3G8 THE NATURE AND TREATMENT OP 



to three years, fell into the hands of the butcher as first rate 

 beef. 



I am, therefore, inclined to think that if animals are pre- 

 disposed to fatten easily, they will not remain uniform milkers 

 beyond the above period; yet, from a report made by the 

 Rheims Academy, I learn that this liability to fatten was not 

 observed in the environs of Paris, where, in some milking es- 

 tablishments, one hundred and fifty cows are kept, all spayed 

 except fifteen or twenty. It may happen, however, that iii 

 consequence of their not being permitted to go to pasture, and 

 their artificial food, not of the best quality, and perhaps scanty, 

 they do not have enough adipose matter to spare and store 

 away in the fat-cells, as is the case with stall-fed animals in 

 private establishments, where only one or two are kept. 



In view, therefore, of securing a permanent milker, I should 

 select a cow of compact muscular organization (native breed), 

 having little, if any, predisposition to accumulate fat; she 

 must be a good milker, and the mother of at least three calves. 

 The best period for spaying is in the spring, when the unim- 

 pregnated animal is in her full flow of milk. 



If the object of spaying be to furnish the market with fat, 

 lender, juicy meat, then I should select animals, barren or 

 otherwise, that keep in good condition on a small quantity of 

 food. The operation may be performed at any period, from 

 the age of three months to nine or more years. 



3fode of Operation. — The principal authority on the mo- 

 das operandi of spaying is M. Morin, a celebrated French 

 veterinary surgeon. I am not in the habit of performing the 

 operation according to his directions, yet the reader may desire 

 to know how it has been performed in a country where the 

 results have been so remarkably successful. Therefore I intro- 

 duce the following quotations : — 



Morin* s Method of Spaying. — " Having covered the head 

 of the cow to be operated on, we place her against a wall pro- 

 vided with five rings, firmly fastened and placed as follows : 

 the first corresponds to the top of the withers, the second to the 

 lower anterior part of the breast ; the third is placed a little 



