130 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



organ of a cow, and is important for its function of diges- 

 tion. The skin illustrates what T call constitution. We 

 often hear people say such an animal or such an individual 

 has a good constitution ; and when you have said that in 

 praise of an animal, you have said a great deal. What do 

 you mean hy a good constitution ? When I speak of it, I 

 mean ability to continue in good health, to perform all the 

 functions of life and to render good service. It is the sum 

 total of all the organs in their capacities and in their har- 

 monious action. That is constitution. But go away back 

 to the time when all that existed of the cow was a skin, filled 

 with protoplasm — nothing but that. Take the very begin- 

 nings of cow life, and you have a very small ovum (Latin 

 for ^gg)i one cell and one skin. Then the cells multiply 

 and are arranged in the form of a tiny globe. Inside 

 of those cells is protoplasm, and by and l)y there comes an 

 indentation of one side of the circumference of cells. The 

 indentation grows deeper and deeper, until you have from 

 what was originally one cell the skin of cells going all 

 around the eml)ryo and extending in a channel through the 

 embryo. That becomes the skin of a cow after she is full 

 grown, and the same skin goes around the body and through 

 the body from the mouth through the bowels. The stomach 

 of the cow is merely an enlargement of part of the channel 

 of the inside skin. That is what I mean by saying the skin 

 is a very important organ both inside and outside. It is the 

 organ of digestion. The condition of the skin outside has 

 much to do with the activity of the skin inside. If a cow 

 is put into a stable where an efibrt. is made, or a condi- 

 tion without an effort exists, for feeding her on chaff, 

 through the skin along her back, the skin inside her stomach 

 will be in a very poor condition for aiding in active diges- 

 tion. Why do you suppose a man curries a race horse? 

 He does it because he puts the outside skin in such a whole- 

 some condition that the inside skin dio;ests food better : and 

 that is why a man should curry a cow. If a man wants to 

 feed a cow for profit, he should use a curry comb or a 

 brush over her skin every day. It is the best tonic you can 

 use on a cow, — as well as on a man. 



