Proceedi^s^gs of the Farmeks* Club. 287 



upon the cow, and tlie interruption in the way of i^erfect digestion, 

 and lacteal secretion. In this country and Enodand, the nutritious 

 properties of milk are not conceived to be any too good when the 

 cow leads a life of gentle repose. 



I have seen them in Syria yoked at the extremity of a pole nearly 

 ten feet long, with a donkey, camel, or mule, indifferently, at the 

 other. Of course they are deteriorated representatives of a noble race, 

 with small scraggly horns, small udders, and miserably small milkers. 

 Sheep are milked extensively in some sections of Asia Minor, like 

 goats, giving quite a large yield, but the milk is not agreeable to my 

 taste, at least. The bags become almost equal to that of cows in size, 

 which have to be protected by a coarse piece of sail cloth, held up by 

 cords over their backs, to prevent lacerations and contusions, in 

 ranging among ragged hill-sides. Wise and familiar as every one 

 presumes himself to be who keeps a cow, there is still room for 

 improvements in the manner of feeding them, with a view to increasing 

 both quality and quantity of their milk. 



It is assumed, a priori in this communication, a mistake that cows 

 may be fed with anything. Oil cake and similar compositions con- 

 duce to a kind of apparent fattening, which is rather a bloating of 

 the fat cells than real fat. Garbage from a kitchen is no better than 

 slops from a brewery or still house. They may be coerced, as it 

 were, into eating such products, but it's unnatural food. Liquidity is 

 not a quality to be sought in their diet, nor should it ever be warmed. 

 Mr. Wynans softens hay in a hot bath, rolls it to flatten the tubes 

 into a soft, mushy mass, on the theory it facilitates digestion, saves 

 time in chewing, and more milk follows. He is mistaken on every 

 point, if naturalists have truly interpreted nature. It would be 

 wearisome to a popular audience were I to attempt a physiological 

 demonstration of the modus operandi of the function of digestion in 

 ruminants. Four stomachs were placed in their bodies for a definite 

 purpose. There is neither economy, humanity, or morality in cook- 

 ing food for animals designed in the constitution of things for chew- 

 ing the cud. Were careful investigations instituted, it is probable 

 that it would be found that milk made from miscellaneous food is of 

 very little value ; and further, it is positively injurious in the human 

 stomach, introducing elements wholly unsuitable, and the origin of 

 cutaneous eruptions, nausea, diarrhoeas, and yjerhaps gi-aver maladies. 

 The fresher and more cleanly the cow's aliment, the richer will be 

 her milk in those ingredients which give it universal reputation 



