84 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Feb. 



sometimes trim miripe wood, instead of removing it, 

 and this, of course, dies down during the winter, 

 ■which it would do whether trimmed or not. Trim- 

 ming at this time prevents bleeding in the spring, 

 and it also saves that portion of jmbulum Avhich 

 would arise in the spring from the roots, into the 

 removed parts, thus giving greater vigor to fall- 

 pruned vines. We have tried this experiment fully, 

 and are satisfied that grapes grown on vines pruned 

 in the fall, ripen earlier than on those pruned in 

 the spring. 



The trimming of fruit trees should occur a week 

 before mid-summer, but if neglected at that time, 

 they may be trimmed now. The exposed ends, how- 

 ever, should receive a slight coating of mastic dis- 

 solved in alcohol. The alcohol will pass off by 

 evaporation, while the mastic will render the ex- 

 posed portions water proof. The coating will be so 

 thin as not to prevent the closing over of the bark 

 by future growth, while the wood will remain bright 

 and clean, instead of becoming dotted, and permit- 

 ing the bark to close over a decayed portion. — 

 Working Fanner. 



For the New England Farmer. 



THE HORSE DISTEMPEE. 



On the Disease now Prevailing among Horses — TYPnon) 

 Influenza — Its Natdee — Symptoms — and Terminations. 



There is a disease now prevailing among horses 

 in this State, which in stable language passes under 

 the familiar terms, horse-ail, pink-eye, distemper, 

 &c. (fee. It seems to prevail most extensively 

 among what are termed coarse-bred horses, such as 

 are used in the trucking business, or any other la- 

 borious work. In fact, a case occurring in a well- 

 bred horse has not yet come to my knowledge. In 

 some localities it spreads after the manner of epi- 

 zootic, enzootic, and sporadic affections ; appearing 

 here and there in certain localities, with greater or 

 less intensity ; sometimes singling out half a dozen 

 horses, out of a stable of twenty ; at other times, 

 and perhaps in a contiguous atmospheric locality, it 

 runs through a whole stable of the same. 



At the present time there are a great number 

 of truck horses laid up with this typhoid affection ; 

 a great proportion of them are doing well, and up 

 to the present there have been very few deaths. So 

 that there is no foundation, in fad, for the unfavor- 

 able reports that are now circulating. 



I have named the disease typhus, because it ap- 

 pears under the form of persistent fever, marked 

 by great debility, and gastro-intestinal symptoms ; 

 and two autopsies, that I have been permitted to 

 make, revealed the usual evidences of a typhoid af- 

 fection. 



SYMPTOMS OF THE DISEASE. 



It generally commences without any other warn- 

 ing than a little weakness and loss of appetite ; soon 

 the animal becomes so weak that on urging him to 

 walk across the stable, he reels as in delirium, and 

 if hurried, or handled roughly, he is liable to fall. 

 The sclerotic and conjunctival membranes of the 

 eye are reddened, yet present a yellow tinge. 

 The eyes and eyelids have a languid appearance, 

 resembling those of a horse laboring under influ- 

 enza. The membranes of the mouth are also red- 

 dened, yet have a more marked tinge of yellow 

 than those of the eye. The tongue is generally 

 coated, with a white or brown fur, and the breath is 



foeted. This yellow tinge of the surfaces is indica- 

 tive of functional derangement of the liver. The 

 membranes of the nasal passages are congested, and 

 sometimes we have a slight discharge of viscous 

 matter from the nostrils. 



The respirations are more or less laborious and 

 accelerated, and the least muscular movement will 

 augment both arterial and respiratory actions. On 

 applying the ear to the trachea, a sort of mucous 

 rale will be heard ; there is generally some soreness 

 of throat ; enlargement of the thyroid glands, ac- 

 companied by slight cough. 



The pulse is almost always irregular and feeble ; 

 the nose, ears, limbs and tail, are cold : the urine 

 and faeces are both scanty and foetid. 



Such are the prominent symptoms of this disease ; 

 they may vary both in duration and intensity, but 

 the symptoms as above described are generally 

 present during its early stage. As the disease pro- 

 gresses, we have a complication of disease within 

 the abdomen and thorax, and the patient is afflicted 

 with excruciating torment, indicating inflammation 

 of the gastro-intestinal surfaces, and he exhibits the 

 usual symptoms manifested by hoi-ses when laboring 

 imder gastro-enteritis. 



At this stage, the disease, if properly treated, 

 may take a favorable turn ; some mild cases, how- 

 ever, are marked by an absence of enteritic symp- 

 toms ; in either case, the animal may be troubled 

 with a cough, yet gradually recovers. 



The disease is apt to run on to the last, or putrid 

 stage, in animals of inferior vital resistance, whose 

 constitutions have been shattered by previous dis- 

 ease ; and horses, also, in a state of plethora, un- 

 less they have been under active treatment, are in 

 the same predicament; while the disease, if seen 

 early and properly treated, can be cut short. There 

 is one curious circumstance that has been noticed, 

 and that is, various forms of disease, differing essen- 

 tially in their symptoms from the above, are apt to 

 merge into a typhoid affection. So that horses at 

 the present time, showing any symptoms of illness, 

 ought to receive early attention. 



George H. Dadd, 



Veterinary Surgeo7u 



For the New England Farmer. 



THE STRIPED SQUIRREL. 



Mr. Editor : — I noticed in the Fanner of the 

 10th, a paragraph giving a description of the man- 

 ner in which the striped squirrel digs his hole in 

 the ground. Your correspondent says that natural- 

 ists, and every intelligent farmer, ought to know 

 that he carries away the dirt in his cheeks, and 

 goes on to prove it. Now sir, he must be very 

 much mistaken, or chitmucks differ in New Hamp- 

 shire from those in Massachusetts, in respect to 

 digging their holes. This squirrel commences his 

 hole, and digs in a slanting manner till he reaches 

 a depth below the frosts of winter ; there he digs a 

 basm, or room, large enough for himself and a de- 

 posit for his winter stores — then he digs straight 

 up to the surface, and fills up the hole where he 

 first commenced. As a proof of this I have dug 

 them out of a new burrow, found their store of 

 corn, chestnuts and acorns, and followed out their 

 hole to where they first begmi, and there I found 

 their pile of dirt. One burrow undisturbed will 

 last for years. J. H. Whitney. 



JV. E. Village, JVov., 1855. 



