Proceedings of the Fjrmers' Club. 283 



quarters, and the cow becomes a model of quiet docility, orderly, 

 with an expression of contentment. She is no contemptible sight. 

 There is a solemn independence of gait, when the bag is full, refresh- 

 ing to contemplate. Her walk is slow, as it should be, otherwise 

 it would interfere with the lactic secretion. Their locomotion should 

 never be hurried unnecessarily, since their gastric capacit}^ is altogether 

 too lai-ge to urge them rapidly, especially when the paunch is distended 

 with succulent food. A cow has memory. " The ox knoweth his stall 

 and the ass his master's crib." But being social in disposition, two 

 cows do better than one alone. They actually love company. That 

 is a trait in the character of all grass eating animals. If they have 

 had a companion for a while, and then it is taken away, the restless 

 uneasiness manifested is apparent. Farmers understand the value of 

 that kind of influence, since several oxen, cows, pigs or sheep thrive and 

 fatten faster together than one would alone. They are disposed to 

 huddle together, especially towards nightfall, which, in a wild state, 

 as in buffalo herds, gives a sense of greater security. Cows evidently 

 delight to repose near each otlier by the road-side or in closed yards, 

 after feeding through the entire day. Chewing the cud is a social 

 occiqaation for cows, hours in succession, as they rarely rise upon 

 their feet till the following morning. Rumination is a function that 

 has very much perplexed physiologists. All the ruminants have four 

 stomachs. Sheep, oxen, goats, camels, deer, rabbits, gazelles, etc., are 

 alike in that respect, requiring periods of rest in order to rechew the 

 contents of the rumen or paunch, which is simply a receiving sack, 

 contributing but little towards altering the appearance of whatever 

 may have been swallowed. Before the food is prepared for entering 

 into organic relations with the animal, it passes from one mill to 

 another, till that which was green grass at first is converted 

 into a delicate white curd. On leaving the first stomach {ctbomosls)^ it 

 passes into the intestine, where it is urged onwardly by con- 

 tractions of the tube through an extent of forty-six feet in 

 sheep, and very nearly the same length in all the herbivori. Sliding 

 by the open mouths of multitudes of lacteal vessels or milk-suckers, 

 mixing on the M-ay with various glandular secretions, it is finally 

 poured into a vein to circulate with and to become blood. In that 

 manner food is vitalized. How literally true, therefore, the declara- 

 tion of the Psalmist, " all flesh is grass," instead of being a poetical 

 fiction. Analyze the phenomena of converting grass into beef. A 

 very large proportion of laud is covered with vegetable growths, 



