THE RED COW 



cion, but he could not suggest what I should do un- 

 der the circumstances. That is the trouble with my 

 cattle. They are all the time doing things that are 

 outside of the common fund of experience. Other 

 people's cattle seem to confine themselves to ailments 

 that can be treated according to recipes given in the 

 Veterinary Guide, or in the back numbers of "The 

 Farmer's Advocate," but mine are all the time doing 

 something unexpected. Still, I got a line on what 

 was an entirely new wrinkle to me. A person of ex- 

 perience brought me a beetle ring and told me that the 

 way to dislodge a substance from a cow's throat was 

 to open her mouth and keep it open with the beetle 

 ring. Then I could slip my hand through the ring 

 and remove the obstruction with my fingers, or take 

 a piece of rubber hose and poke it down her throat. 

 That sounds to me like a very plausible method, but 

 as the little cow had stopped gagging and had com- 

 menced chewing her cud, it was considered unneces- 

 sary to try the operation. And speaking of her cud 

 i — she should not be in any danger of "losing her 

 cud" in the near future. That rubber ball should 

 provide her with just about the most serviceable cud 

 that a cow ever had. Whenever the pasture gets 

 short she can bring up her reserve rubber cud and 



38 



