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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



ing the immediate distribution of the phosphoric acid 

 in the sod; and thence it requires a less quantity to be 

 applied to the land to produce a crop. The Americans 

 have adopted a new method of dissolving bones, which 

 may probably be employed to advantage in this coun- 

 try, as the bones will not require to be ground. A ley 

 is made with lime, in the projjortion of one bushel of 

 lime to six gallons of water. To two hundred pounds 

 of bones put sixty gallons of this ley, and boil them for 

 a few hours until the bones are dissolved, when they may 

 be reduced to a dry powder, and applied in the same way 

 as guano, or any other artificial manure. This mode 

 of application has been found to produce very satisfac- 

 tory results. The lime used was made of oyster-shells, 

 as the best for the purpose. "It has been repeatedly 

 demonstrated," says an American writer, " that one 



bushel of dissolved hones, for immediate effect, is equal 

 to five times as much ground bones ; in other words, 

 that one pound of nascent or, soluble phosphate of 

 lime, is worth more tlfen five pounds of worma/, or 

 natural phosphate of lime, or bone-earth," This eco- 

 nomic application of bones is becoming more and more 

 common, being cheaper, and involving less labour, and 

 the result is quite as certain and as good. The only 

 difficulty in the purchase of bones, in whatever form, is 

 that of getting them genuine, on account of the adulter- 

 ation with scutch, or the refuse of the tanpits, oyster- 

 shells, and other cheap ingredients, the proportion of 

 which in bones is regulated, with some dealers, by the 

 price paid per ton. We have known as much as 50 per 

 cent, of scutch mixed with bones, as agreed on between 

 the merchant and bis customer, a country bone crusher. 



PLEURO-PNEUMONIA AND HOMCEOPATHY. 



Sir, — Observing in your last impression some reference 

 to a case of saud-crack in horses, that was cured by homcEO- 

 pathic remedies, and knowing the impartial manner in 

 which your columns are opened to the discussion of matters 

 relating to the interests of agriculture, I am induced to 

 give publicity, through the medium of your widely circula- 

 ting journal, to some personal experience with which 1 have 

 been recently favoured of the successful application of 

 homojopathic medicines to the fatal malady in cattle known 

 as pleuro-pneumonia, or lung disease. In reference to its 

 origin or cause, there is a gi-eat diversity of opinion, to 

 which, however, I will only advert by suggesting, as a some- 

 what probable cause, the crowding together of cattle, en 

 route from Ireland or the Continent, in the hot and vitiated 

 atmosphere of the vessel's hold, and then driving 

 them by railway in open lattice trucks through the chil- 

 ling cold night-air. Were it needful, much could be written 

 to prove the ravages it has occasioned during the last twenty 

 years, carrying off entire dairies of valuable cows, and strik- 

 ing Mrith the fatality of a pestilence amongst the iinest herds 

 of the land. So prevalent and destructive has it been in 

 every part of the country, as well as in many districts 

 abroad, that there are but few farmers who have not been 

 the victims of its disastrous visitations, and whose daily ex- 

 perience has been to hear, morning after morning, the same 

 old intimation of the stockman, " There's anolhcr o' Ihem 'ere 

 iuUocks queer, sir," until it has unfortunately become almost 

 as " familiar in their ears as household words." My pur- 

 pose, however, is not to refer to the losses which this dis- 

 ease has occasioned, these being too widely known to require 

 any comment from me, but to commend to the attention of 

 farmers and stock-keepers in general the homceopathic 

 method of treating the disorder, which I am convinced by 

 experience may prove a remedy in a majority of cases for 

 this insidious and destructive malady. 



Within the last few weeks it has become developed 

 amongst some of my bullocks 'that were shut up to fatten 

 shortly after Michaelmas. Manifesting itself in the usual 

 variety of forms, it presented symptoms that could not be 

 mistaken by those familiar with its peculiarities. It was 

 generally introduced to notice by the well-known husky 

 cough and sudden loss of appetite j and these symptoms 

 unless promptly checked were followed by quickened res- 

 inration, which soon settled into short, oppressed, and diffi- 

 cult breathing, accompanied by the characteristic grunt and 

 grating of the teeth. The pulse was feeble and much 

 quickened, the nose and extremities alternately hot and cold, 

 but generally the roots of the ears and the horns were hot. 

 On applying the ear to the affected side of the lungs, a 

 diseased condition of the organ was indicated, that har- 

 monized with the outward symptoms. When the disorder 

 was detected in its primary stage, it was quickly averted 

 by the homceopathic remedies, without removing the bul- 

 lock from the yard; but there were three that showed 

 symptoms of the disease in so unmistakably acute a form, 



that they were at once placed in the hospital, where a 

 moderate and regular temperature was maintained, and 

 treated successfully with homoeopathic remedies. Year 

 after year, with many of my neighbours I had suffered loss 

 from this fatal disorder, and though the beasts affected were 

 formerly attended by a skilful member of the London 

 Veterinary College, I do not remember to have had one 

 thoroughly recover, indeed so hopeless has the method of 

 treatment appealed, that the larger proportion of farmers 

 have ceased to employ the veterinary surgeon in a case of 

 lung disease. As a last resort I was induced to try the 

 remedies recommended by practitioners of the homoeopathic 

 school, the result being, as I have stated, the most perfect 

 and gratifying success; and I feel morally certain, from 

 previous experience, that the acute cases I have named 

 would have proved fatal had they been treated under the 

 old veterinary system of physic. The period of treatment 

 for these cases varied from ten days to three weeks, and 

 the medicines given were those prescribed in the works of 

 Kash and Moore. It was very striking, to those who wit- 

 nessed the whole course of treatment, to observe how 

 quickly the medicines subdued the symptoms for which they 

 were prescribed, and it was no less gratifying and striking 

 to find that although the beasts were kept almost entirely 

 without food until there were manifest signs of improve- 

 ment, and then but sparingly allowed, they appeared but 

 little worse in condition for their long-continued abstin- 

 ence, there being a striking absence of the great and rapid 

 wasting that usually accompanies the ordinary treatment 

 of the disease. 



Having been thus successful, and regarding these cases as 

 proofs of the practical value of homoeopathy in its applica- 

 tion to pleuro-pneumonia, I am induced to commend the 

 subject to the attention of your agricultural readers, be- 

 lieving that success, and consequently great benefit, would 

 follow the more general adoption of the treatment. That 

 homceopathy will prove a remedy in at least seven cases 

 out of ten, provided tlie disease has not run into its latest 

 stage, I have no doubt whatever ; but it must be highly 

 essential that the amateur practitioner should possess some 

 knowledge of disease, and considerable judgment in the 

 selection of medicines adapted to the various symptoms 

 that may be shown. Like many others, I had long re- 

 garded homceopathy as one of the delusions of the day ; but 

 having observed that its foremost patrons were found 

 amongst the clergy and the educated classes in particular, T 

 was led to investigate its merits, if not scientifically, at 

 least honestly, and to test it as a curative agency in the 

 way I have described. And having been successful, not only 

 in one case, but in several, and knowing that many estimable 

 members of the clerical profession have accomplished by 

 homoeopathy, in their parochial spheres, such feats of cure 

 as would have reflected honour on more scientific skill, 

 and seeing around me daily proofs of the truth and value 

 of the rystem in the accumulating tide of evidence that is 



