SECRETARY'S REPORT. 17 



brought ; and the result was that the cost of keeping was much 

 more than was realized from the sale of the milk. Now, with 

 out going into an argument as to whether herds of cows would 

 generally, if kept in this manner, pay for their keeping, leaving 

 out of the account the value of the manure, it is sufficient in 

 this case to state the facts, that Nelson said, repeatedly, that the 

 cows, for some reason, gave but little milk ; that he could see 

 no difference in them in this respect. Dr. Thayer examined 

 them again and again, and could detect no trace of the disease 

 in but four, and in one of these he detected it where it did not 

 exist. To state the case in a different form : three of the nine 

 cows, (I think there were nine left after killing the first one,) 

 had pleuro-pneumonia. None of them paid for their keeping ; 

 er^o, cows that have the pleuro-pneumonia are not worth keep- 

 ing ! So easily do men become the dupes of their own preju- 

 dices ! To such ridiculous shifts as these are men driven who 

 have a theory to maintain which they deem of vital importance ! 

 It may be said that perhaps the remainder of the herd had the 

 disease ; but one of them, at least, did not have it, and the 

 evidence is, that no difference existed among the herd as to the 

 falling off in the milk. 



Not a little excitement existed in Lexington in regard to a 

 lierd belonging to T. E. Cutter, from which several cows had 

 died during the spring and summer. The Commissioners had 

 the herd isolated, and at a subsequent visit one of the cows was 

 found to be very sick. It was thought best to have the whole 

 herd, consisting of thirteen cows and a bull, appraised and killed 

 at Brighton, where the meat of the healthy portion could be 

 readily disposed of. All but four of the number proved to have 

 had the disease. The only facts I deem it worth recording here 

 in relation to Cutter's herd are, that Cutter declared that neither 

 of the cattle killed at Brighton had ever shown to him any 

 symptoms of the disease, though he had watched them closely, 

 and had had that experience which having the disease in his 

 herd six or eight months would give ; and that he did not men- 

 tion as a fact that the cows did not pay for their keeping, but 

 on the contrary, complained of the loss he should suffer by being 

 deprived of the milk of so good a herd. Let it be borne in 

 mind, that eight of this herd had had the pleuro-pneumonia for 

 months. 



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