BOOIC Tm^EJE. 



CHAPTER XX. 



Abortion Extkaordinaey in Cows. 

 Increase of the Malady. — Some of its Peculiarities. 



INTRODUCTORY. 



The characteristic facts of the abortion in cows that 

 commenced about the same time that cheese-factory dairy- 

 ing was first inaugurated in the State of New York, are so 

 peculiar that we give a short introductory chapter to the 

 consideration of some of the most important of them. 



The number of aborting cows in 1868 was about 51/ per 

 cent of all the cows in tlie State of New York, and the 

 proportion is probably as large in some localities in Penn- 

 sylvania, Illinois, Wisconsin, and other States, where spe- 

 cial dairy cows yield as much — 70 per cent — over the gen- 

 eral average of cows in their respective States. 



In Herkimer county. New York, the number of aborting 

 cows in one season, 1868, was 1,650, the loss in milk 

 being equal to the yield of 822 cows, or 356,529 pounds 

 of cheese, in only fourteen towns. 



Such facts may suggest the sweeping extent of the 

 malady or injury, and the loss arising from it in other 

 cheese-dairy districts, and the pecuniary and physiological 

 importance of the subject to farmers and dairymen gener- 

 ally. 



The most remarkable circumstance connected with ex- 



