500 
ON THE SPACING OF COWS. 
In order to operate in this way, it will be necessary to practise 
often on cows that are ^destroyed at the slaughter-house, and so 
to obtain sufficient dexterity in the performance of these mani¬ 
pulations. It is also necessary that the nails of the thumb and 
middle finger of the right hand should be long, and rounded at 
the extremity. 
, The operation being performed either in the one way or the 
other, the cow should be led back to her stall, and the person 
that is most accustomed to her should be with her and caress 
her; and a little salt should be given to her with the hand, or on 
some moistened bran. An hour afterwards a little dry meat may 
be given to her, and she may have warm water with some barley 
or other meal in it to drink. Her food should be given to her in 
small quantities, and her meal and water or gruel should be warm 
until the sixth or eighth day, when she may return to her usual 
provender, or be turned to grass if the season will permit. During 
this time it will be necessary to avoid direct exposure to cold, 
and especially all currents of air. 
When the cow has been taken back to her stall, the wound 
should be bathed with cold water several times in the day. On 
the following morning she should be bled while fasting. This 
bleeding will be particularly useful if any inflammatory smptoms 
begin to develope themselves, as will sometimes be the case in 
cows of irritable habits. 
Sometimes immediately after the operation the cows will grind 
their teeth, and the lower jaw will be partially fixed, in which 
case the administration of two spoonfuls of sulphuric ether in a 
bottle of cold water will be useful. 
If the cow does not ruminate, or constipation ensues, or the 
dung is hard, a pound of Glauber’s salt should be administered, 
dissolved in warm water. If at the expiration of twenty-four 
hours she has not dunged, the dose should be repeated ; frequent 
mucilaginous drinks, and particularly barley-water, administered, 
and oily mucilaginous injections thrown up. 
After the spaying, the milk diminishes all at once, but it 
insensibly returns. Some almost immediately yield the same 
quantity of milk that they were accustomed to do ; with others 
six, eight, fifteen, or even twenty days pass before the secretion 
is perfectly re-established. This much depends on the degree of 
fever that follows the operation, and the irritability of the patient. 
The state of the wound may also have considerable influence. 
I cannot, perhaps, better conclude than by relating a few cases 
of the performance of this operation, and with reference to the 
general health of the cow, the quantity of milk yielded, and the 
tendency to fatten. 
