Some who have used cotton-seed cake have found difficulty in inducing cattle to eat it. By giving it at first in small doses, mixed with other palatable food, they soon learn to eat it with relish. Cotton-seed cake is much richer in oils and albuminous matters than the linseed cake. A correspondingly less quantity will therefore be required. Three pounds of this cotton-seed cake are equivalent to four of linseed cake of average quality. During the winter season, as has been already remarked, a frequent change of food is especially necessary, both as contributions to the general health of animals, and as a means of stimulating the digestive organs, and thus increasing the secretion of milk. A mixture used as cut feed and well moistened is now especially beneficial, since concentrated food, which would otherwise be given in small quantities, may be united with larger quantities of coarser and less nutritive food, and the complete assimilation of the whole be better secured. On this subject it has been sensibly observed that the most nutritious kinds of food produce little or no effect when they are not digested by the stomach, or if the digested food is not absorbed by the lymphatic vessels, and not assimilated by the various parts of the body. Now, the normal functions of the digestive organs not only depend upon the composition of the food, but also on its volume. The volume or bulk of the food contributes to the healthy action of the digestive organs, by exercising a stimulating effect upon the nerves which govern them. Thus the whole organization of ruminating animals necessitates the supply of bulky food, to keep the animal in good condition. Feed sweet and nutritious food, therefore, frequently, regularly, and in small quantities, and change it often, and the best results may be confidently anticipated. If the cows are not in milk, but are to come in in the spring, the difference in feeding should be rather in the quantity than the quality, if the highest yield is to be expected from them during the coming season. The most common feeding is hay alone, and oftentimes very poor hay at that. The main point is to keep the animal in a healthy and thriving condition, and not to suffer her to fail in flesh; and with this object, some change and variety of food are highly important. [Illustration: CALLING IN THE CATTLE.] Toward the close of winter, a herd of cows will begin to come in, or approach their time of calving. Care should then be taken not to feed too rich or stimulating food for the last week or two before this event, as it is often attended with ill consequences. A plenty of hay, a few potatoes or shorts, and pure water will suffice.