42 



TREATISE ON MILCH COWS. 



had earned " Gold Medals " for its author, in a country where they are not prone 

 to be lavish of such substantial marks of approbation, my curiosity was awakened, 

 and I had soon read enough to^^bring home to me once more, for the thousandth 

 time, that homely old truth, " We live to learn." 



Since then, many things have occurred to strengthen my confidence in the re- 

 ality of this discovery, and in its high practical value to all interested in the pre- 

 servation and improvement of milk stock — and who is it that is not interested iu 

 its productiveness ? The most recent of these incidents is as follows : 



A friend to whom I had lent the translation accompanied wrai the plates which 

 are requisite to make it intelligible, showed it to a man from the country whose 

 calling had rendered him quite conversant with the subject of cattle. This per- 

 son's curiosity was so far awakened, that, beside attending to the explanations 

 made to him, he took a sketch of some of the escutcheons. After an absence oi 

 some weeks, he returned to the city where this' had happened, and came to see 

 my friend. " That thing (said he) is as true as a book. There is no mistake 

 about the matter. Since I was here, I have looked at more cows than ever you 

 saw, and I am perfectly satisfied that the thing is just as the Frenchman says. 

 I have become convinced, too, of another thing : that our breeds of cattle are by 

 no means the great things they are cracked up to be." N. P. T. 



Washington. City, January, 1846. 



t 



