HI Jan., 1909.] 



W/iite Scour in Calves. 



39 



Thirdly, is unable to procure a supply of the same plant-bearing 

 living root tubercles which can be directly used for infecting 

 the seed or soil. 



Some of the forms of "nitragin"' have been supposed to contain the 

 'bacteria which live freely in the soil and enrich it with nitrogen. This is 

 probably a misstatement. In any case, the use of such cultures would not 

 be profitable, because these soil bacteria are usually present in all soils 

 •capable of maintaining them, and when added to a soil from which they 

 were originally absent, they usually rapidly tend to disappear again. 



Further, the net result of the activity of soil bacteria in rich, well- 

 manured soils is to produce a loss rather than a gain of nitrogen, and 

 hence no advantage is to be expected bv the addition of cultures of any 

 kind of bacterium toi such soils. 



To sum up, in the present condition of our knowledge, the use of 

 "nitragin " in agriculture is not at present to be recommended except under 

 v'ery special conditions. Even then the same results might be obtained by 

 the far better and cheaper methods indicated above. 



WHITE SCOUR IN CAL\ ES. 



A correspondent (Mr. W. H. Chesterfield) writes : — " Having often 

 aioticed inquiries in various papers for remedies for White Scour in Calves, 

 perhaps a method of treatment I have followed may be successfully 

 adopted by others. With us the egg cure was the most effective of all 

 •we tried. Sometimes the calves would be so bad that they could only 

 lie on their side and pant. 



We would break an egg .so tlvit it would pour njcely, and slowly empty 

 it down the calf's throat out of a gravy boat or anything handy. An 

 •egg was given three or four times a day ; sometimes it would take, per- 

 haps, 3 dozen to make matters right but eggs are usually plentiful and 

 •cheap when scours are prevalent. As .soon as the ailment is noticed, 

 reduce the milk allowance by quite half, and vvhen very bad give nothing 

 but eggs, gradually coming back to the milk allowance. Clean, warm 

 and dry quarters are necessary for young calves. I think White Scour 

 is most prevalent during the wet weather in earlv spring, especiallv if 

 bot and muggy. 



For any loo.seness of the bowels, we mix, say a pint of lime water in 

 the calf's feed for a day, but with the poddies always give the eggs for 

 the curdv and bloody stage. We place the affected animals on a bag out 

 in the sun and persevere with them, and I have seen some very bad cases 

 Tecover; in fact, we rarelv lost one after the treatment described." 



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