lino 



ULKANIXCJS IN BEE CULTL RE 



■im 



Heads of Grain 



from Different Fields 



WlllTK CUOVKK CArSIX(i BLOAT IX CATTLK. 

 MOSQUITOES i>argj;ly to blame; salt pork 



RELIEVES BL(5ATING. 



I seed a fresh pasture eacli year. ] have sowed 

 for pasture a mixture of timothy and mammotli red 

 clover; timothy and red clover; timothy and a niix- 

 ttire of red and alsike clover. The jjast year, my 

 liasture being: of timothy, alsike, and red clover 

 mixed, the alsike seemed to occupy the ground en- 

 tiiely, and the bloom period lasted for a lone time. 

 The pasture looked beautiful, like large pink sno\v- 

 banks. Tlie milk supi)ly was larger than when I 

 l)astured on either of the otlier clovers; but 1 was 

 troubled much more with bloat than during the 

 pievious seasons, when i pastured on mammoth 

 led and common red clover. ( )f course, the alsike 

 was of a much heavier nature. This is liow I ac- 

 count for tlie larger milk supply, and also more 

 bloat. I tliink the large stems of tlie mammoth 

 helped to a great extent to prevent bloat. IJke- 

 wLse, if white clover makes sufficient growth it will 

 produce bloat. 



( Tover, at least with me, is not the only cause of 

 trouble. Cows will not bloat if allowed to fill them- 

 selves with otlier grasses before going on the clo- 

 ver. Then, even thougli they are kept there, there 

 will be no trouble unless in some way they are i)re- 

 vented from eating. This is where my trouble lies: 

 The moscpiitoes, at times, when the weather is wet, 

 are very bad. The cows are hungry in the morn- 

 ing, after a long niglifs fight: and when the sun 

 rises the mosquitoes quit tlieir work, and the cows 

 go to eating voraciously; and then it is not long be- 

 fore 1 have a case of bloat. 1 have never lost a case 

 so far. I get .a cliunk of salt fat pork and shove it 

 down into the moutli of the cow as far as possible, 

 and at the same time hold up the cow's liead ))y 

 j)utting my other arm uji over the neck and down 

 under her jaw. I lift ui) to prevent her dropping 

 the fat pork. She will cliew for a while, and soon 

 swallow. This will relieve the case at once. 



I wrote to the Minnesota l<:xperinient Staticni, 

 asking if tliey knew of any thing 1 could spray my 

 cows with to prevent tlie mosquitoes from torment- 

 ing them; but in reply the.v said they knew of noth- 

 ing but kerosene. I did not place much confidence 

 in that. 1 think that, if we liad something in the 

 form of grease, or sometliing to spray the cows 

 with, our bloat trouble would almost be at an end. 



Xfedford, Minn., March 7. .1. K. f5RADY, .Jr. 



A JACK-KNIFE OPERATION TO RELIEVE BLOATING. 



t have raised considerable alsike, both for hay and 

 pasture. I always let cattle out both night and day 

 so as to prevent them from getting too liungry. f 

 have liad bloat but once, and the circumstances 

 were these: A wet spring caused a very rank growth 

 of alsike; and one liot morning about the first of 

 .lune, when the alsike was five or six inches high, 

 the cows, for some reason, stayed in the yard until 

 about 9 o'clock, and, I think, drank quite heartily 

 just before going (jut. Jn aliout an hour the.v came 

 in again. Two were bloated— one c)ld cow very bad- 

 ly, and a young one not so much. An old man had 

 told me once to put a large wooden bit in the ani- 

 mal's mouth, and the efforts to dislodge the bit 

 would enable the gas to escape. 1 tried that first 

 on the old cow, but it did no good, and in the few 

 minutes I was working witli her she was rapidly 

 getting worse. I had no trocar and cannula; but I 

 thought slie would die if I left her alone long; so I 

 pulled out my jack-knife with a sharij-i)ointed lilade 

 about Ye. inch wide, and, holding tlie blade very 

 lirnily between the thumb and first finger, letting 

 it project about an inch, I jammed it through the 

 hide up to my fingers, on the left side, half way be- 

 tween the hip bone and tlie fir.st rib. 1 found it 

 necessary to put something in the way of a tube in 

 the iiole, as it will close when the animal moves, as 

 the inner linings will move over the hole in tlie 

 skin. So I put in a piece of quill from a large feath- 

 er, and in a short time the old cow was almost as 

 well as ever. I noticed, however, she sliowed the 

 effects for a week or ten days, after which she was 



all right, and i owned her and pastured her in the 

 same field for several years. 



