162 
DOMESTIC) ANIMALS. 
duction of cold air into the abdomen during the operation ; but this 
derangement has generally ceased within twenty-four hours. If the 
contrary should occur, we administer one or two sudorific draughts; 
such as wine, warm cider, or half a glass of brandy, in a quart of warm 
water; treatment which suffices in a short time to re-establish a healthy 
state of the belly, the animal at the same time being protected by two 
coverings of wool. 
“The operation which we have been describing, ought to be per- 
formed as we have said before, thirty to forty days after calving, upon a 
cow which has had her third or fourth calf, so that we may have a 
greater abundance of milk. The only precaution to be observed before 
the operation, is, that on the preceding evening we should not give so 
copious a meal as usual, and to operate in the morning before the ani- 
mal has fed, so that the operator shall not find any obstacle from the 
primary digestive organs, especially the paunch, which, during its state 
of ordinary fullness, might prevent operating with facility. 
“ Conclusion. — From what has preceded, it is fixed and irrefutable — 
1. That spaying induces permanency of milk, increase of quantity, and 
improvement of quality; richer, more buttery, superior color, finer taste 
and flavor. 2, The most suitable age is six years, and after the third 
or fourth calf. 3. The spayed cow fattens more easily, and furnishes 
beef of a better quality. 4. Cows that are bad breeders may be kept as 
good milkers, and the quality of good cattle kept up.” 
DISEASES AND REMEDIES. — This is perhaps the most unsatisfactory 
division on which a writer on cattle can pretend to write. There are more 
cattle destroyed than cured by the strange quackery and drenching pur- 
sued by their over-officious owners ; and to write any thing to encourage 
a system so ruinous is to perpetuate the evil. The first thing a dairy- 
man or grazier does is to get a long list of “ receipts” inserted in a book, 
classified or not, but all under the names of certain diseases. A cow 
falls ill. She has the yellows, or the staggers, or the worms, not be- 
cause there are any clear and decided symptoms, but because the owner 
fancies it is so, and his specific is administered. He watches intently, 
and no good effect is produced ; he runs for another medicine prescribed 
by another hand ; the one opposing, and perhaps counteracting the 
other. One neighbor looks in, and perhaps another ; each advises a 
medicine, as empirical as that of the owner, and all must be given, until 
the symptoms increase and get so bad that the village quack is sent for, 
who is more clever than the rest, because he has a larger range of “ re- 
ceipts,” and lie adds his quota of drugs, until the beast dies, poisoned 
by medicine ! 
Now, so long as unprofessional men will continue to prescribe and 
treat obstinate and complicated complaints; and so long as the public 
press will pander to the receipt-mania, there is no hope of any amend- 
ment. Certainly we shall lend no aid to the system. 
But there are some simple and manifest ailments where the farmer 
may himself administer simple medicines ; and there are some cases of 
emergency, too, when it may be necessary to do something, till scientific 
aid can be obtained. To these cases we will allude. We will take the 
complaints in the order of their frequency. 
