DISEASES OF CATTLE.

garlic inserted, taking care to cover the end of the tail with a rag, to prevent the garlic from falling out.

UDDER-ILL. This disease primarily arises from an imperfect digestion, occasioned by a morbid state of the stomach. The chyle from which the milk is formed, consequently becomes depraved, and the disease shows itself in the udder, or rather in one of the quarters of the udder the milk of which will be found to be more or less bloody, according to the extent of the disease. For this, Dr. White recommends the following drench: Babadoes aloes, half an ounce; common salt, four ounces; ginger, one drachm; water, one quart; anodyne carminative tincture, two ounces, or as a substitute for this last, one table-spoonful of laudanum. This drench having been administered, the animal should be turned to short and sweet grass, where she may have sufficient exercise in getting her food. This will gradually strengthen the stomach, improve the digestion and chylification, and purify the blood. The swollen udder, or rather, that quarter of the udder which is affected, (for there is sel dom more than one affected at a time,) should have the bad milk drawn from it three or four times a day; for by remaining in the quarter it would irritate and increase the inflammation. The only application necessary, for the swollen udder, is neats' foot oil, or olive oil, and when it is considerable, fomentation may also be made of.

SORE TEATS. Some cows are more subject to sore teats than others; they are liable to this complaint at all seasons of the year, particularly such cows as have newly calved. If the teats be afflicted in the summer, they often become ulcerated; and the flies plague and teaze them to such a degree as to render it difficult to milk them. It is a great nuisance at the time of milking, as blood and corruption are liable to pass between the fingers into the milk. The following linament ought always to be kept in readiness for purposes of this kind:-Take elder ointment and yellow basilicon ointment, of each four ounces; spirit of turpentine, one ounce; mix them well together on a slab.

The cow's teats may be well rubbed with this ointment every night and morning after milking. If in the summer, and the flies plague them, add one ounce of assafœtida, or aloes, in powder, and dissolve it along with the ointment and wax. This will prevent the flies from teazing the animal.

LICE. Cattle that have been half starved during the winter, by being kept on bad hay or straw, in cold, damp situations, are often covered with lice. These may be killed by dusting common Scotch snuff on to those parts, where the lice are found; but care should be taken not to apply it where the animal is able to lick it off; or the following lotion may be applied, viz. corrosive sublimate, 2 drachms; muriatic acid, half an ounce; water one pound. Clater recommends the following wash -Stavesacre, (Larkspur, or louce-wort) half a pound; tobacco cut small, two ounces; boil in one gallon of urine down to three quarts. With this wash, sponge such parts as are infested by lice; repeat if necessary, in five or six days.

L 2

DISEASES OF SHEEP.

3.-SHEEP.

The diseases to which sheep are liable in other countries are quite numerous; but in the United States but two according to Chancellor Livingston, are found to prevail to any great extent-the scab and the staggers or dizziness.

SCAB. This is a common disorder among our sheep. It is so well known as not to need a particular description. Mr. Livingston advises, on its first appearance in a flock, to take out the wool from the part affected, and to apply spirits of turpentine and lard to the place. Should this application not prove efficacious, he advises to separate such sheep as are infected from the more healthy-to cut off the wool as far as the skin feels hard to the finger, wash with soap suds, and rub hard with a shoe brush, so as to cleanse and break the scab. "I always," says he, 'keep for this use, a decoction of tobacco, to which I add one-third, by measure, of the ley of wood ashes, as much hog's lard as will be dissolved by the ley, a small quantity of tar from the tar bucket, which contains grease, and about one-eighth of the whole, by measure, of spirits of turpentine. This liquor is rubbed upon the part infected, and spread at a little distance around it. In three washings, with an interval of three days each, I have never failed, in this way to effect a cure, when the disorder was only partial.

Clater recommends the following mixture:-Take mercury or quicksilver, 1lb.; Venice turpentine half a pound; spirit of turpentine, 2 oz,; work them well together in a marble mortar, until the mercury is thoroughly incorporated, which may be completed in the course of five or six hours; then take four pounds of hog's lard, melt it over a slow fire, and when about as warm as new milk, add to it the quicksilver, and keep it constantly stirring until it grows stiff. One pound of the ointment is sufficient to dress seven sheep for the scab; and if slightly infected it will suffice for from that number to ten.

The method of using this ointment is as follows:-Divide the wool on the back from the head to the tail, so as to expose the skin, then take a small quantity of the ointment, and rub it well in upon the skin from the head to the tail. Next, divide the wool on each side, and rub the remaining part of the ointment well in.

