26 HISTORY OF QUADRUPEDS. 



finer surface, and every year becomes more level 

 and beautiful: the Horse selects the grass that is 

 most delicate and tender; and being furnished with 

 fore teeth on each jaw, nips it close, and frequently 

 pulls it up by the roots, thereby preventing its 

 future growth and propagation: the Sheep also, 

 though formed like the Cow with respect to its 

 teeth, only bites the most succulent parts of the 

 herbage. 



The age of a Cow is known by its horns: at the 

 age of four years, a ring is formed at their roots; 

 and every succeeding year another ring is added. 

 Thus, by allowing three years before their appear- 

 ance, and then reckoning the number of rings, the 

 creature's age may be exactly known. 



The quantity of milk given by Cows is very vari- 

 ous: some will yield only about six quarts in one 

 day; while others give from ten to fifteen, and 

 sometimes even twenty. The richness of the pas- 

 ture contributes not a little to its increase. There 

 have been instances of Cows giving upwards of 

 thirty quarts of milk in one day. In such cases 

 there is a necessity for milking them thrice. From 

 the milk of some COW T S, twelve or fourteen pounds 

 of butter are made in a week. 



It has been advanced by some naturalists, as 'a 

 general principle, that neither animals nor parts of 

 f animals, appear to be primarily intended for the 

 use of man, but are only capable of a secondary 

 application to his purposes : yet it must be allowed 

 that, in many instances, what they term the second- 

 ary use, is so manifest and important, that it cannot, 

 with propriety, be supposed to be excluded from 

 the original design of the all-wise Creator: and it 



