258 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



the best rules, your whole system of breediug and feeding 

 will entirely fail. I apply these rules, not only to what are 

 called the thoroughbred animals, but I apply them to those 

 animals that have been lono; bred well and fed well in a grood 

 locality, if they are to produce animals like themselves. If a 

 farmer is in such a financial condition that he gannot stock his^ 

 •farm with pure-bred cattle, do not let him despair, but let him 

 remember that by care and attention, and a good selection, he 

 can provide himself with a family of animals Avhich will be 

 serviceable to him, and from which he may receive very cer- 

 tain profits. I can take you to-day to farms in Massachusetts 

 where herds have been kept generation after generation, in 

 obedience to the rules whicli I have laid down here ; where the 

 presence of the breeder has always been gratefully hailed by 

 his cattle ; where his animals have always been kept in good 

 condition ; Avhere the best rules have been adopted ; where the 

 best animals for breeding purposes have always been selected, 

 and the breeds of cattle on those farms are practically just as 

 valuable to the farmer as the best herds that have ever been 

 bred from parentage of recognized purity of blood. 



Question. What treatment should you give a cow that 

 has eaten too much corn-meal? 



Dr. LoRiNG. I should treat her with a little purgative 

 medicine, if I could get it into her, such as salts and senna. 

 I should unload the cow as quickly as possible, and I suppose 

 that can be done in the way I have suggested. I do not 

 know an}^ other way. There is a curious and sometimes sud- 

 den suspension of the action of the stomach, when it has 

 become overloaded with concentrated food, such as the gen- 

 tleman has referred to. It is pretty hard to tell exacth^ how 

 to get rid of it. A cow's stomach is a complicated machine. 

 Cows swallow their food in vast masses, which may accumu- 

 late when least expected. But I should have no doubt that 

 purgatives and injections would usually remove the difliculty 

 to which the gentleman alludes. 



Question. Would you give her water? 



Dr. LoRiNG. I don't think water would hurt her. I 

 think it is the compacting of the meal, not the swelling of 

 the meal, that causes the trouble ; the mucous secretions of a 

 cow's stomach are so profuse that the mass of meal will be 



