NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



341 



ture connected with the farmer's trade.) He must, 

 too, provide well for the fcraalo jjart of his household. 

 Every thing should bo made convenient in and about 

 the farm-house ;. the dairy room should be handy, 

 and all its departments provided with the necessary 

 articles with which to carry on the business in the 

 most expeditious manner. 



Again, on washing days and other particular days 

 of hard lal)or, ho will have the good wife assisted by 

 some one of the male part of the family, to make her 

 labors less arduous, that her constitution may not 

 be too early broken down. He will instruct his wife 

 to train up her daughters to moderate labor, that 

 thoy may be prepared, like horselt', to engage in the 

 duties which may one day be assigned them. He 

 will, too, have a properly cultivated flower garden, 

 for the benefit of his wife and daughter.-', deeming it 

 (as it actually is) a lasting benefit, inasmuch as it is 

 a place of resort and exercise in the open air, which 

 is necessary for the prescrvatinn of health. 



Again, every true farmer Avill provide for his wife 

 and daughters a good, steady horse and comfortable 

 carriage, that they may attend meetings, visit the 

 sick, call on their friends, &c., &c. To speak in 

 general terms, the farmer's Avife is kept too closely 

 confined in doors — is made too much the slave of 

 man ; consequently is deprived of what is essential to 

 her health and happiness — exorcise in the open air. 

 The true farmer is the true gentleman, and wherever 

 such a one is found, his worth ought to be duly 

 appreciated. A. TODD. 



Smithfield, R. I., Sept. 1849. 



For the Neio England Farmer. 

 BONE DISORDER IN COWS. 



Mr Editor : I have seen occasionally, in your 

 journal and in other agricultural papers, accounts of 

 a supposed disease in the bones of milch cows, owing, 

 as is alleged, to the exhaustion of the phosphate of 

 lime in the pastures where they feed. And bone 

 meal is, as I am informed, actually sold in consider- 

 able quantities, to be fed to cows affected with this 

 disorder. The whole theory, with respect to this 

 bone disease, has always appeared to me to be 

 unreasonable, and not supported by facts. I say 

 unreasonable, because lands which j-ield an abun- 

 dance of good feed — whether such lands be old or 

 new — would be just as likely to afford sufficient 

 nutriment to the bones as to the flesh of cattle fed 

 upon such lands. If cattle are kept in good condi- 

 tion, as they ought to be kept, who would dream of 

 their bones wasting in consecjuence of a supposed 

 deficiency of some ingredient in their food ? And 

 why, too, should cattle only in some particular dis- 

 tricts be affected with this disease, and not in other 

 districts, where the soil is equally exhausted — if we 

 may infer that fact from the length of time during 

 which they have been in pasture. 



But what facts are adduced in support of this 

 theory ? In some districts, cows in milk are found to 

 be sickly : bone meal is given to them, and they 

 recover their usual health. Does this prove that 

 their bones have wasted away, or have threatened to 

 cave in ? Not at all, as it seems to me. The infer- 

 ence is not a legitimate one, but would seem rather 

 to be jumped at, from the nature of the remedy found 

 to be beneficial in these cases. Before we pronounce 

 upon this wasting away of the bones, it certainl)' 

 would be more satisfactory to have the matter thor- 

 oughly investigated by dissection of some animal 

 thus affected. If the bones were gone, or partially 

 gone, I suppose there would be no disputing the 

 nature of the disease. But this has not, to my 

 knowledge, as yet been shown, and I much doubt if 

 it can be shown. 



In questions of this kind, however, it is not always 

 safe to reason from general principles. As the present 

 one is of a practical nature, in which all farmers are 

 more or less interested, they should obtain the best 

 information in their pov.'er respecting it. It was 

 with this view that I addressed a line to Dr. Wil- 

 liam Saunders, of Salem, a highly intelligent and 

 successful veterinary surgeon, requesting his opinion 

 on the subject. From his known skill and extensive 

 practice, I had full confidence that he was qualified 

 to give an opinion entitled to as much weight as that 

 of any person with whom I am acquainted. From 

 his letter in reply I make the following extract : — 



" I have much pleasure in answering your request 

 of my opinion concerning a disease called the bone 

 disorder, or falling in of the bones, in cows, as printed 

 in the New England Farmer of January 6. I beg 

 leave to differ in my views with that journal, though 

 at the same time I have much respect for its great 

 utility in forwarding agricultural pursuits. That the 

 cow, or any other animal, for want of consistent food, 

 will consume away, is natural ; but that it would 

 particidarli/ affect the bone, is, in my humble opinion, 

 altogether out of the (luestion ; consequently, I must 

 dissent from allowing the falling in of the bones, as 

 described in that journal; nor can I admit of any 

 direct bone disorder of that kind. 



" I have given bone meal to neat cattle as a medi- 

 cine, particularly to such cows as are frequently 

 searching after bones, with good effect. I would 

 therefore cheei-fuUy recommend it in all such cases, 

 or as a corrective of any acidity on the stomach, 

 which in my opinion is the cause of this continual 

 hankering after old bones." 



This appears to me a more reasonable mode of 

 accounting for this (so called) bone disorder, viz., that 

 it is a sour stomach which impels animals to crave 

 bones, than that their bones are falling away, and 

 they seek to supply the waste by the consumption 

 of the raw material. There is more of the bone meal 

 given to milch cows in Danvers than in any other 

 part of this county. And, indeed, I learn from Messrs. 

 Ruggles, Nourse, & Mason, that they sell large quan- 

 tities, to be used there for this purpose. It must be 

 found to be beneficial to their cows, or the farmers 

 of that town would not go to this expense. Why 

 their cows should be thus peculiarly affected, so as 

 to require the use of bono meal, it would be difficult 

 to determine. Whether it is owing to any peculiar 

 grasses or herbs which they find in the pastures, 

 which deranges the stomach, or to the use of shorts, 

 which are used there very generally on the milk 

 farms, or to what other cause, might be worthy of 

 inquiry. Of this I am sure — that I have never known 

 this bone meal to be given to cows on farms in this 

 iiiHnediate vicinity. Perhaps they might have as 

 good an appetite for it as other cows, if it was ottered 

 to them ; but as the)' are generally in a healthful 

 condition, and live to a respectable age, till they are 

 turned off to the butcher, without any indications of 

 a failure in their bones, they maj' as well, perhaps, 

 be left without it. For a well cow, good food, good 

 shelter, and good care, are the essential requisites to 

 keep her in health ; and to prescribe medicines in 

 anticipation of disease, may onlj' bring her to a pre- 

 mature grave, and make for her the epitaph, " I was 

 well — I would be better — I took physic — and here 

 I am." ALLEN W. DODGE. 



Hamilton, Sept. 18, 1849. 



Editorial Remarks. — We have no favorite hy- 

 pothesis on this subject, that we wish to support, 

 and we are much obliged to Mr. Dodge for starting 

 a more thorough investigation, and to Dr. Saunders 

 for contributing his views, which are entitled to great 

 weight, both from their plausibility and from his 



