DISEASES AND REMEDIES. 505 



" The following are the only circumstances which seem to be 

 common to all reports : 



" In all cases, the meadows and pastures containad much June 

 grass (poa-pratensis.) In nearly all cases the bulls ran with the 

 cows,* and in most of them they drank hard water. In every 

 case the appearance of the calf was unnatural and unhealthy, 

 and the iochial discharges were unwholesome. 



"The number of milk cows in this State, (New York,) is 

 1,123,000. In Herkimer, there are 41,566; in Oneida, 48,510; 

 in Lewis, 26,373; in Otsego, 36,847. These counties, with St. 

 Lawrence, Cattaraugus, Ghautauqua, Chenango, Delaware, Jef- 

 ferson, and Orange, have 465,586 cows. 



"The cows of the State produce 103,097,280 pounds of but- 

 ter, 48,548,280 pounds of cheese, and about 21,000,000 gallons 

 of milk, to be sold in cities and manufacturing villages. The 

 value of these dairy products could not have been less than 

 $48,000,000. If we assume the loss from abortion to be ten 

 per cent., the money value of the loss is $4,800,000 annually." 



This is a most sorry story of abortion ; and when it is known, 

 as is the fact, that the above mentioned counties are chiefly high, 

 rolling land, abounding in the choicest grasses, and pure springs 

 and streams of water, eminently healthful to man and animals 

 generally, there must be some hidden cause for this calamity. 

 And yet no remedy has been discovered to prevent it. 



Much has been written on the subject, within the last two or 

 three years, in our agricultural papers, but without settling the 

 question of its causes, or its prevention. Among our own cows, 

 we do not recollect a single instance where the cow, after a few 



* When will people learn to keep their bulls up confined, away from their cows, 

 either in stables, or yards ? That, of itself, may be one great cause of abortion, the 

 cows being continually run after and teazed by the too officious brute. In previous 

 pages we have said quite enough on that very important item of cattle manage- 

 ment As June, or blue grass, prevails almost everywhere in the pastures and cat- 

 tle regions of North America, we cannot imagine that food has anything to do with 

 abortion. L. F. A. 



22 



