THE GEKESEE FARMER. 



79 



THE RATIONALE OF CHEWING THE CTJD IN KUMIN- 

 ATING ANIMALS. 



Eds. GKyKSEK Farmer: — On page 68 of the 

 ■Genesee Farmer^ for February, 18(30, your corres- 

 ipondeiit, E. B., asks, "What causes cattle to lose 

 the cud, and what is the best remedy?" Similar 

 questions are frequently asked, and much disease 

 of our neat stock is attributed to this "Z<?ss of cmV 

 Literally, there can be no such thing as " loss of 

 cud.'''' Ruminating animals are nev:er furnished 

 ■with an appendage so ridiculous as "cwtZ," to be 

 used as "^um" in the mouth of a schoolboy, which, 

 if lost, must be supplied with an artificial "cud;" 

 as if the operations of nature must be suspended 

 until this prepared artificial panacea is supplied, 

 to take the place of a natural "cw(^, lost.'''' 



By a slight investigatfon of the anatomy and 

 habits of ruminating animals, this very common 

 delusion would be dispelled, and the slight under- 

 I standing of the "cud," the causes of its "loss," 

 i and the means necessary to be used to restore it, 

 i would be more clearly understood. 

 j By ruminants, or ruminating animals, we mean 

 those having a complex stomach, with four cavities 

 ! so disposed as to allow of ruminating, or the act 

 '; of at once laying in a large store of food, slightly 

 ; chewed, and afterward to return it to the mouth, 

 and there more thoroughly masticate it, and fit it 

 for digestion. Digestion is always preceded by 

 this action in this order of Mammals, and they are 

 i-exclusively confined to a vegetable diet. Now, if 

 'debility, loss of appetite, disease of the stomach 

 land digestive organs, or sickness from any other 

 i cause ensue, this order of nature may, for the time, 

 be suspended, and the animal have no need to 

 perform the act of rumination. Tlie ordinary ope- 

 rations of a healthy animal are not called into 

 requisition. Hence we hear of "loss of cud." 

 The only "remedy" for this "loss" lies in restor- 

 ing the animal to health, and if we know what is 

 the disease, we can the more certainly apply the 

 *' remedy.' But all the "made cuds" that ever 

 entered into the materia medica of quackdom can 

 never compensate for the folly and ignorance of 

 applying one. 



The stomach of ruminating animals is specially 

 organized for the performance of its peculiar func- 

 tions. It consists of four distinct cavities, all 

 Icoramunicating with a muscular canal, at the termi- 

 nation of the (esophagus. Coarsely masticated food 

 passes from the beginning of the muscular canal 

 into the first cavity, called the rumen, or paunch. 

 Water is received into the second cavity, called the 

 Weticulinn, and almost exclusively occupies the 

 honey-comb cells of that cavity, and is gradually 

 mixed with the coarsely divided food which is 

 lundergoing mastication in the rumen. When this 

 is sufficiently advanced, a portion of the mass is 

 raised into the muscular canal, is there moulded 

 into a ball, and by a spasmodic action of the muscles 

 of the gullet, is forced into the mouth, where it is 

 perfectly masticated at leisure, mixed with saliva, 

 &nd again swallowed. It now passes directly into 

 the third recess, called the psalterium. Here the 

 superfluous fluid is absorbed, and the thoroughly 

 subdivided mass passes gradually into the fourth 

 recess, called the alomasus, where it is completely 

 digested, and from which it passes off into the 

 lesser intestines. 



Ruminating is a most interesting process ot 

 nature, and it is a most pleasing study to observe 

 and note its manifold operations, and to witness 

 the supreme satisfection of a well-fed animal "rw- 

 minating ,'''' or elaborating by this wonderful pro- 

 vision of Providence, — the mastication of food by 

 deglutition, ejection, and final swallowing — other- 

 wine, "chewing the cud." Wlien we become more 

 thorouglily familiar with the beautiful economy of 

 animated nature, and its most wonderful organiza- 

 tion, we shall no more hear of the "loss of cud," 

 but will attribute eflects to their proper causes, 

 and call things by their right names, j. v. H. o. 



Manlius, Onimdaga Co., Jv'. }'., Feh., 1860. 



NOTES ON THE DECEMBER AND JANUARY NUMBERS 

 OF THE GENESEE FARMER. 



Lucerne. — Messrs. Editors, you say, " This plant 

 was extensively cultivated by the Romans." And 

 so it is now in Peru, and some other South Ameri- 

 can States, both for pasturage and soiling purposes. 

 It is there grown under the name of "Alfalfa," 

 which the late Capt. Herndon, in his " Valley of 

 the Amazon," says, "is a very green and pretty 

 Lucerne, universally used in this country (Peru) 

 for pasturage." And it is also being extensively 

 grown in California for pasturage. In the Fourth 

 Report of the California State Agricultural Society, 

 1857, it is said by the viewing committee on farms, 

 etc., " that on the bank of the Aguba River, is the 

 Quintery farm of Messrs. Pinxex and Cameron, 

 containing four hundred acres, three hundred of 

 which is laid down to Alfolfa, and is divided by 

 good fences into three fields, in which they herd or 

 feed stock for hire. This is their business; and so 

 good is it, that, while they charge just twice as. 

 much per month as their neighboi s, who feed with, 

 ordinary grasses, they can not take half as many 

 head as are offered to them. Their terms are throe 

 dollars per month per head, and they limit the 

 number to two hundred. The field into which the 

 cattle had just been turned (they feed down tin; 

 fields alternately), had been fed down twice, this 

 season, and now the clover is nearly three feet high, 

 and in bloom. (This was about the middle of 

 June.) While all other grasses and clovers, under 

 similar circumstances, are perfectly diy and yellow, 

 the Alfalfa exhibits the most fresh and Iwxurious 

 green. The roots of this clover run down through 

 a close soil, till they reach water, though the same 

 be far below the surface. Last year's freshet 

 washed away the banks of the river, and exposed 

 the roots about twenty feet below the surface," 

 The President of the Society, in his opening address 

 at the State Fair in 1857, said: "It is certain 

 that, on large districts of our country, when other 

 grass crops dry up entirely before tl>e month of 

 June, Alfalfa will, when once well rooted, cohtinue 

 green the year round; yielding three hay crops 

 annually, and affording a full pasture, equal in rich- 

 ness to a grain field. It makes good hay and good 

 pasture, in spring, summer, fall and winter. This 

 crop,, however, is said to have this pecuiiarity, 

 which should be well understood, that, wbeoi once 

 well rooted, it can not be e-xterminated; and, of 

 course, no other crop can be cultivated on the same 

 land," Well, who would wish to exterminate sucl 

 a God-send ? Its seed, unlike the Hungarian grass 

 does not require annual sawing j nor does thi 



