120 BOARD OF AGRICULTUEE. 



" The affirmative results obtained are, — 



" 1st. That cows which have first calved at or under three 

 years of age, are more liable to abort during their subse- 

 quent pregnancies than those that first calve at three years 

 of age or over, in the proportion of 5 : 3." 



"2d. That cows subjected to removal at any time, are 

 liable to abort over those raised on the farms in the propor- 

 tion of 7 : 4^." 



This requires more sceptical observation. 



"3d. That cows subjected to removal during pregnancy 

 are liable to abort over those not pregnant at such times in 

 the proportion of 9 : 2." 



One might here ask what is meant bv "removal." 

 Whether from one farm to another near by, which would be 

 no more than a walk to pasture, or carting, or what? The 

 above assertion is so loose as to lose its value, if it ever had 

 any. 



' ' 4th. That arrest of development is the condition imme- 

 diattly preceding abortion. ^^ 



In support of this they say ; " That of 4,163 abortions in 

 the years 1867, 1868, 3,597, or 86 per cent, of the young 

 were reported as ' dead' at the time they were aborted." 



Still another cause has been considered by many to be 

 very intimately connected with enzootic abortion, viz., er- 

 got. The conditions produced are known as of which we 

 heard so much during the spring of 1884, from Kansas. 



For quite an exact and detailed account of the invasion of 

 grains and grasses by this parasite, I must again refer those 

 interested to the New York report, the great value of which 

 is, that they have very ably prepared the ground for further 

 examinations by showing that many things which have been 

 assumed to have casual connection with bovine abortions do 

 not have any, at least with its enzootic form. 



With regard to plants liable to cause it they say : " That 

 they have been unable to find any plant, in itself healthy, of 

 which there is a reasonable probability of its being the cause 

 of this troul)le, affecting as it does so large a number of 

 farms. " Ergot was found on ten different plants, of which 

 six are among the more common meadow or pasture grasses." 



