21 



(■1.) — Time (Old Mode of Inoculating. 



Where the disease has broken out in a herd, the cattle should 

 be disturbed as little as possible. In inoculating, they should 

 thei'ctbre be quietly mustered and yarded in small mobs, and they 

 should on no account be unnecessarily ru:ihed or knocked about in 

 the yards or inoculating pen. Unless when the disease is making 

 rapid progress in a herd, cattle should never be inoculated in 

 very warm weather, as there would then be considerable risk of 

 serious loss through gangrenous swellings. "Generally speaking, 

 " the weather in the height of summer is too hot for an operation 

 " of this description, even when performed on quiet cattle ; and it 

 " can easily be seen how very much more likely it would be for 

 " these swellings to occur at that season of the year in the case of 

 " comparatively wild ' bush ' cattle, which are always heated and 

 " excited when yarded, and almost maddened by the operation in 

 " the inoculating pen." 



Dr. Willems says, on this point — " The most favourable time for 

 inoculating is spring or autumn. The strong heats of summer 

 especially are very injurious. This precaution is strongly 

 recommended by the Honorable President of the Netherlands 

 Commission." 



The safest and most efficacious mode of inoculating is to use 

 what may be termed an elongated spaying needle, from 

 five to six 'inches in length, with the point but slightly curved 

 or turned up, and ground as thin as possible,* and to draw 

 a thread of soft twine, cotton-wick, or worsted, of two thick- 

 nesses, well saturated with virus, twice through the upper _ or 

 outer side of the tail, about li inch from the tip ; and having 

 done so, without drawing the stitch tight, to cut off the thread, 

 leaving about 1 inch out of the incision at each end, like a 

 seton, twice inserted and left untied. The double insertion 

 renders the effect of inoculation much more certain — a most 

 material matter, since it is so difficult to discover whether or not 

 the virus has taken effect— while experience has proved that this 

 mode of operating does not increase the risk of bad swellings. 

 The tail should be closely clipped with a sheep-shears around the 

 proper spot ; and in operating the needle should be carefully 

 inserted just deep enough to reach the blood and no farther; in 

 fact, the least possible grip or hold is sufiicient ; and every care 

 should be taken not to lacerate the bones or any of the larger 

 muscles of the tail. If the needle is put in at too great a depth, 

 bad swellings and perhaps deaths are certain to follow. 



Some operators use a needle or instrument with the eye near 

 the point and a handle like that of a bradawl. They thread this 

 with short pieces of soft twine, worsted or candlewick, which 

 have been saturated in virus, and inoculate by pushing the needle 



* Keedles of the right description can be obtained of Messrs. Lassetter ^ Co , Sydney. 



