570 
EXTRACTS-SPAYED COWS. 
where they could enjoy the benefit of air and exercise, and at, 
the same time crop their own food, and thereby save the labour 
and trouble of feeding them? Mr. Winn, in reply to these 
inquiries, stated that the two cows which I so much admired 
were of the common stock of the country, and, he believed, of 
Spanish origin; but they were both spayed cows, and that they 
had given milk either two or three years. Considering this a 
phenomenon (if not in nature, at least in art), I made further 
inquiries of Mr. Winn, who politely entered into a very inte¬ 
resting detail, communicating facts which were as extraordinary as 
they were novel to me; and supposing that they will prove 
equally as interesting to your numerous agricultural readers as 
they were to me, I am induced, on the request of a friend, to 
offer them for publication in your very valuable Journal, in the 
hope that some of the farmers who supply our large towns with 
milk, will deem them of sufficient importance to make experi¬ 
ments for the purpose of ascertaining whether the results which 
they may obtain will corroborate the facts stated by Mr. Winn, 
and which, should they be fully confirmed, may lead to great 
and important benefits, not only to farmers, but to tavern-keepers, 
and other inhabitants of cities and villages, who now keep cows 
in order that they may be sure of a constant supply of pure and 
unadulterated milk. 
Mr. Winn, by way of preface, observed that he had, in former 
years, been in the habit of reading English Magazines, which 
contained accounts of the ploughing matches which were annu¬ 
ally held in some of the southern counties of England, performed 
by cattle, and that he had noticed that the prizes were generally 
adjudged to the ploughman who worked with spayed heifers; 
and, although there was no connexion between that subject and 
the facts which he should state, it was, nevertheless, the cause 
which first directed his mind into that train of thought and rea- 
soiling which finally induced him to make the experiments 
which resulted in the discovery of the facts which he detailed, 
and which I will narrate as accurately as my memory will ena- 
ale me to do it, after the lapse of more than twenty years. 
Mr. Winn’s frequent reflections had (he said) led him to the 
belief u that if cows were spayed soon after calving, and while in 
a full flow of milk, they would continue to give milk for many 
years without intermission, or any diminution of quantity, ex¬ 
cept what would be caused by a change from green to dry, or 
less succulent food.” 
To test this hypothesis, Mr. Winn caused a very good cow, 
then in full milk, to be spayed. The operation was performed 
about one month after the cow had produced her third call: 
it was not attended with any severe pain, or much or long- 
