648 
ment of the instrument, or from some other 
cause, I have with this also been equally unsuc- 
cessful. I have also seen a surgeon, well ac- 
customed to the use of a stethoscope, try it 
and fail as completely as myself.” Other me- 
thods have been proposed ; but mest or all are 
subject to the very grave objection of a liability 
to cause abortion. The method of punching the 
cow in the flank, indeed, is quite conclusive, and 
|| unless when performed with unnecessary violence, 
is perfectly safe; but it cannot be practised un- 
til a cow has been at least six months preg- 
nant, and it is therefore of very small practical 
value. 
A method of proximately calculating the num- 
ber of calves which any herd of cows will produce 
in a season was based on observation, and after- 
wards put to the test by Earl Spencer. He noted 
| fifty cows in succession who did not return to 
the bull within six weeks; he then noted how 
many of these went seven weeks, eight weeks, 
nine weeks, and so on to twenty-one weeks ; and 
| he repeated his observations upon seven other 
_ series of fifty cows each, till his facts included 
| four hundred bulled cows who did not within 
| six weeks return tothe bull. The following table 
| exhibits the results. 
6 7 8 9 1012 1213141516 17 182183 8 
50 45 41 39 38 37 34 33 32°32) 30) 29) 29° 28 26 26 
50 44 85 33 32 80 28 27 27 27 26 26 26 26 25 23 
50 41 38 86 31 31.30 29 28 27. 27 27 27 26 25 17 
50 45 41 36 34 31 86 27 26 26 26 26 26 24 20 16 
50 47 44 43 43 438 42 40 39 39 37 36 36 35 33 31 
50 45 42 36 35 34 32 30 26 24 24 24 24 23 20 18 
50 42 41 39 37 36 85 32 31 30 30 30 30 28 26 24 
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He next made observations upon one thousand 
bulled cows, in five series of two hundred cows 
each, with the view of ascertaining the propor- 
tion of that number who should not within six 
weeks return to the bull. The results were as 
follow. 
Bulled. 3 weeks. 4 weeks. 5 weeks. 6 weeks. 
200 158 115 107 87 
200 137 92 85 71 
200 142 87 80 72 
200 148 94 81 78 
200 139 87 74 63 
1000 724 4795 437 371 
Earl Spencer, in order to test these tables, found- 
ed upon them a number of calculations as to the 
probable number of live calves he should have in 
a season from each of several herds of cows, and, 
in every instance, found the calculated number 
| to be remarkably near the actual number pro- 
| duced. For example, he calculated on the 22d 
| of October, 1838, that he should have 48 live 
| calves previous to the Ist of August, 1839, and 
he had 49; and he calculated, on the 24th of 
January, 1839, that he should have 53 live calves 
previous to the 1st of November, 1839, and he 
had 55. The principle of his calculation is very 
CALF, 
bic | 
obvious, and may, with much practical advan- 
tage, be adopted by every farmer who possesses 
a considerable breeding stock. “Taking the 
first table,” says the Earl, “I divided the sum 
total of the cows in calf by the sum total of the 
numbers in each of the previous columns, and 
the decimals which will be the product of such 
divisions will show the probability of a cow prov- 
ing in calf who shall not have returned to the 
bull at the end of each week respectively. This 
process I apply to ascertain the probabilities in 
the other table. Ithen multiply the number of 
cows who have gone twenty-one weeks by the | 
decimal belonging to this column; the number 
who have gone eighteen weeks and not twenty- 
one, the number who have gone seventeen and 
not eighteen, and so on, by the decimals respec- 
tively belonging to these columns. JI add the 
products of these multiplications together, and 
the sum total gives the probability of the whole 
list: I mean it gives the probable number of 
cows who will prove in calf. From this must be | 
deducted the number who will probabl.: not pro- 
duce live calves, which will be about one in ten. 
With respect to the other table, I treat it in the 
same manner, and assume the probable number 
of cows to go six weeks as if they had actually 
gone that period, and add it to the first column 
of the first-mentioned table.” 
When a calf is born, the cow, by an instinctive 
prompting, ought instantly to lick off the slimy | 
or mucous matter with which it is covered ; and, 
in any instance in which she may seem disinclined 
to do this, she may readily be coaxed to it by 
the sprinkling of a handful of common salt over 
the calf. If, after the calf is cleaned and has be- 
gun to suck, the navel-string should continue to 
bleed,a ligature ought to be fastened round it very 
near, but not in contact with the belly. If the 
place at the division of the cord should be un- 
usually sore, it must not, by any means, be 
touched with any caustic application, but ought | 
to be dressed with a little tow, dipped in Friar’s | 
balsam, made fast with a bandage, and renovated | 
every evening and morning. An inflammatory © 
state of the navel, in some instances, is after-_ 
wards induced; but this will be noticed in the | 
article Navet-Inn. . 
Many persons, even with the sanction of so 
experienced and popular a writer as Clater, take | 
away about a quart of the beastings or first milk 
of the cow before permitting the calf to suck ; 
and not a few of these give the calf, as its first | 
aliment, about half-a-pint of lukewarm gruel. | 
But, in every instance, whatever subsequent | 
treatment may be intended, the calf ought to re- | 
ceive, not only the first beastings, but the whole 
of the milk until it becomes perfectly fit for 
dairy use. The first milk possesses an aperient 
power of clearing away the glutinous feces which | 
had accumulated in the intestines of the foetus, | 
and which obstruct the due performance of the 
intestinal functions of the calf, and exert a ten- 
| 
i 
—— 