The following preparation has also been found effectual:-Mix one pound of tobacco, one ounce of white arsenic, one pint of oil of turpentine, and six quarts of beef brine, with a small quantity of tar, and boil the whole till the ingredients become incorporated so as to form a liniment. In applying which, every scab must be broken, and the sheep be well rubbed, that the liquid may penetrate every part. Another efficacious remedy, similar to the one which we have extracted from Clater, was communicated by Sir Joseph Banks to the "Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce," in 1789, from whose transactions for that year we have selected it:-Let one pound of pure quicksilver, Venice turpentine and common oil, of each half a pound, and four pounds of hog's lard, be triturated in a mortar till the quicksilver is thoroughly incorporated with the various ingredients.

In applying this ointment, the head of the sheep must be first rubbed ; after which a furrow is to be drawn with the finger, from the region be

DISEASES OF SHEEP.

tween the ears, along the back to the point of the tail, so as to divide the wool, till the skin be exposed to the touch. Then the finger being dipped into the unguent, must be drawn along the skin; and similar furrows should be made down the shoulders and thighs, as far as the wool extends; and if the sheep be much infected, two other lines or furrows ought to be drawn parallel to that on the back; and one should also be traced downwards on each side, between the fore and hind legs.

Another application which has been highly recommended is composed of tobacco, lime water, and oil of vitriol, to which we may add from the same authority, "another excellent remedy," viz. a decoction of hellebore mixed with vinegar, sulphur, and spirits of turpentine.

STAGGERS OR DIZZINESS. This disorder is found upon dissection to be owing to a bag containing water within the skull, which presses upon the brain. It is generally considered as incurable, though it is said by others that it may be remedied by trepanning: a soft place on the head indicates the situation of the bag, which if taken out whole will remove the disorder; others pass a sharp wire up the nostril into the brain and perforate the bag; the suppuration which this occasions effects the cure; five out of six, however, die under this operation, and it may therefore be considered as incurable by the doctor.

PINNING AND SCOURING. Lambs, soon after the birth are subject to a disorder called pinning, It consists in the excrements being so glutinous as to fix the tail to the vent, which if neglected will often kill the lamb. The remedy is to wash them clean, and rub the buttocks and tail with dry clay, which will prevent any further adhesion. Lambs are also subject to scouring or purging. This generally arises from being kept too cold; sometimes from the quality of the ewe's milk. They should with the parent ewes, be put in a warm dry sheltered cot; the ewes should have plenty of nutritious food given them; such as oats, old Indian corn, and wheat bread; care should be taken that they nurse their lambs duly, for it often happens that this complaint is aggravated from a penury of milk; in which case the deficiency should be supplied by cow's milk boiled, or by letting the lamb suck a cow.

TICK. The remedies applied in England are solutions of arsenic, or corrosive sublimate, and decoctions of tobacco. The first are dangerous to the operator and may occasion fatal accidents; the last are hurtful to the sheep if not carefully applied. Chancellor Livingston recommends to take a bellows to the nozel of which a pipe must be affixed capable of containing a handful of tobacco; (the refuse from the tobacconists will answer,) set fire to the tobacco, and while one man holds the sheep between his knees, let another open the wool, while a third blows the smoke into the fleece; close the wool on the smoke, and open another place a few inches from it, and so go over the whole sheep, blowing also under the belly and between the legs; in twenty four hours every tick will be killed. The whole operation may be performed on a sheep in about two minutes.

COLD AND ITS CONSEQUENCES. When sheep are very ill kept, or when they lie on damp or wet ground, they are subject to colds, which appear by the discharge of mucus from the nose and eyes, and sometimes by blindness. The cure is warmth, dry litter, and good food. It will, however, happen that some sheep have at all times this discharge from the nose; but upon examination, those will generally be found to be old,

DISEASES OF SHEEP.

and should be fatted as soon as possible, as they disfigure a flock, and do not pay for their keeping.

FOOT ROT. This disease is analogous to the grease, the thrush, and the canker of the horse, and the loo or loe, or foul in the foot, in cattle. It is produced by the same cause, and as in the horse and in cattle, it is contagious, so a sheep affected with the foot rot, put into a fold, would be likely to infect the whole flock. This opinion, however, has not been so fully established as to admit of no doubt. The disorder is contagious, but may be produced also by other causes, and especially by feeding on stale grains and bad hay. The only method of curing it is to examine the foot carefully, and pare away every bit of horn, under which the disease may have formed. When this is done, (and it is better to pare away too much than too little,) a saturated solution of blue vitriol will always effect a cure, and is sufficiently strong for the very worst cases. It is necessary also to avoid the cause that produces this disorder by changing the situation of the sheep, and giving them wholesome food.

