DISEASES OF THE GEjSTEKATIYE OEGAXS. 161 



regards both exercise and feed, nothing is better than a run on a 

 smooth pasture. She should be withheld from all violent excitement, 

 hunting with dogs, riding or being ridden by cows in heat, driving in 

 herd rapidly through narrow gateways, causing to jump ditches or 

 fences, subjecting to blows with the horns of pugnacious cattle, driv- 

 ing on icy or otherwise slippery ground, carrying in railroad cars, 

 kicking by vicious attendants, and fastening or throwing down for 

 operations. The diet should be good, not of a kind to fatten, but with 

 a generous quantity of nitrogenous constituents which w-ill favor 

 both the yield of milk and the nourishment of the fetus. Aliments 

 like wheat bran, middlings, etc., which are rich in lime and phos- 

 phates, can be used to advantage, as there is a constant drain of 

 earthy salts for the building of the body of the calf, and thereby 

 the danger of undue concentration of the urine is lessened. Hard, 

 innutritions, and indigestible aliments, musty gi'ain or hay, par- 

 tially ripened rye grass, millet, Hungarian grass, vetches, peas, 

 or maize are objectionable, as they are liable to cause indiges- 

 tion or even paralysis ; and corn or hay affected by smut or ergot, or 

 that has been spoiled by wet, overripened, and rendered fibrous and 

 innutritions, is equally objectionable. In the main the feed should 

 be laxative, as costiveness and straining are liable to cause abortion. 

 Roots and green feed that have been frosted are objectionable, as 

 being liable to cause indigestion, though in their fresh condition most 

 Avholesome and desirable. Ice-cold water should be avoided, as cal- 

 culated to check the flow of milk, to derange digestion, and to cause 

 abortion. A good temperature for the drink of the dairv cow is 

 55° F. 



In the case of plethoric and heavy-milking cows of mature age and 

 in the prime of life, the hitherto liberal diet must be changed at the 

 last week for the scantiest possible fare, and the bowels must be kept 

 open by laxatives, if need be, if the owner would avoid milk fever. 

 Her stall should not incline downward from shoulder to croup, lest 

 the pressure of the abdominal organs should produce protrusion or 

 abortion. She should be kept aloof from all causes of acute dis- 

 eases, and all existing diseases should be remedied speedily and with 

 as little excitement of the abdominal organs as possible. Strong 

 purgatives and diuretics are to be especially avoided, unless it is in 

 the very last days of gestation in very plethoric cows. 

 54793°— 23 11 



