WATER FOR COWS. 353 



water taken with the food, the cows were allowed to drink 

 the same as before, and their thirst was excited by adding 

 a little salt to the fodder. The milk produced under this 

 additional amount of water, on analysis, was pronounced 

 of good quality ; and when tested for butter, was found 

 satisfactory. A definite amount of water could not be 

 fixed upon for each cow, since the appetite for drink diifers 

 widely in different animals. He found, by a series of 

 observations, that the quantity of water habitually drunk 

 by each cow during twenty-four hours was a criterion to 

 judge of the quantity of milk that she would yield per day. 

 And a cow that does not habitually drink as much as 27 

 quarts of water daily must be a poor milker giving only 

 from 5K to 7 quarts per day. But all the cows which con- 

 sumed as much as 50 quarts of water daily were excellent 

 milkers giving from 18 to 23 quarts of milk daily. He 

 gives a confident opinion that the quantity of water drunk 

 by a cow is an important test of her value as a milker. 



These experiments, although they may not be quite 

 sufficient to induce confidence in M. Dancel's rule, yet it 

 is certain that abundance of pure water is an absolute 

 necessity to be provided by a successful dairyman. As 

 water permeates every part of the system of the cow, its 

 purity is of the first consideration. The quality of the 

 water effects the health of the cow and the healthfulness 

 of her milk. The impurities of stagnant water, in the 

 form of organic germs, pass in a dormant state into the 

 circulation of the blood, and thence into the secretions of 

 milk ; and so powerful are these taints that it is not unfre- 

 quently, at cheese factories, that the milk of one cow 

 spoils a large vat of milk. So important is the quality of 

 water for the cow, that it is none too severe a test to say 

 that no water is fit for a milch cow that is not fit also for 

 man to drink. Water should also be easy of access, both 

 in winter and summer. In winter it should either be 