BRAXY, Dry Braxy, Water Braxy, Bowel sickness. Water Braxy is an inflammatory disorder, which quickly terminates in dropsy of the belly or chest; dry braxy, is indigestion or obstruction in the first and third stomach, by feeding during winter on dry sapless food, such as the tops of heather, bent and other dry food. The symptoms of the former are quick breathing, hanging the head and ears, loss of appetite and separating from the flock. In the latter there is swelling of the belly, and griping pains, which often become violent. Sometimes the animal stands with his feet almost together; at other times he is seen lying down and rising up almost every minute. The mouth and tongue are dry and parched, and the white of the eye inflamed. In both diseases bleed freely from the neck vein, and in the latter give one ounce of common salt, in half a pint of water, and a teaspoonful of tincture of opium; a dram of powdered aloes may be added, and a little ginger.

CATARRHAL AFFECTIONS, Hoose, Cough, Distemper. This disorder in sheep is similar to that in cattle. It exists in various degrees, but the same remedy is always necessary, that is, bleeding to the extent of one pint. If any medicine is required, it is half an ounce of common salt, or one ounce of Epsom salt dissolved in four ounces of thin gruel. Sheep should never be bled in the nose or ears as is commonly done. There is no difficulty whatever in bleeding sheep in the same manner that bullocks are bled, without cutting off a bit of wool.

POISON. Sheep are often poisoned by eating laurel or ivy, as it is commonly called (not the magnolium.) The symptoms of which are their foaming at the mouth, then vomiting the half masticated leaves and green juice, by which the mouth of the animal is discolored. Remedy.-Take a gill of sweet oil, hog's lard, or fresh butter; mix it with a pint of new milk. If taken seasonably it will effect a cure. Or, an egg given to each of the diseased, in the shape of a natural bolus, by simply breaking the egg and slipping the yolk, and as much white as practicable, down the throat of the animal. The sheep, after swallowing the egg, will vomit up the leaves and green juice, but none of the egg. To cows give four times the quantity.

WOUNDS. Besides the various casualties above specified, sheep are liable to receive injuries from being wounded by thorns, &c. or worried,

DISEASES OF SWINE.

torn, or bitten by mischievous dogs, or such as are not thoroughly broken in. Although such accidents may in general be prevented by due care and attention, yet in cases of common green wounds, it may be necessary to apply some healing or emollient balsam or salve like the following:

Let one ounce of myrrh, a similar quantity of Socotrine aloes, and four ounces of purified turpentine, be mixed with a quart of good brandy. The vessel should be corked up, and exposed for one or two weeks to a moderate heat, after which it may be strained off, and preserved for future use in a closely stopped bottle.

Lastly, the shepherd ought frequently to examine his flock, and see that their tails and buttocks be kept perfectly clean, otherwise they will become tagged, or belted, i. e. the skin will become excoriated and sore from the dung that adheres to those parts, especially when the animals are affected with the flux, or white scour. Where this is the case, the sheep must be taken into a dry, separate yard, and well washed with soap suds, the wool around the sores being previously removed; after which the wounded parts may be strewed with finely pulverised white lead or chalk, and this may be succeeded by rubbing them with a mixture of brandy and tar: but cleanliness alone will be quite sufficient to effect a cure.

4. SWINE.

MEASLES. This disorder exists chiefly in the throat, which is internally filled with small pustules or tumors that some times appear on the outward surface of the neck. It is known by the languor and decline in the flesh of the animal affected, and may be removed by giving small quantities of levigated crude antimony in his food. Another prescription for this disease is,-take half a spoonful of spirit of hartshorn, and two ounces of bole ammoniac; mix it with meal and water, and give it to the animals affected in the morning, when they are very hungry. Repeat the dose every day, till they are cured, which will be in four or five days. Another mode of treatment recommended is to mix two spoonfuls of madder with their food about once a week, which prevents obstructions, acting as a diuretic, and at the same time an astringent. Also on some other day of the week give a spoonful or two of an equal quantity of flour of sulphur and saltpeter, well pounded and mixed.

MANGE. This disease, like the scab in sheep, is a cutaneous eruption, occasioned by inattention to cleanliness in hog-styes. It is easily known by the violent rubbing of swine against trees, or any hard substance with such violence as to tear away the head of pustules, and produce a disagreeable scab. When this disease appears, the animal affected must be separated from the rest of the herd, washed thoroughly with a strong soap ley, and annointed with the following unguent recommended by Dr. Norford in the Annals of Agriculture, viz.-Incorporate one ounce of fine flour of sulphur, two drachms of fresh pulverized white hellebore, three ounces of hog's lard, and half an ounce of the water of kali (as prepared in the shops,) so as to form an ointment. This is to be rubbed in