenticated cases 

 on record where men have given milk, from having 

 frequently applied the mouth of a sucking child to 

 the breast, which proved sufficient to excite regular 

 and natural lactation. The same function has been 

 performed by the mammary glands of inferior animals 

 of the male sex, and from a similar cause. Professor 

 Hall, of the University of Maryland, exhibited to his 

 obstetrical class, in the year 1837, a colored man 55 

 years of age, who had large, soft, well-formed breasts, 

 rather more conical than those of a female, and pro- 

 jecting fully seven inches from the chest, with perfect 

 and large nipples. The glandular structure appeared 

 exactly like that of the female. This man had offi- 

 ciated as wet nurse in the family of hia mistress for 

 several years; and he represented that the secretion 

 of milk was induced by applying the children en- 

 trusted to his care to the breasts during the night. 

 When the milk was no longer required, great diffi- 

 culty was experienced in arresting the secretion. 



Heifers that were never with calf have given milk; 

 and the spaying of cows to prolong indefinitely lac- 

 tation, is common in many countries. How to make 

 the most of this natural function is the point that 

 we will now consider. 



In the economy of nature the object of milk is to 

 nourish the young for some weeks, or months, till 

 they are able to obtain their indispensable food from 

 other sources. In case the supply is barely sufficient 

 to nourish the mother without providing milk for her 

 offspring, nature protects the life of the parent in 

 preference to that of a feeble being, recently brought 

 into the world. Any increase of the race is undesi- 

 rable, so long as the adults can barely command a 

 subsistence. In other words, the food and blood of 

 a female must first sustain the waste of her own res- 

 piration and renew the constant consumption of her 

 flesh before they can yield any adequate supply of 

 milk to support the breathing and make the flesh 

 of another generation. This view of lactation is 

 rarely pressed upon the attention of farmers as it 

 ought to be; for the most expensive milk in all civi- 

 lized communities is that obtained from half-starved 

 cows. To keep the animal nranu and in comfortable 



