58 
REGENERATION OF A COW. 
from the rough and irregular condition to which years had swelled 
them into the smoothness of youth, and delivered her to the owner 
more like a calf than the venerable ancestress of calves. The 
cow-dealer was struck with her transformation, and it immedi¬ 
ately occurred to him to sell her for the highest price possible, and 
not to say a word of her infirmities and deformities. Having 
learned that an Epping farmer was in want of a cow, he thought 
that he could not send his bargain to better quarters than those 
she was accustomed to, and forthwith dispatched her to Romford, 
where her old master was on the look out for a beast. She im¬ 
mediately caught his eye. He asked her age. The driver did 
not know, ^^but she was a fine young un.” “Eve seen a cow 
very like her some where,said the farmer; “ay/* said the driver, 
“ then you must have seen her a long way off, for I believe she 
is an Alderney.’^ ‘^An Alderney! what do you ask for her 
The price was soon fixed, the driver got the sum of £15 17s. for 
the cow, and the farmer sent her home. The ingenuity exercised 
may be guessed at from the fact that the person who drove the 
cow home had been at her tail twice a day for seven years, and 
yet he did not make the discovery, although she played some of 
her old tricks on the jdurney, and turned into the cow house and 
lay down with all the familiarity of an old acquaintance. At 
length the discovery was made; the cow was milked and milked, 
and the most that could be got from her was a pint, and that but 
little more than sky-blue. The farmer in grief and astonishment 
sent her to the cow doctor who had been in the habit of pre¬ 
scribing for her, and complained that she gave no milk. “Milk! 
said he, “how the devil should she, poor old creature? Sure it 
is’nt by cutting her horns, giving her linseed oil cakes, and 
scrubbing her old limbs, you can expect her to give milk?” The 
farmer was soon convinced of the imposture, and would forgive it 
if the laugh against him could be endured. 
Mr. Hobler regretted that the Lord Mayor could not interfere. 
He believed that the farmer must be content with the benefit de¬ 
rived from his experience; and it was to be hoped he would take 
a judge with him the next time he went to buy a cow. Some 
facts had reached him about the transformation of old jaded 
horses into spirited steeds, but he had not before heard of the 
effect filing down cows' horns had in restoring age to youth. 
He supposed this must be what is meant by “ grinding young." 
Farmers^ Journal, 
The Smithfield Horse Market. 
EXTRACTED FROM THE MINUTES OF EVIDENCE BEFORE THE SELECT 
COMMITTEE ON THE STATE OF SMITHFIELD MARKET. 
The horse market is only once in the week ? No, on the 
Friday. It commences, in the summer season, at three in the 
