THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



503 



of the ox, will resist for any great length of time the con- 

 tinuous action of putrid matter in the circulation. 



The period of life, in the case of cattle reared and fed for 

 tlie shambles, is, no doubt, now short; but short as it is, 

 less or more injury must of necessity be sustained where 

 bad water is consumed. 



The farmer's loss lies in the less return for the food con- 

 sumed by his cattle. Whether his os succumbs to disease 

 or reaches the shambles in .i comparatively healthy slate, 

 he sustains, in this respect, a threefold loss, lu other 

 words, by giving dirty putrid water to cattle he experiences 

 a general loss produced by the joint agency of three distinct 

 causes, to each of which we shall give a separate notice, 

 as each iuvolves a distinct proposition in the manage- 

 ment of live stock. 



The first of these considerations has reference to the eco- 

 nomy of the raw materials of food. When bad water is 

 given, a waste of such raw material is experienced, i.e., 

 a waste of the ordinary food given — such as grass — less of 

 it being assimilated, and more going to the dunghill. Whe- 

 ther the manufactured article is butcher-meat or milk, a 

 large quantity of water is required, and that water should be 

 pure. If it is mixed with noxious putrid matter, healthy 

 digestion and assimilation are prevented, while decomposi- 

 tioii is promoted, the fermentation that takes place in 

 the alimentary canal, often terminating in the worst kinds 

 of purging: at other times the kidneys may be affected, 

 and so on, according to predisposing and contingent circum- 

 stances. But whatever may be the unfavourable chemical 

 change that is produced by noxious matter in the water, we 

 cannot by any rational system of logic arrive at the practi- 

 cal conclusion that elements of food differing so widely 

 from each other as putrid and pure water are equal to one 

 another in their chemical results. 



The second proposition has reference to the economy of 

 live organism. There is a daily waste upon the ox, and this 

 waste is increased by the consumption of bad water. If by 

 a vigorous and stronger constitution than that of man, the 

 ox throws off an extra quantity of putrid matter from the 

 system, it is at the expense of tliat system itself, a greater 

 tear and wear, or daily waste, being experienced by it. 

 Where the nervous system is much excited, as it generally is 

 when poisonous putrid matter is present in the circulation, 

 the extra tear and wear upon the system may be something 

 considerable ; for it is the very nature, so to speak, of such 

 putrid matter to produce by inoculation the rapid waste 

 and even dissolution of organic substance, winding up with 

 the extinction of the vital principle. The consequence of 

 this extra waste will be simply this — the animal, if pre- 

 paring for the shambles, will not increase so fast in weight 

 for a given quantity of food consumed; or he miy even 

 lose weight, as many do : young stock will not grow so fast, 

 while they will be deficient of nervous and muscular stamina> 

 and also of symmetry ; and milch cows will be wanting in 

 good milking properties. Less or more, all these results 

 are realized where bad water is used. We may not be con- 

 scious of them, but that does not mend the matter one jot- 

 It is principle we are discussing, and the extra waste upon 

 tlie body daily is matter of fact which cannot be denied. 



The third point has reference to the deterioration of 

 the quality of butcher's |meat' and dairy produce, and also 

 to the deterioration of the healthy robust characteristics 

 of breeding stock, where bad water is consumed. This 

 view of the subject comes home to the sanitary condition 

 of ourselves, as we cannot for a moment suppose that if 

 putrid matter has entered the circulation of the ox when 



in the stall, that the brief short processes of slaughtering, 

 bleeding, and cooking remove it all, and that what re- 

 mains must necessarily enhance the flavour of the flesh. 

 Such meat must of necessity by the peculiar ferment or 

 zymotic properlius which it thus contains, take on a 

 rapid state of decomposition, producing, it may be, fer- 

 ments of a more pioisonous type than the original ; and 

 although such food might be preferred by semi-barbarous 

 nations, such as the Faroese, yet in this country taste has 

 not become so vitiated. Milk is still more liable to be 

 adulterated with the putrid matter of the water drunk by 

 milch cows ; and with regard to breeding stock, and the 

 health of stock generally, it is a well-established fact that 

 all animals, in the daily habit of consuming putrid food, 

 are of a feeble constitution, and more liable to zymotic 

 disease than those fed on a fresh, healthy diet ; while 

 putrid drink is perhaps more injurious to health than 

 putrid solid matter. 



A very clear case has thus been made out against dirty 

 water for cattle. The stomach of an ox, or of any of our 

 domestic animals, is but too frequently presumed capable 

 of consuming almost anything, or at least of disposing of 

 it, without experiencing harm. A more fallacious doctrine 

 can hai'dly be propagated. But even granting it were true, 

 two of the three losses sustained by the disgusting practice 

 of placing before cattle food either solid or liquid when in 

 a certain state of decomposition have still to be borne. 

 Of late years the fearful catalogue of zymotic diseases 

 arising from sewage and other putrescent matter gelling 

 into wells, and the rivers from whence our large manufac- 

 turing towns are supplied with water, has occupied a very 

 prominent place in medical journals, and in the columns 

 of the press generally, and there cannot be a doubt but 

 similar causes produce similar results amongst cattle ; and, 

 therefore, that many of the zymotic maladies now experi- 

 enced in the live stock department of husbandry are greatly 

 due to the consumption of improper food and drink. 



The principle of purification is thus as sound in the one 

 case as it is in the other, and the means now being used 

 in precipitating and filtering are similar. To throw down 

 matter held by the water in solution, lime is being used. 

 Charcoal is employed as a filtering merliam, and the water 

 is exposed to the influence of the sun and atmosphere to 

 produce softness. 



Such means have been used from time immemorial in the 

 purification of water, both for man and beast ; and although 

 far from being chemically perfect, they nevertheless, when 

 properly used, render water comparatively pure in the vast 

 majority of cases. In the metropolis a fine charcoal filter only 

 is employed, and for general use this might probably be suffi- 

 cient.ifthe charcoal is frequently changed, as farmers could 

 readily do, by applying advantageously the dirty charcoal 

 to the land as a manure. 



It is rather an interesting feature in the march of improve- 

 ment — one deserving of special notice — to witness a metro- 

 politan dairyman filtering the water generally used by the 

 bulk of the inhabitants, because not sufiiciently pure for his 

 milch cows! It has long been a fact observable to the writer 

 that the most successful feeders, breeders, and dairymen 

 were those who paid the most attention to cleanliness; and 

 even the animals themselves exemplify in their own cleanli- 

 ness and thriving condition a very forcib'.e illustration of 

 the same principle. But when the cows of the metropolis 

 are ahead of the inhabitants generally, as to the purity of 

 their waier, it certainly affords proof practical that the 

 schoolmaster is abroad on sanitary affairs. 



K K 



