CASTRATION OF THE COW. 
459 
loss to the live stock interest in France, from the non-castration 
of the cows, to amount to over 140 millions of francs, equal to 
about 28 millions of dollars. The number of cows then butchered 
annually in that country was about 800,000. This number he 
divided into the percentages that were Taurelieres, and those that 
were fattened in each of the several different manners, and then 
estimated the loss on the animals in each class as they dressed at 
the abattoir. I found it impossible to obtain the necessary fig¬ 
ures for a foundation on which to base similar computations in 
the United States. However, the number of cows in this country 
is more than double that which France contained at that time, 
and from some few points that I obtained from a wholesale but¬ 
cher in this city, the number destroyed annually for meat pur¬ 
poses is in a like ratio increased. This would make about 1,600,. 
000 as a rough estimate of the cow butchery in this country 
annually. I believe we should not over-estimate the loss from 
the non-castration of this number of cows if we figured it at double 
that in France at that time; for, while the difference in the price 
per hundred-weight for the dressed meat of the castrated and the 
non-castrated cows (which amounted to about $1.00 in France,) 
might be less in this country, (although I hardly believe it would 
be the case). Our cows average much heavier than the French 
cows, and, consequently, there would be more meat per head to 
compute upon. Estimating in this way, the annual loss in the 
United States from the non-castration of the cows would amount 
to 56 millions of dollars. To this should be added the loss from 
the useless wholesale waste of meat from the old cows on the 
ranches being allowed to die. 
To use the words of Gourdon, “ This is a real loss without 
compensation, which weighs at once upon the purse of the culti¬ 
vator, and the public food, and which diminishes the quality of 
the meat. This could be avoided by castration, the effects of 
which would be more decided as the operation would be practiced 
under conditions more favorable as to age and health. ’ 
In New York there is some difference in the price paid by the 
butcher between the spayed and unspayed cow. Outside of New 
York, I can find no regular rates of difference. The Chicago 
