158 BRITISH DAIRYING. 



in bad weather, than when they are tied by the neck all the 

 time ; they are, in fact, healthier and better in all respects with 

 liberty and good food than with good food without it. 



Ringworm. This is a parasitic disease common in young 

 cattle in neglected districts, and it is contagious. Luckily, 

 however, it is easily cured, if not very bad, by rubbing the 

 patches where it occurs with oxide of zinc ointment. Two or 

 three years ago I had a heifer one of a lot I had bought worse 

 infected than any other I remember to have seen, though it 

 had scarcely appeared at all when I bought her. Unsightly 

 patches, rough and coarse, and as big as plates, broke out on 

 various parts of her skin, chiefly in the folds of the neck. 



It was hopeless to cope with it by the oxide of zinc treat- 

 ment, but Messrs. Day & Sons supplied me with a bottle of 

 white liquid which effected a complete cure with two or three 

 dressings. The liquid is called Zynolix. 



Milk Fever, or Drop of the Kidneys. Deep milking 

 cows, in good condition, are liable to this malady, particularly 

 in hot weather, when they come to calve. Aged cows appear 

 to be more liable to it than young ones. The symptoms are 

 loss of appetite and restlessness, followed by dullness, prostra- 

 tion, and insensibility to such pain as is usually caused by the 

 pricking of a pin. Lastly, paralysis ensues, followed ere long 

 by death. 



In the spring of 1892 I had a cow down with this most 

 serious malady, already a good deal advanced in it when I 

 returned from a journey. I at once gave her one of Day's Red 

 Drinks in gruel, sweetened with treacle. In three hours I gave 

 half a pint of whisky, and again one of Day's drinks. The 

 whisky, which was to sustain the strength artificially whilst the 

 medicine attacked the malady, was given alternately with the 

 drinks for twenty-four hours, and afterwards alone with the object 

 named. The cow was in a state of coma, completely helpless, 

 and her lacteal functions were wholly inert. The udder was 

 greatly distended with milk, but scarcely any of it at all could 

 be drawn. 



After thirty to forty hours' suspension of the lacteal functions, 



