CATTLE. 
157 
advantage of furnishing a long-continued supply, before commencing a 
course ot fattening, of abundant milk, and butter of a superior quality, 
the cow fattens easily and completely, and a certain benefit follows this 
course. 
“ 3 - In spaying decrepit cows, that is to say, of the age of from six 
to seven years, puny, small ones; those which, though fine in appear- 
ance, bear badly ; those which are subject to miscarriage; those which 
frequently experience difficult calving, or delivery ; those difficult to 
keep; and finally, all those that are taurelierea — that is to say, con- 
stantly in heat— we have, in addition to an abundant production of milk 
and butter, and a facility of fattening, the advantage of preventing a 
degeneration of the species, and, moreover, of avoiding a crowd of ac- 
cidents or maladies which frequently take place during or after gestation, 
and of diminishing those which happen during the period of heat, such 
as that of heavy cows mounting others, or being jumped upon by too 
heavy bulls. 
“ Except under peculiar circumstances, we should take care in spaying 
the cow that its teats have acquired their complete development, and 
that the milk has the proper qualities. The most suitable time is after 
the third or fourth calving. 
“ M any societies of agriculture, impressed with the important results 
that this operation effects, fix yearly at their agricultural meetings pre- 
miums for the encouragement of the spaying of old cows. We doubt 
not that other societies — who have not yet adopted this plan, not being 
convinced of its importance, when they are— will imitate their example. 
By this means they bestow upon the country a new source of products. 
“ We have been engaged for four years in researches upon this valu- 
able discovery ; we believe that it is incumbent upon us to state the 
results that we have obtained up to the present time. In the number 
of twenty-seven cows, aged from six to fifteen years, that we have actual- 
ly spayed, we have had the following results: 1. Increase of milk in 
cows of six years; 2. Constant production in those that have passed 
that age ; 3. Milk richer than that of the cow not spayed, consequently 
more buttery, and the butter both of a uniformly golden color, and 
having an aroma and taste far superior to that of a cow that has not 
undergone this operation. 
“Early in July, 1842, we obtained, as a subject of experiment, a cow 
from Brittany, of the small kind, twelve years old, calved about two 
months before, and which gave, when we obtained her, about six quarts 
ot milk daily. The next day after we performed the operation of spay- 
ing— indeed the first eight days after that— the secretion of milk sensibly 
diminished, in consequence of the light diet on which she had been put; 
but, on the ninth da}', the time at which the cure was complete and the 
cow put on her ordinary food, the milk promptly returned, as to its 
jormer quantity, and she at the same time assumed a plumpness that she 
had not had previously. Customarily bringing together the yield of 
three days tor butter-making, being eighteen quarts, it produced con- 
stantly two kilograms of butter of the best quality. From the month 
ot December to the following March, the quantity of milk diminished 
about one-third, and the butter proportionally, the cow during that time 
