174 DISEASES OF CATTLE, SHEEP, GOATS, ETC. 



of one to four or more weeks, in the order of their infection or of the 

 recurrence of the period of activity of the womb which corresponds 

 to the occurrence of heat. 



Prevention. Weakness and bloodlessness are to be obviated by 

 generous feeding, and especially in aliments (wheat bran, rape cake, 

 cotton seed, oats, barley, beans, pease, etc.), rich in earthy salts, 

 which will also serve to correct the morbid appetite. This will also 

 regenerate the exhausted soil if the manure is returned to it. In the 

 same way the application of ground bones or phosphates will correct 

 the evil, acting in this case through the soil first and raising better 

 food for the stock. The ravages of worms are to be obviated by 

 avoiding infested pastures, ponds, streams, shallow wells, or those 

 receiving any surface leakage from land where stock go, and by feed- 

 ing salt at will, as this agent is destructive to most young worms. 



The tendency to urinary calculi in winter is avoided by a succu- 

 lent diet (ensilage, steamed food, roots, pumpkins, apples, potatoes, 

 slops), and by the avoidance of the special causes named under 

 "Gravel." Furnishing water inside the barn in winter in place of 

 driving once a day to take their fill of ice cold water will obviate a 

 common evil. Putrid and stagnant waters are to be avoided. Sud- 

 den changes of food are always reprehensible, but much more so m 

 the pregnant animal. Let the change be gradual. Carefully avoid 

 the use of spoiled or unwholesome food. 



In case of prevalence of ergot in a pasture it should be kept 

 eaten down or cut down with a mower so that no portion runs to 

 seed. In case of a meadow the grass must be cut early before the 

 seeds have filled. The most dangerous time appears to be between 

 the formation of the milky seed and the full ripening. Yet the 

 ergot is larger in proportion to the ripeness, so that the loss of 

 potency is made up in quantity. The ripe seed and ergot may be re- 

 moved by thrashing and the hay safely fed. It may also be noted 

 that both ergot and smut may be safely fed in moderate quantity, 

 provided it is used with succulent food (ensilage, roots, etc.), or with 

 free access to water, and salt is an excellent accessory as encouraging 

 the animal to drink. Both ergot and smut are most injurious in 

 winter, when the water supply is frozen up or accessible only at long 

 intervals. The ergoted seed when thrashed out can not be safely 

 sown, but if first boiled it may be fed in small amount or turned 

 into manure. The growth of both ergot and smut may be to a large 

 extent prevented by the time-honored Scotch practice of sprinkling 

 the seed with a saturated solution of sulphate of copper before 

 sowing. 



Fields badly affected with ergot or smut may be practically re- 

 newed by plowing up and cultivating for a series of years under crops 

 (turnips, beets, potatoes, buckwheat, etc.) which do not harbor the 

 fungus and which require much cultivation and exposure of the soil. 

 Drainage and the removal of all unnecessary barriers to the free 

 action of sunshine and wind are important provisions. 



Other precautions concerning separation from cows in heat a 

 proper construction of stalls, the avoidance of carrion and other 



