444 MILCH-KINE. 



more than half an ounce per head per diem. The use of this salt, 

 sulphate of soda, has long been common in Alsace, and also on the 

 other side of the Rhine ; and its effect on the health of horses and 

 of sheep, as well as of horned cattle, has been reconized as highly 

 advantageous. In Wurtemberg, the horses have, very commonly, 

 725 grains, neat cattle 463 grains, sheep 305 grains, and swine 250 

 grains of Glauber salt twice a week.* 



Salt appears to be more especially useful in hot weather and in 

 warm climates. In the steppes of South America, it is held by the 

 llama keepers as an axiom that cattle cannot live without salt. 

 Wherever a flock thrives particularly well, it may be averred d 

 priori, that there is a salado there, a salt lick of the North Ameri- 

 cans, or place where there is a salt-spring. In the savannas that 

 are without saline springs, the herdsmen make a distribution of salt 

 every day. On the plateau, or table-land, of Nueva Granada, com- 

 mon salt is replaced with Glauber salt, as in Alsace and Wurtem- 

 burg, and I may say, that it was matter of much interest to me to 

 find the same custom prevailing on the table-lands of the Andes 

 as upon the banks of the Rhine. 



§ II. MILCH-KINE. 



I have akeady had occasion to say, that the signs by which the 

 qualities of kine as milkers were sought to be appreciated, are some- 

 what deceitful. Still, I am far from denying that practice and ex- 

 perience do not enable many persons to pronounce with some cer-. 

 tainty upon this particular. The power of doing so, however, is in 

 some sort the peculiar privilege of him who possesses it ; at least, I 

 have seen all the general rules that have been laid down on the sub- 

 ject fail ; I have seen cows of the most opposite conformations 

 equally productive. I have also said, that race or descent had much 

 to do with this quality ; the heifer that comes of a mother, a good 

 milker, will be very likely to turn out a good milker also. The 

 legitimate way, therefore, of obtaining a good race of milch-kine, is 

 to breed them from a stock that is already noted in this respect. At 

 the time of my penning these lines, there are two animals on the 

 farm that are remarkable as milch-kine : one is a tall, unseemly 

 animal, the bones projecting, and altogether thin and miserable ; the 

 other is a small cow, with rounded outlines everywhere, the bony 

 frame but little conspicuous ; her skin soft, her hair sleek and fine. 

 Nevertheless, these two animals have one character in common — 

 the udder is of extraordinary size. 



We ought not to be hasty in judging of the value of a milch-cow 

 after the first calf ; age has great influence on the secretion of milk. 

 It is generally allow^ tliat a cow does not attain to her maximum 

 capacity of yielding milk until she has passed her sixth year. 



With regard to the means we have of judging of the age of a cow, 

 they are principally derived from the horns. The teeth do not af- 

 ford us any indication, as in the horse and sheep. In the ox, about 



 Communicated by M. Schattenmani^ 



