DISEASES OP THE OX AND SHEEP. 671 



head. This may be done by placing a much larger quantity of 

 straw under her hind-feet than under her fore-feet. 



Sometimes it may be necessary to ligature the neck of the 

 uterus and cut oflF the remainder of the organ. The late Mr. D. 

 Gresswell recorded cases of successful amputation of the uterus 

 in the Veterinary Record for the year 1847. 



DROPSY OF THE UTERUS. 



Accumulations of fluid in the uterus of the cow are by no 

 leans uncommon. The cow looks as if she were in calf, and 

 le disease may frequently be entirely overlooked. If an ex- 

 "^amination per vaginam be made, the womb will be found to be 

 distended with fluid, from which, of course, fluctuation may be 

 detected. The closed mouth of the uterus may be dilated with 

 the finger. 



THE SEASON OF INCREASE IN THE FLOCKS. 



We read in The Times of January 9th, 1888, that in the 



[ampshire Downs lambing had become fairly general, and that 



on the farm of the College of Agriculture, at Downton, the first 



lamb was dropped on Christmas Day, while on January the 5th 



ifty ewes had yielded seventy-two lambs without any untoward 



results, and it was anticipated that by the 9th the first hundred 



lambs would have appeared, and would be enlivening the pen by 



their frolicsome gambols and tiny voices. This is fairly typical 



>f the commencement of lambing on the hills and vales of 



[ampshire. Thus the season in the South of England opens 



rell. 



In these days of severe agricultural depression, preventable 

 losses are of such great importance that farmers cannot be too 

 [careful, and they will feel the greater stimulus to adopt necessary 

 [precautions, when they reflect that the more earnestly they strive 

 I to carry out in practice the valuable hints which scientists are 

 now enabled to give them in all the branches of the art of 

 [agriculture, the greater will be their gain. The outlook is 

 'favourable, good times, we believe, are at hand, and soon 

 agriculturists will hold up their heads again as before, and, so 

 far from being permanently damaged by recent adversity, will 

 carry on with renewed energy the necessary and noble work on 



