52 AGRICULTURE IN THE 



Another dangerous disease is ' long sought,' which appears to 

 be pulmonary consumption. It is detected by loss of appetite, 

 and constant coughing, or, as the author calls it, hoisting. 

 Tympanitis arises from over greedy feeding in rank grass. 

 * Risen upon ' is a blister under the tongue, accompanied by 

 very serious symptoms, and is, unless cured by the knife, fatal. 

 Another disease is called the Turn, which appears, from the 

 surgery practised upon it, to be an hydatid between the skull 

 and the membranes of the brain. The remedy is to cast and 

 hobble the animal, to cut away the skin from the bone, to 

 trephine the skull, and, taking care not to injure the brain, 

 to extract ' a bladder full of wa.ter, two inches or more long.' 

 He states that he has seen many cured in this way. But he 

 adds that the same disease occurs in sheep, and is incurable. 

 The other diseases of horned cattle are maggots (for which 

 he prescribes the actual cautery, foot disease), and gout. 

 The last is incurable, but the beast may be fatted in good 

 grass. 



The best time for calves is between Candlemas (Feb. 2) and 

 May. By such an arrangement a calf may be had every year. 

 If, however, it be dropped after May, the calf will be weak, and 

 the cow often become barren. Michaelmas calves are very costly 

 to rear, as both calf and cow must be kept on hay in the winter. 

 If a man have no pasture, it is better to sell than to rear. Bull 

 calves should be castrated when they are between ten and 

 twenty days old. By so doing you get far larger oxen than if 

 you delay. After a year there is great risk, and the animal 

 never gets the size, shape, or horns of the ox. 



In the breeding of horses Fitzherbert has great experience. 

 He tells us that he had sixty mares or more, -and bred nearly as 

 many colts yearly. He, therefore, has his opinion as to the 

 effect of the moon's changes on the sex of the foal, and cherishes 

 other speculative notions. The dropping of colts was an object 

 with the breeder, for in Fitzhcrbert's language, a man may rather 

 get one good horse than many good mares. Do not, he says, 

 breed from a stallion who is white-skinned about the mouth. 



