264 
STATE AGRICULTUEAL SOCIETY. 
inverse relationship between the activity of the uterine organs ‘ 
and the mammary glands. By means of the first of these, 
the young animal is nourished during the period of its devel¬ 
opment, and by the second, during the period of its early 
growth. 
The animal economy does not, as a rule, allow both of these 
processes to go on for a length of time together—it cannot 
support both at the same time. The instances in nature in 
which the dam at once suckles one offspring and carries 
another, are rare. The reproductive process is a great demand 
upon the parent. Nature requires a long period for its pre¬ 
paration, has made certain laws for its government while it is 
going on, and after a certain period has been devoted to its 
performance, regulates its cessation. A constant violation of 
any of its more important laws, must bring about a failure 
somewhere in its proper performance. 
The size and functional activity of the mammary gland dif¬ 
fers much in different species of animals, and may be very decid¬ 
edly influenced, even in the same species, by a difference in 
circumstances and treatment; and it is further possible, by a long 
continued system of breeding, carefully regulated hy laws that have 
heen found to perpetuate differences in breeds^ to increase perma¬ 
nently the capacity to produce more than the previous natural 
quantity of milk ; and it is by recognizing and acting upon these 
laws, th^t the different breeds of the domestic cow have been 
established, and her present milk-producing capacity reached. 
But it is necessary that the process should be a gradual one, 
brought about by the continued repetition for generations^ of the 
union of two animals of opposite sexes, having the same tend¬ 
ency as regards this function;—the bull as shown by his 
descent from a line of good milkers, the cow by her own 
capacity and similar descent. If, however, instead of follow¬ 
ing these rules, an attempt is made to get a large increase at 
once, first, by forcing the uterine reproductive apparatus into 
activity before the animal has arrived at maturity, and after¬ 
wards by continuing the drain u];)on the mammary secretion 
at the same time that a second foetus is demanding its supply 
