24 



HISTORY OF QUADRUPEDS. 



clofe, and frequently pulls it up by the roots, thereby 

 preventing its future growth and propagation : The 

 Sheep alfo, though formed like the Cow with refpect 

 to its teeth, only bites the mod fuGculent parts of the 

 herbage. 



The age of a Cow is known by its horns : At the age 

 of four years, a ring is formed at their roots ; and every 

 fucceeding year another ring is added. Thus, by allow- 

 ing three years before their appearance, and then reckon- 

 ing the number of rings, the creature's age may be exact- 

 ly known. 



The quantity of milk given by Cows is very vari- 

 ous : Some will yield only about fix quarts in one day ; 

 while others give from ten to fifteen, and fometimes even 

 twenty. The richnefs of the pafture contributes not a 

 little to its increafe. There have been inftances of Cows 

 giving upwards of thirty quarts of milk in one day. In 

 fuch cafes, there is a neceffity for milking them thrice. — 

 From the milk of fome Cows, twelve or fourteen pounds 

 of butter are made in a week. 



It has been advanced, by fome naturalifts, as a general 

 principle, that neither animals, nor parts of animals, ap- 

 pear to be primarily intended for the ufe of man, but 

 are only capable of a fecondary application to his pur- 

 poses : Yet it muft be allowed, that in many inftarices, 

 what they term the fecondary ufe, is fo manifeft and im- 

 portant, that it cannot, with propriety, be fuppofed to 

 be excluded from the original defigns of the all-wife Cre- 

 ator: And it muft be allowed, that the Cow, in its fa- 

 culty of giving in fuch abundance, and with fo much 

 eafe, its milk, which forms fo rich and nutritive an ali- 

 ment for the human fpecies, is a ftriking example of this 

 fubordination to the interests of mankind : For this ani- 



