96 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



tures which have not been used by the old sheep since being cropped. 

 If ewes are badly aifected, a healthy flock of lambs can be raised by 

 not letting them at pasture with their mothers at all. Have the lambs 

 dropped early, grow them as fast as possible before grass comes and then 

 if it is necessary for them to remain with their mothers, turn the ewes 

 with them twice a day for a short time, keeping the lambs in an enclo- 

 sure where there is nothing for them to pick from the ground. 



If the iron and copper mixture is used for a week or two, two or three 

 times during the winter with the ewes, it will have a valuable preventive 

 effect by ridding them of the parasites. Old sheep will harbor large 

 numbers of these parasites without apparent discomfort, but lambs are 

 much less able to resist their effects. 



I wish again to call attention to the importance of the post-mortem 

 in diagnosing these diseases; and again recommend that as soon as a 

 number of the flock show unthriftiness, one or two of the worst be de- 

 stroyed and a post-mortem examination made that the exact cause may be 

 determined and treatment administered as early as possible. 



DISEASES OF THE DAIRY COW. 



BY DR. G. W. DUNPHY, QUINCY. 



The subject of the diseases of the dairy cow covers a very wide field 

 and I will only attempt to touch upon a few of them, particularly those 

 incident to the period of lactation. 



TUBERCULOSIS. 



A few years ago, tuberculosis among dairy cattle was attracting the 

 attention of the public to a sensational degree, owing to the generally 

 accepted theory that the disease could be communicated to man 

 through the medium of the milk. About two years ago, Robert Koch, 

 the German scientist, who first discovered the germ of tuberculosis, 

 surprised the world by making the announcement, that tuberculosis of 

 animals could not be communicated to man; that the bacillus of animal 

 tuberculosis was not the same as the tubercle bacillus of the human 

 family. This announcement, although accepted by the general public, 

 did not satisfy the scientists, and a general experimentation was started 

 by the eminent bacteriologists. 



Among the more important experiments were those of Nocard, of 

 France. Taking a number of monkeys for his subject, he fed part with 

 tuberculous material from cattle, and part with like material from a 

 human subject. The animals that partook of the tuberculous material, 

 all became affected; but it was discovered upon post-mortem examina- 

 tion that those that had partaken of the material from cattle were much 

 more seriously affected, in fact showed enormous tuberculous deposits 

 through the whole system. 



