632 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Fatty degeneration of the heart, a common disease in old cows of 

 improved beef breeds, lessens the circulation in the placenta (and fetus) 

 and, arresting nutrition, may causet abortion. 



Indigestions of all kinds are especially dangerous, as they are usu- 

 ally associated with overdistention of the first stomac (paunch) with 

 gas. 5.S this stomach lies directly beneath and to the left side of the 

 womb, any disorder, and above all an excessive distention of that 

 organ, presses on or affects the womb and its contents dangerously. It 

 further causes contractions of the womb by preventing aeration of the 

 blood. Hence, all that tends to indigestion is to be carefully guarded 

 against. Privation of water, which hinders rumination and digestion; 

 ice-cold water, which rouses the womb to contraction and the calf to 

 vigorous movement; green, succulent grass, to which the cow has been 

 unaccustomed; clover, which has just been wet with a slight shower; 

 all green food, roots, potatoes, apples, pumpkins that are or have been 

 frozen, or that are simply covered with hoar frost; food that haa been 

 grown in wet seasons or that has been badly harvested; growing corn, 

 oats, etc., if the animal is unused to them; a too dry food or a too stimu- 

 lating food (wheat bran pease, maize, and cotton seed) fed too lavishly 

 may, any one of them, induce abortion. The dry and stimulating foods 

 last named bring on constipation with straining, and also elevated 

 temperature of the body, which, in itself, endangers the life of the fetus. 



Putrid, stagnant water is hurtful both to digestion and the fetus, 

 and abortions in cows have been repeatedly traced to this source and 

 have ceased when pure water was supplied. Ergoted grasses have long 

 been known as a cause of widespread abortion in cows. The ergot is 

 familiar as the dark purple or black, hard, spur-like growths which 

 protrude from the seeds of the grasses at the period of their ripening. 

 It is especially common in damp localities and cloudy seasons on mea- 

 dows shaded by trees and protected against the free sweep of the winds. 

 The same is to a large extent true of smut. Hence, wet years have been 

 often remarkable for the great prevalence of abortions. Abortions have 

 greatly increased in New Zealand among cows since the introduction 

 of rye grass, which is specially subject to ergot. As abortion is more 

 prevalent in old dairying districts, the ergot may not be the sole cause 

 in this instance. , 



The smut of maize, wheat, barley, and oats is fostered by similar con- 

 ditions and is often equally injurious. It should be added that the 

 ergots and smuts of certain years are far more injurious than those of 

 others. This may be attributed to the fact that they have grown under 

 different conditions, and therefore have developed somewhat different 

 properties, a habit of fungi which has been often observed, or that in cer- 

 tain seasons the cows have been more powerfully predisposed by other 

 operative causes of abortion. 



Bofh ergot and smut vary in potency according to the stage of growth. 

 Doctor Kluge found that the ergot gathered before the grain had fully 

 ripened was much more powerful than that from the fully ripened 

 grain. McGugen found the ergot of wheat more potent than that of rye. 

 It should be added that both ergot and smut are robbed somewhat of 



