eat beauty of their form, and deep red color, the large
size of their bags, and the high condition in which they were kept, that
I was at length induced to ask Mr. Winn to what breed of cattle they
belonged, and his reasons for keeping them constantly in the stable in
preference to allowing them to run in the pasture, where they could
enjoy the benefit of air and exercise, and at the same time crop their
own food, and thereby save the labor and trouble of feeding them? Mr.
Winn, in reply to these inquiries, stated that the two cows which I so
much admired were of the common stock of the country, and he believed,
of Spanish origin; but they were both spayed cows, and that they had
given milk either two or three years. Considering this a phenomenon (if
not in nature at least in art), I made further inquiries of Mr. Winn,
who politely entered into a very interesting detail, communicating facts
which were as extraordinary as they were novel. Mr. Winn, by way of
preface, observed that he, in former years, had been in the habit of
reading English magazines, which contained accounts of the
plowing-matches which were annually held in some of the southern
counties of England, performed by cattle, and that he had noticed that
the prizes were generally adjudged to the plowman who worked with spayed
heifers; and although there was no connection between that subject and
the facts which he should state, it was, nevertheless, the cause that
first directed his mind into the train of thought and reasoning which
finally induced him to make the experiments, which resulted in the
discovery of the facts which he detailed, and which I will narrate as
accurately as my memory will enable me to do it, after the lapse of more
than twenty years. Mr. Winn's frequent reflections had (he said) led him
to the belief "that if cows were spayed soon after calving, and while in
a full flow of milk, they would continue to give milk for many years
without intermission, or any diminution of quantity, except what would
be caused by a change from green to dry, or less succulent food." To
test this hypothesis, Mr. Winn caused a very good cow, then in full
milk, to be spayed. The operation was performed about one month after
the cow had produced her third calf; it was not attended with any severe
pain, or much or long continued fever. The cow was apparently well in a
few days, and very soon yielded her usual quantity of milk, and
continued to give freely for seve