146 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
May, 
form it successfully; and so it would be in regard to 
describing the amputation of a limb, or the dissection 
of any part of the body. I can only say, that spaying 
can be performed w thout any particular risk. 
It is important that the farmer should know what his 
cow is best fitted for. If she is inclined to get fat with 
good feeding, I would not spay her for the purpose of 
milking, but would do it for the purpose of fattening 
her. But on the other hand, if the object is milk, and 
the cow is a good milker, spay her and keep her in 
milk. I have milked them from one to six years; and 
in the counties of Ontario, Livingston and Genesee, I 
have operated on hundreds from six weeks to eighteen 
years old. 
Reference can be given to those who have milked 
spayed cows for several years, have worked spayed hei¬ 
fers, and have raised and fattened them from calves, 
and all speak in high terms of the benefit of the opera¬ 
tion. when well performed. Wm. Carter. East 
Bloomfield , Ontario Co ., N. V. 
Note. —It may be well to add to the above, the con- 
conclusions of M. Morin, veterinary surgeon at one of 
the French Royal Depots. He furnishes a long article 
for a French journal, which is summed up as follows: 
1. Spaying induces permanency of milk, increase of 
quantity, and improvement of quality; richer, more but¬ 
tery, 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 furnish¬ 
es 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. Eds. 
©l)c |poultrg Ifcrts 
Digestive Organs of Fowls* 
The great powers af digestion possessed! by gallina¬ 
ceous fowls, have often excited remark; but of the ma¬ 
chinery by which they are able to grind such hard sub¬ 
stances as the haws of thorns, the stones of cherries, 
and other similar seeds, not much is generally known. 
49 —GIZZARD OF THE TURRET. 
For this reason, we have thought our readers would be 
interested with the accompanying cut of the gizzard, 
and a description of that and other digestive organs of 
fowls. 
The cut, (fig. 49) shows the gizzard of the turkey 
laid open: a. lower portion of the crop; b. ventriculus 
succenturiatus, with its zone of glands; c. muscle of 
the left side of the gizzard; d. muscle on the right 
side. 
Various experiments have been made to test the sol¬ 
vent and grinding powers of the gizzard. Without go¬ 
ing into detail in describing these experiments—which 
in many instances appear to have been unwarrantably 
cruel—it may be useful to mention some of the aston¬ 
ishing results which were produced. 
Spallanzani prepared tin tubes, which he filled with 
grain and forced down the throats of common fowls and 
turkeys. After twenty to thirty-six hours the birds 
were killed; the grain had been dissolved, and the tubes 
broken or distorted in a singular manner. He then 
strengthened the tubes by soldering plates of tin with 
small holes through them, to the ends of the tubes. 
The tubes, when taken from the gizzard of the turkey, 
were compressed or broken, the ends driven in, and the 
grain was entirely dissolved. He next tried what ef¬ 
fect would be produced by sharp bodies thrown into the 
gizzard. In twenty-four hours the gizzard; of a cock 
broke off the angles of a piece of rough jagg'ed glass; 
and no wound or injury appeared on the gizzard. 
Twelve needles were driven into a ball of lead, the 
points projecting about a quarter of an inch from the 
surface; the ball was coated with paper, and forced 
down the throat of a turkey. It was retained thirty- 
six hours, the bird showing no uneasiness. When ta¬ 
ken from the gizzard, the points of the needles were 
found broken off close to the surface of the ball. Two 
of the points were found among the partly digested 
food—the others were believed to have passed through 
the intestines. In the next experiment, he fixed twelve 
small lancets, very sharp both at the points and edges, 
in a similar ball of lead. He says—“ the lancets were 
such as I use in the dissection of small animals. The 
ball was given to a turkey eoefc, and left eight hours in 
the stomach; at the expiration of which time that or¬ 
gan was opened, but nothing appeared but the naked 
ball, the twelve lancets having been, broken to pieces. 
I discovered three of them in the large intestines, 
pointless, and mixed with the excrements; the other 
nine were missing, and had probably been voided. The 
stomach [gizzard] was sound and entire as that which 
had received the needles. Two capons, of which one 
was subjected to the experiment with the needles, and 
the other with the lancets, sustained them equally well 
We give from Martin r s late Treatise on Poultry, the 
following description of the digestive organs of fowls j 
“ The oesophagus or gullet leads into a dilatation call¬ 
ed the crop, craw, or inghtvies —a large membranous 
cavity, which lies just before the breast bone, and 
which receives the food when first swallowed. It is 
furnished with many mucous and salivary glands, the 
exudation from which tends to soften the grain, and fit 
it for further elaboration. This crop or sack is not ve¬ 
ry sensible, and when gorged with food may be opened 
by means of a sharp pen-knife or lancet, and relieved 
of its contents. If the edges of the wound be neatly 
joined together, and secured by a few stitches—the bird 
being at first kept fasting, and afterwards only allowed 
a little sopped bread or the like—it will generally re¬ 
cover without any ill symptoms. To this crop suc¬ 
ceeds a narrower portion, called ventriculus succentu¬ 
riatus ^ the lining membrane of which is beset with nu¬ 
merous glandular orifices, forming a sort of belt, which 
pour out a copious secretion of digesting or gastri© 
juice, which mingles with the food in the gizzard or 
grinding stomach, into which the ventriculus succentu¬ 
riatus immediately leads. The gizzard is a powerful 
grinding mill, composed of immensely thick and firm 
muscles, and lined with a tough insensible coriaceous 
membrane. The two massive hemispherical muscles 
which essentially form the grinding apparatus, are op¬ 
posed face to face, like two millstones, and they work 
upon each other, tituratingto a pulp the food subjected 
to their action, and rendering it fit, after being broken 
down, for the influence of the gastric juice, which, un- 
