94 ESSEX AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



number of cows to be fed, &c. Any one accustomed to milk- 

 ing, in winter, has often noticed how greatly the quantity of 

 milk has diminished, in severe cold weather. This proves the 

 importance of warm barns ; and dry beds are also necessary. 

 Abridge her comforts, and you diminish her milk, and no one 

 will say that she is as comfortable if she lies with her sides 

 soaked in urine, as she would be if she had a dry bed. An in- 

 telligent farmer, who keeps a large stock of cattle, recently told 

 me that he was in the habit of spreading thatch upon his grass 

 land, and, for every ton of thatch, he got an additional ton of 

 English hay. Straw, thatch, and damaged salt hay are abun- 

 dant in most parts of the county, and, if used for cattle to lie 

 upon, and saturated with urine, their value for manure would 

 be greatly increased. Who would not prefer coarse fare and 

 good lodging, to a sumptuous supper and a cold wet bed? 



If cows have animal feeling, judge of their wants by your 

 own. Kind treatment is of the first importance. Many good 

 cows are made worthless to their petulant managers, from abu- 

 sive treatment. The cow, from fear, or pain, on account of 

 soreness of the udder or teats, is often unquiet when milked, 

 and, being tied by the neck, and having no other means of de- 

 fence, kicks, to rid herself of her uncomfortable companion. 

 This not unfrequently induces the intelligent and reasoning 

 milker to retaliate with harsh words and heavy blows, reason- 

 ing, no doubt, (if reasoning at all,) that, by so doing, she may 

 be persuaded that she is in no danger of harm, while under 

 such a protector. The stupid animal, not appreciating the ar- 

 gument, again resorts to her only defence, and the milker again 

 resumes his argument with more powerful appeals to her sides, 

 and, for a time, she is spoiled from downright stupidity. But 

 which is the more stupid, which the more rational, or the more 

 brutal, the cow or the milker, no one will, for a moment, hesi- 

 tate to decide. Such cows can, nineteen cases in twenty, be 

 reclaimed in a few weeks, by kind words and gentle treatment. 

 Here I say what I know from experience. Having, for more 

 than ten years, been in the habit of purchasing such cows, when 

 offered for a few dollars less than would otherwise have been 

 their value. I have, within a few years, bought two kicking 



