100 On Disinfectants. 



{incl lioofs of diseased animals should be mopped with a solution of 

 chloride of lime — I^^IL. or 2 lbs. to a pail of water. 



Then as to the disinfection of cowsheds and stables. The discharge 

 from diseased animals or their skins is the principal and primary 

 seat of the infectious matter of the Cattle Plague. Therefore, manure 

 which the cattle have made should be disinfected ; every part of tho 

 shed they have used should be well scraped and washed with soft soap 

 and water, or, better still, with 1 lb. of soda-ash to a pail of warm 

 water, followed by cold water. The pavement should be taken up and 

 cleansed ; a hot mixture of lime and water, and lastly of chloride of 

 lime, should be used, and the pavement should be relaid in a fresh 

 bedding of concrete, the old materials being carefully buried ; the 

 floor should be mopped over with li lb. of chloride of lime to a 

 pail of water. The infection might be carried into the walls and 

 rafters ; in such case fumigate with sulphurous acid, chlorine, or 

 nitrous acid gas. In order to effect this, all ventilators, windows, and 

 aj)ertures must be closed beforehand to prepare for the fumigation, 

 for the poisonous gas will kill the operator if he docs not make a 

 rapid escaj)e after setting the fumigation to work. 1 lb. of sulphiar 

 burned on the floor in three or four places, will afford a copious 

 supply of suli)hurous acid for a shed which will hold 12 cows. The 

 windows and doors of the cowhouse must be well closed, for other- 

 wise the fumes would create a nuisance in tho neighbourhood. This 

 indeed is an objection to the employment of chlorine or sulphurous 

 acid gas in a densely populated locality — remedies which would make 

 the whole neighbourhood cough and run away for safety, if the sheds 

 were in a dilapidated condition, or could not be effectually closed. 

 After the fumigation has been carried on for twenty hours, the shed 

 should be ventilated by opening the windows and doors, and the walls 

 should be whitewashed. If the floors are taken up, cleansed, and 

 relaid in the manner described, and the shed afterwards fumigated 

 and whitewashed, the disinfection will be as perfect as it can be. 



The Disposal of Manure, Straw, &c. 



Any hay or straw left by the diseased cattle should be burned at 

 once : it would be well if the manure could be burned ; but there is a 

 practical difficulty about doing this ; for even when a good fire is fii'st 

 lighted, and the manure gradually put on it, the water (80 to 85 per 

 cent.) contained in it will smother the fire, and i^roduce a smoke 

 which might possibly disseminate the Cattle Plague over the land. 

 However, what can be burned shoidd be burned at once, and the 

 manure to be removed should be covered over with lime ; not less than 

 5 cwt. of lime, newly slaked, for a ton or cartload of manure : it 

 would be useless to substitute a small quantity of chloride of lime. 

 The manure should be carted into the field, and covered with earth in 

 alternate layers, ending with earth. As an extra precaution I would 

 cover the heap with peat-charcoal or quick lime. In three or four 

 months there would be a valuable comjiost heap, which might be 

 spread without any fear of its containing infectious matter. This 

 would be foimd to be the most practical plan. 



