244 
THE CULTIVATOR 
Ara 
part of this Society. It shews that the right spirit is 
abroad, and that the farmers of this small county are 
alive to their own best interests. It is to be hoped that 
some of our larger counties wilti funds idle in their 
treasury, will make a like arrangement, which will re¬ 
turn tenfold more to their societies, in the benefits to 
agriculture, than the small amount required to secure 
the services of Prof. J.] 
Letters were read from the officers of several Cana¬ 
dian Agricultural Societies, from the officers of the Board 
of Agriculture of Ohio, and from the societies of other 
states, giving notice of the appointment of delegates 
to attend the exhibition and fair of the N. Y. State So¬ 
ciety, at Syracuse. 
©I)€ iktmnarg department. 
Spaying Cows. 
At the request of a correspondent, we give the fol¬ 
lowing extract, in regard to the operation of spaying 
cows, from a lecture of Morin, a French veterinary 
surgeon: 
‘ Having covered the eyes of the cow to be operated 
upon, we place her against a wall, provided with five 
rings firmly fastened, and placed as follows:—the first 
corresponds to the top of tho withers; the second to 
the lower anterior part of the breast; the third is placed 
a little distance from the angle of the shoulder; the 
fourth is opposite to the anterior and superior part of 
the lower region, and the fifth, which is behind, an¬ 
swers to the under part of the buttocks. We place a 
strong assistant between the wall and the head of the 
animal, who firmly holds the left horn in his left hand, 
and with his right, the muzzle, which he elevates a lit¬ 
tle. This done, we pass through and fasten the end 
of a long and strong plaited cord in the ring, which 
corresponds to the lower part of the breast; we bring 
the free end of the cord along the left flank and pass it 
through the ring which is below and in front of the 
withers. We bring it dow T n along the breast behind 
the shoulders and the angle of the fore leg, to pass it 
through the third ring, from there, we pass it through 
the ring which is at the top of the back; then it must 
be passed around against the outer angle of the left 
hip, and we fasten it, after having drawn it tightly to 
the posterior ring by a simple bow knot. 
* The cow being firmly fixed to the wall, we place a 
cord, fastened by a slip-noose around its hocks to keep 
them together in such manner that the animai ^annot 
kick the operator, the free end of the cord and the tail 
are held by an assistant. 
1 The cow, thus secured, cannot, during the opera¬ 
tion, move forward, nor lie down; and the veterinary 
surgeon has all the ease desirable, and is protected 
from accident. 
1 M. Levrant advises that an assistant should hold a 
plank or bar of wood obliquely under the teats and be¬ 
fore its limbs to ward off the kicks; but this method is 
not always without danger, both to the operator and 
the animal, because, at the commencement, that is, 
when the surgeon makes the incision through the hide 
and the muscles, the cow makes such sudden move¬ 
ments, and tries so frequently to strike with its left 
hind foot, that it may happen that upon every move¬ 
ment, the plank or the bar may be struck against the 
operator’s legs. 
‘ On the other hand, although the defence may be 
firmly held by the assistant, yet it may happen, that in 
spite of his exertions, he sometimes may be thrown 
against the operator by the movements she may at¬ 
tempt, and there may be an uncontrollable displace¬ 
ment of the plank or bar; and then it may happen that 
she becomes wounded, and at the same time prevents 
the operation, while, by the mode we point out, there 
is no fear of accident, either to the operator or the 
beast. 
1 In case of the'want of a wall provided with rings, 
we may use a strong palisade, a solid fence, or two 
trees a suitable distance apart, across which w© fix two 
strong bars of wood, separated from each other, ac¬ 
cording to the size of the cow. 
f There is another means of confining them that we 
have employed for some time past, where the cows 
were very strong and irritable, more simple than the 
preceding, less fatiguing for the animal, less trouble¬ 
some to the operator, and which answers perfectly. It 
consists— 
1 First. In leaving the cow almost free, covering her 
eyes, holding her head by two strong assistants, one of 
whom seizes the nose with his hand and strongly 
pinches the nostrils, whenever the animai makes any 
violent movements during the operation. 
1 Second. To cause another assistant to hold the two 
hind legs, kept together by means of a cord passed 
above and beneath the hocks; this assistant also holds 
the tail and pulls it, whenever the animal seeks to 
change its place. 
1 The cow being conveniently disposed, and the in¬ 
struments and appliances, such as curved scissors upon 
a table, a convex edged bistoury, a straight one, and 
one buttoned at the point, suture needle filled with 
double thread of desired length, pledgets of lint of ap¬ 
propriate size and length, a mass of tow (in pledgets) 
being collected in a shallow basket, held by an intelli¬ 
gent assistant, we place ourselves opposite to the left 
flank, our back turned a little towards the head of the 
animal; we cut off the hair which covers the hid© in 
the middle of the flanks, at an equal distance between 
the back and the hip, for the space of thirteen or four¬ 
teen centimetres in circumference; this done, we take 
tho convex bistoury, and place it opened between our 
teeth, the edge out, the joint to the left; then, with 
both hands, we seize the hide in the middle of the flank, 
and form of it a wrinkle of the requisite elevation, and 
running lengthwise of the body. 
‘ We then direct an assistant to seize with his right 
hand the right side of this wrinkle; we then take the 
bistoury that we held in our teeth, and we cut the 
vrinxle at one stroke through the middle; the wrinkle 
having been suffered to go down, a separation of the 
hide is presented of sufficient length to enable us to in¬ 
troduce the hand ; thereupon we separate the edges of 
the hide with the thumb and forefinger of tho left hand, 
and in like manner, we cut through the abdominal 
muscles, the iliax (slightly obliquely) and the lumbar , 
(cross’) for the distance of a centimetre from the lower 
extremity of the incision made in the hide; this done, 
armed with the straight bistoury, we make a puncture 
of the peritoneum at the upper extremity of the wound j 
we then introduce the buttoned bistoury, and we move 
it obliquely from above to the lower part, up to the 
termination of the incision made in the abdominal mus¬ 
cles. The flank being opened, we introduce the right 
hand into the abdomen and direct it along the right 
side of the cavity of the pelvis, behind the cul de sau- 
rumen (paunch) and underneath the rectum, where we 
find the comes de Vuterus , (matrix;) after we have 
ascertained the position of these viscera, we search for 
the ovaries (organs of reproduction,) which are at the 
extremity of the comes, and when we have found them, 
we seize them between the thumb and forefinger, de¬ 
tach them c. mpletely from the ligaments that keep 
them in thei place, pull lightly, separating the cord, 
and the vesse s (uterine or fallopian tube) at their place 
of union with the ovarium, by means of the nail of tho 
thumb and forefinger, which present# itself at the point 
