128 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



as possible ; with reference to the production of milk, we 

 should have the largest amount of production of that kind 

 with the smallest animal, requiring the least amount of food. 

 Now, there is one striking feature in the distribution of cattle 

 through Switzerland : that in the interior parts of the country, 

 in the Alpine districts especially, the cattle are all small, while 

 in the western part of Switzerland, in the subalpine districts, 

 and in the Jura, the cattle are all large. When you inquire 

 into the possible circumstances which produce that difference, 

 you have at once the answer if you look at a geological map ; 

 and here geology appears in direct connection with agricultural 

 pursuits. In those districts of Switzerland which are entirely 

 made up of granite rocks, with talc and mica slates, and 

 gneiss — primitive rocks, as they are called — you find nothing 

 but small cattle. In those regions where the subsoil is formed 

 of limestone, the cattle are large. You see at once the expla- 

 nation. In the one district, the animal has a large supply of 

 limestone with which to build up its bony frame ; in the other, 

 the supply of lime is small, and the animal cannot build up a 

 large frame. 



Now, let us apply that fact to our purpose. I say, if it is an 

 object to produce a large kind of cattle, you must provide your 

 cattle with lime, that they may build up a large frame. But 

 we have no limestone in Massachusetts, and how shall we do it ? 

 I propose to the intelligent farmers who are interested in this 

 matter an experiment. Let them put some crushed lime in the 

 food of their cattle, and see how that will answer. Let them 

 try in what shape and manner they can increase the size of 

 their cattle by adding chalk to their food, so that they may have 

 the elements out of which to build a large, bony frame. I have 

 no doubt, from the interesting remarks I have heard yesterday 

 and to-day, and the large amount of information I have been 

 able to collect from the lips of so many practical farmers, that, 

 having these suggestions, they will at once know how to apply 

 them. I do not know how to do it. I have never been inter- 

 ested in raising a single cow, so I do not know how to take care 

 of cattle, and would not know what to advise ; but I am a 

 physiologist, and know what are the principles of physiology, 

 and I am satisfied that to raise large cattle, you must introduce 

 into their systems, with their food, a sufficient amount of lime- 



