542 THE COMMON OX. 



up with the fish, till a fine rich soup is prepared, which is 

 poured, while warm, into the manger. Matthew Aphonin 

 remarks, that " oxen fatten very quickly upon the sea- coasts 

 where the arrow-grass (Triglochin maritimum), their favourite 

 food, abounds 5" and if this be so, it is probably ascribable 

 to the saline nature of the plant, and to the sea-breezes con- 

 taining particles of salt, which appears to be necessary to 

 stimulate their digestive organs, and therefore conducive to 

 their health. In Upper Canada, the cattle have plenty of wild 

 pasture to browse on in the woods, but, once in a fortnight, 

 they return of their own accord to the farms to obtain a little 

 salt 5 and when they have eaten it mixed with their fodder, they 

 repair again to the woods. D'Azara tells us, that in parts of 

 Paraguay, salt is not given to the herds of cattle j but they 

 require absolutely to have the barrero (a saline or nitrous earth), 

 which they and even other animals seek with avidity, and 

 without which they fail and die in the course of four months. 

 From the twenty- seventh degree of south latitude to the 

 Malovine Islands, they have no need of the barrero, because 

 the waters and the pasture grounds are sufficiently salt; but 

 northward, beyond this latitude, it is necessary, and the plains 

 which do not contain it, feed neither the ox, horse, ass, mule, 

 goat, or sheep." 



The importance of paying attention to the dieting of cattle, 

 whether a whole herd or one individual is kept, is well shown 

 by the fact that, at the model-farm of Grignon, in Provence, 

 it was found, by experiment, that a cow fed without reference 

 to any fixed plan cost about a shilling a day, and yielded little 

 more than four or five pints of milk j but when fed syste- 

 matically, she cost only eight-pence, grew much fatter, and 

 yielded more than nine pints of milk. 



Oxen are fond of bathing, and they are also good swim- 

 mers. 



All naturalists who have written on the cow, state her 

 gestation at nine months' duration , and this is in accordance 

 with the remark of an old agricultural writer, that "so long 



