508 MANUAL OF MODERN FARRIERY. 



to have recourse to laxatives, to clear out the exciting cause 

 of this irregularity. The first and most simple to try is a 

 dose of half-a-pint of castor-oil, or half-an-ounce of the 

 powder of bitter-apple, either of which may be given in a 

 pint of flour-gruel. 



Great attention is required to the different conditions in 

 diarrhoea, otherwise the disease may assume that character 

 which is termed rottenness or scouring-rot, a disease which 

 too often terminates fatally. The system should not be 

 allowed to become too low ; to prevent which, nourishing 

 mashes of oatmeal and malt should be frequently given, 

 and in small quantities at a time ; for during the progress 

 of this malady, it is found, that so long as the animal is 

 permitted to indulge in a full meal, so long will the com- 

 plaint continue. 



It will be found, that cattle, when left to themselves, 

 will seldom eat more than is proper to enable them to per- 

 form the necessary function of chewing the cud. It is 

 only when they have been pre^dously starved, or removed 

 from a poor to a rich pasturage, that they exceed in this 

 respect : so that, in those cases, they ought to be allowed 

 to remain only a short time at first in such situations. 



A low condition of the system will induce diarrhoea, and 

 when it proceeds from this cause, there is more danger to be 

 apprehended, and the animal is, consequently, less able to 

 withstand any sudden transitions from poor to rich living, 

 or from heat to cold, or from cold to heat. When, either 

 from a dearness of food, or scarcity, the animal is kept on 

 short allowance, it is a wise plan, when the luxuriance of 

 spring arrives, to continue feeding the animal in the straw- 

 yard, or house, upon a mixture of chopped hay and suc- 

 culent grass, for a short time previous to turning him out 

 to the field. 



