Sko. 6.] 



FEEDIXG CATTLE AND CARE OF FARM-STOCK. 



77 



diseases of cattle and the remedies ; for this, we must refer the reader to 

 Di-. Dadd, veterinary surgeon, Boston, and his valuable writings, as well as 

 several other good publications, not forgetting the Stock Journal, Kew 

 York. "We will give, however, the following sensible remarks upon one 

 of the most common diseases, or symptoms of disease, from Thos. E. Hatch, 

 Keene, N. .II. 



105. The Horn Ail.— Mr. Hatch says: "'Horn Ail,' or 'Hollow Horn,' 

 is an absurd misnomer for an imaginary disease in many cases, and for a 

 symptom of fever in others. Many a farmer has reluctantly ' cut off one 

 inch,' or more, from the tail of a beautiful animal, when it was turned out 

 to pasture, under the erroneous impression that it would do better, 'for the 

 hair hung in curls,' although the animal was in perfect health and good 

 condition, and needed no remedy of any kind. In fever, the degree of 

 arterial excitement is estimated in part by the heat at the base of the horn, 

 which is very thin, and covers the most vascular bone in tlie animal, thereby 

 displaying symptoms of great value to those capable of appi-eciating them. 



" But even in fever there can never be the slightest occasion for ' cuttinsr 

 off one inch of the tail,' nor for jwurin^ ho'dirig xoater upon the horns of a 

 sufl'ering animal until he '■dodges.'' A cathartic of epsom or glauber salts, 

 sulphnr or linseed-oil, combined with ginger, red pepper, or any stimulant 

 aromatic, will do all the good, and much more, than the slight bleeding from 

 the cut can do, and not leave the animal to thump its sides the remainder 

 of its life with a mutilated stump, a living monument that all the darkness 

 of the dark ages has not yet passed away. 



"The hope that I may be the means, in a single case, of preserving intact 

 one of the beauties of the bovine race, to the unfortunate animal suifering 

 from 'Horn Ail' or 'Tail Sickness,' is the only apology that I can ofl'er for 

 this communication. I would as soon knock off the horn, or slit the ears of 

 a favorite animal, as to 'cut off one inch of the tail,' and should have as 

 good physiological reasons for so doing. The disfigurement in either case 

 would be about equal, but the inconvenience which the animal would suffer 

 from the loss of the long, silky brush so kindly furnished by nature, espe- 

 cially in 'fly time,' would be immeasurably greater." 



The Ohio Kercuma, an ounce to a dose, given in whisky a few times to 

 a cow with this disease, is recommended as a valuable cure. In our opinion, 

 good feed and warm stables as a preventive are worth more than all the cures. 



106. €ure of Scours in Cattle. — An English farmer recommends the use 

 of acorn-mcal as a sure cure of diarrhea in horned cattle, sheep, and lambs, 

 and young stock generally. He says : 



" I sent the dried acorns to the mill to be ground into flour, and when I 

 found symptoms of scour or diarrhea in my cattle, I ordered two handfuls 

 to be mi.x'cd in a bran mash, and given warm immediately, and to continue 

 it once a day, until the disease disai>pcared. Tliis proved a never-failing 

 cure — insomuch that I never had any trouble from the disease afterward ; 

 and my neighbors, seeing this, had recourse to me for a little of my acorn 



