378 Transactions of the American Institute. 



whole stock of cows. It has therefore been considered as contagious. 

 But the cause which produced the effect on one is sufficient to act 

 similarly with all, and so all are affected. Good nourishing feed is a 

 preventive, as are also clean, airy stables, and, above all else, sufficient 

 pure water. 



Mr. J. B. Lyman — Four years ago this State gave $6,000 to some 

 doctors to find a remedy for this malady. The doctors worked hard, 

 went to a great many farms, asked a thousand questions, and collected 

 great books of meadow flora, and wrote long memoirs on the subject, 

 all to show that they had done something to earn the $6,000 ; but ask 

 Dr. Carmault to-day what is the cause and cure for abortion in cows, 

 and he will say, " I don't know." I examined his reports carefully, 

 and from two bushels of clean-looking scientific chaff these three or 

 four kernels of sound wheat may be sifted : 1. A cow ought to go 

 dry about two months before she comes in. 2. While she has a calf 

 to make, give her stuff that has bone and meat in it, such as oatmeal 

 and wheat shorts. 3. For hay, give such as grew on high, sweet land. 

 4. To choose a herd of cows for milk-giving qualities alone, and to 

 manage so as to get the greatest number of gallons out of an animal, 

 is bad policy in the long run. Breeding for flesh and breeding for 

 the pail ought to go hand in hand. Otherwise this, or some other con- 

 stitutional weakness, will show itself. 



Plowing. 

 Mr. Thomas W". Nichol read the following paper : Agriculture is 

 the foundation of all industry, and plowing is the foundation of agri- 

 culture. The crop depends quite as much on the preparation of the 

 ground to receive the seed as it does on the nature of the soil itself. 

 Every farmer knows that soil naturally poor often produces more 

 than a superior soil, gimply because it is better cultivated. Poor soil, 

 or indeed any soil, may be improved by deep, thorough culture. 

 If all our farms were plowed and well pulverized twice as deep as 

 they are now, I do not think it Utopian to believe that the quantity 

 and value of our agricultural productions would be double in Ave 

 years. Why, then, do not farmers perceive this and act accordingly ? 

 I answer that, with the implements in use from time immemorial, it 

 was impossible to plow and pulverize deeply ; and even yet it has 

 only been done at such an expense of money, time and labor as to 

 discourage the attempt save on the part of the progressive few. 

 Having always been used to shallow plowing, many farmers do not 

 appreciate deep culture ; they do not understand how and why it will 