While 1 was operating on tlie old cow, the young 

 one that was not bloated so much began to go 

 down, and recovered without any treatment. 



I regard alsike as a much superior feed to white 

 clover, and f should not worry over the bloating, 

 witli this precaution: Xever let cattle get very hun- 

 gry and then fill up on a rank growth of succulent 

 feed like alsike, and especially if it is wet with dew 

 or rain. As Mr. (ioddard says. "When cattle eat 

 heavily of any succulent crop they are subject to 

 bloat." 



Dunlap, la. K. S. Miles. 



WHITE CLOVER CAUSES BLOATING WHEN IT GROWS 

 VERY RANK. 



About 1878 to 1886 it was a common thing for the 

 cows to become bloated on white clover in and 

 around Wyandot, Kansas, where I then lived— that 

 is, the cows that were turned loose on the commons 

 in our little town. Many cows died from it. Tlie 

 clover was very rank, some years being nearly 

 knee-high in many places. When the dew was very 

 heavy I used to keep my cows up in the morning 

 until the clover was dried off. 1 have jnit a gag in 

 the mouths of two or three cows until they would 

 belch the gas out. 



Escondido, Cal., Feb. 24. .1. A. Xelson. 



FEED HAY BEFORE TURNING ON TO CLOVER. 



I think the cases of bloating from alsike or white 

 clover are very scarce, but from red clover, very 

 frequent. Bloating might take place from the small 

 clovers if there were a large growth, and hungry 

 cattle turned on when the clover is wet or frosted. 

 The best way to avoid bloating is to turn cattle on 

 when the grass is dry, or for only a short time, say 

 two hours; then drive them off for the day. In all 

 cases of that kind it is better to give cattle a good 

 feed of hay; then when the grass is dry they will 

 not overload their stomachs. 



Easton, Md., March 10. .1. Aikenhead. 



ANY CLOVER MAY BLOAT CATTLE. 



All clover will bloat cattle when they are turned 

 out on it before the dew dries off. 1 have never lost 

 any stock from that cause, but 1 have had some 

 swell up until they were ready to bur.st. My reme- 

 dy is a teacupful of epsoni salts and a tablespoonful 

 of ginger put into a bottle afterward filled with wa- 

 tei\ Shake well and drench, and watch the cow 

 chew, as if chewing the cud. When she is done she 

 will be the poorest-looking skeleton you have seen 

 for some time. Where the flesh goes to I can hot 

 tell. 



Marshallton. Pa., Feb. 22. W. W. Webster. 



A short piece of GAS-PIPE INSERTED AS A BIT AL- 

 LOWS THE GAS TO ESCAPE. 



White clover does cause bloat. We have had exjie- 

 rieiice with that and red-clo\ er bloat. In UK)8 white 

 clover was abundant, and we had considerable trou- 

 ble. To cure bloat, take a short iiiece of gas-pii)e 

 and drill a few holes through it and place it cross- 

 wise in the animal's mouth like a bridle-bit, and. 

 nine times out of ten, the animal will soon be re- 

 lieved. P^or those who have no gas-i)ipe. a hollow 

 stick of wood about the size of a broom-handle, with 

 holes bored through, and fastened in the animal's 

 mouth, will do. This allows the gas to e.«>cape out 

 through the tube, and prevents the animal from 

 swallowing it again. 



Blue Mound, 111., Feb. 21. M. f. Morgan. 



DISTANCE BEES FLY FOR NECTAR. 



In this locality my experience says most emphat- 

 ically that the great bulk of the honey is gathered 

 within one mile of the hive. In one small yard of 

 25 colonies, only two miles awa.v, the bees during 

 the past summer gathered quite a little surplus at a 

 time when those at the home yard \vere doing 

 nothing, and the.y brought in a different kind of 

 hone.v from any ever gathered at home. Then at 

 the time of heartsease bloom they did not gather as 

 much as the home bees, although the.v were apiiar- 

 ently near more heartsease than those at the home 

 yard. Then, again, a yard three miles from home, 

 and within half a mile from large fields of hearts- 

 ease, stored several times as much per colony as the 

 home yard, wliicli was from IM to 154 to the same 

 field.s. The home bees nearly all flew in the di rec- 



