AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 429 



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Devons, Sussexes and Herefords are better preserved in the State 

 of Connecticut than any other part of New England, indicating 

 that these were the original favorites. 



Breedirig Cattle. 

 In order to do this with success, the parents should be full- 

 grown, selected of a good size, from four to ten years of age, liv- 

 ing in a healthy country, A hilly country is much the best ; 

 neither the bull nor the cow should be stabled, nor be ringed. 

 Both bull and cow should run at large, the bulls be accustomed 

 to the yoke while they are calves, and kept fairly and moderately 

 to work under the yoke in the open air, fed on fresh grass, hay, 

 Indian meal, with boiled turnips, potatoes or carrots — stabled 

 only during the winter. These bulls make the best working 

 teams; strong, full of enterprise and courage — will plow deep 

 furrows, draw heavy logs, cart good loads, make heavy stone wall. 

 Indeed a breeding bull ought to be a working bull, and then they 

 never have the catarrh, consumption or gout to afflict them, or to 

 render their progeny feeble or sickly. The calves should come 

 in the month of February and on to May. They should take the 

 whole milk of the mother the first twelve to fourteen months, 

 constantly handled to keep them docile. They will gradually 

 wean themselves when their teeth and stomach become adapted 

 to other food. After the first three months a calf ought to run 

 in the pasture. When they begin to wean they should be fed 

 wdth fine hay, fresh grass, and a small quantity of Indian meal. 

 In the winter the cow is frequently injured by drinking cold 

 water. It produces constipation of the bowels, and cholic- Two 

 pailsful of warm water, with a half peck of rye or wheat bran 

 during the day will keep the bowels free and open. I have 

 known cows dried up by drinking cold water immediately after 

 calving, with violent symptoms of inflammatory fever. In the 

 winter season the cow had better drink warm water from the 

 temperature of 55° to 64'^, kept in clean, warm, and well ventil- 

 ated stables. The calf needs a warm stable, with straw or chaff 

 to lie on. The food must be upland hay. Cattle never do well 

 on wet, swampy land, nor will they feed to advantage on hay 

 grown in marshes, nor put on flesh when they lie down in damp. 



