158 



■well, keep nnder shelter, and give good pure water, in which common salt may be 

 mixed. When one of the herd is attacked, others will probably have a tendency to 

 become affected ; it is therefore advisable to give to each animal a laxative drench, 

 and in their water a small quantity of salt and niter. All should be kept on bare pas- 

 ture, and be made to frequently move about. It is also a good plan to insert a seton 

 in the dewlap of each animal. This has been found to be a most successful preventive 

 measure, combined with the change to bare pasturage ; the new pasturage being of an 

 easily digestible kind. The prevention of the disease is a most easy matter compared 

 with the treatment of an affected animal; and by carefully preventing stock from be- 

 coming exposed to the causes already noted, seldom will the disease be found to make 

 its appearance. 



Thus far as to the disease in India, where it has much prevailed. 

 Youatt and Martin on Cattle, edited by A. Stevens, New York, edition 185."), treat of tb is 

 disease at some length. They strongly advise bleeding to the utmost limit allowable, 

 in connection with purging. But on this head, as it relates to bleeding, they do not 

 agree with our Calcutta authority, by whom it is said that the propriety of bleeding is 

 very questionable, and certainly can only be carried out in the very first stage of the 

 disease, as the blood so soon becomes vitiated, turbid, tarry, and black in color that it 

 will not run from the opened vein. Youatt and Martin are of the opinion that the 

 prevention of this malady is the only cure worth notice ; aud to this end recommend 

 that a piece of short or inferior keep should be reserved as a digesting place, in which 

 the cattle may be occasionally turned to empty and exercise themselves. Those ob- 

 served to advance very fast may be bled monthly for several months ; but occasional 

 purges of alterative medicines would prevent those diseases which seem to take their ' 

 rise in over-repletion and accumulation, and are far better than bleeding. 



Mr. G. Lawson, an English authority much approved by Allen, in his work on Amer- 

 ican cattle, says of the methods first to be resorted to, that bleeding is the first and 

 principal remedy, and must be used in ])roportion to the age and strength of the animal ; 

 from three to four quarts will generally be found sufficient. After this the following 

 purgative drink is recommended : 



Carbonate of potash, 2 dram.s. 



Sulphate of sod.a, 6 ounces. 



Barbadoes tar, 3 drams. 



Warm water, 1 pint. 



Mix for one dose. 

 Seton 8 in the dewlap are recommended. 



In conclusion, I would cite the language of Mr. John Lawrence, England, in his 

 treatise on cattle medicine, as quoted by Allen : 



" It should be considered that animals living in a state of nature, regulated by th cr 

 reason and experience of man, would be almost whoUj^ exempt from disease; that 

 their appetites, unlike our own, may be held under a constant control ; that their dis- 

 eases result puielj' from the negligence or erroneous treatment of their owners. They 

 are either too much exposed to the rigors and changes of the weather, or they are 

 gorged with food, denied a sufficient quantity, or supplied with such as is unwhole- 

 some. Here we learn the chief causes of their maladies. Learn to prevent them, in- 

 stead of undertaking the tedious, unsuitable, and hopeless task of learning to cure 

 them. Of all things, let the proprietors of cattle renounce forever the insane folly of 

 offering premiums for tHeH/-(i'&?e diseases, and the hope of providing medicines which, 

 by a sort of miraculous operation, will enable men to continue in the habit of exposing 

 their animals to the constant risk of such disease. I have no infjillible receipts to offer ; 

 on the contrary, I wish to impress n)y readers strongly with the idea that all infallible 

 receipts are infallible nonsense." 



I am, very respectfully, 



FREDERICK WATTS, 



Commi-ssioner of Agriculture. 

 Hon. H. J. JewI':tt, M. C. 



Agricultural exposition at Bremen. — Through the Depart- 

 ment of State information Las been received from the mitiister of the 

 German empire that an agricultural exposition is to be held in the city 

 of Bremen in June next. The exposition will be continued from the 

 13tli to the 21st of that month, under the special protection of the Crown 

 Prince of the German empire. The consul of the United States at Bre- 

 men remarks that the exertions made by the leading agriculturists of 

 Germany, aud the interest manifested generally, combine in promise to 

 make the proposed exposition one of great value to agriculture— general 

 and special. 



Bananas in Florida. — A correspondent says take up late bananas 



