FEED AND MANAGEMENT. 51 



cause of my first trouble with abortion I. never 

 became fully satisfied about, but connected it 

 with a summer freshet that flooded a part of 

 my pasture. I suspected it was caused by er- 

 gotized grass on this flooded land. I do not 

 now know that to have been the cause, but I 

 still think it was. It was three years before 

 my dairy was clear of the trouble, and I had no 

 more of it until the summer of 1892, when fif- 

 teen cows lost their calves, the trouble com- 

 mencing at the same time in July as in the 

 former case. I had been fearing it, as the con- 

 ditions were nearly the same as they were 

 when I had the first trouble. I secured some 

 remedies and sought advice from different 

 sources, but it came as I feared it would. The 

 flood water had caused my pasture to be short 

 and I had cut clover from new ground that had 

 grown rye the previous year and had consider- 

 able volunteer rye with the clover. The trouble 

 commenced soon after using this clover and rye. 

 Every cow that lost her calf was immediately 

 isolated and treated with vaginal injections of 

 bichloride of mercury, using one part to four 

 thousand of water and using one gallon at a 

 treatment three times per week. The same 

 lotion was used to wash the vulva and tail and 

 any parts necessary. The trouble ended in a 

 few weeks and I had no more of it until the fol- 

 lowing spring when feeding the hay cut from 



