1869. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



413 



that part of the bag was completely evanuated. 

 The tube was used fur two weeks, when the teat 

 became all nght, and remains so at the present 

 time. These tubes are silver plated, about two 

 inches long, and should be in the hands of every 

 farmer, as many times their cost can frtqnently 

 be saved by having them at hand when needed. 



Cows frequently lacerate their teats while in the 

 pasture, and every time ihcy are milked, the wound 

 is torn open afresh ; consequently it is a long time 

 healing. The operation of milking is al>o painful 

 to the I ow, and she will not give down her milk 

 freely ; sn that, many times, the flow is consider- 

 ably decreased by the time the teat is well. This 

 can all be avoided by the use of one of these little 

 tubes. S. C. Pattee, 



Warner, N. H., July 5. 1869. 



ASHES ON WHEAT. — DRY GRASS IN A PASTURE. 



Do you advise the use of ashes on wheat fields r 

 If so, how should it be applied ? 



I Lave a pasture that his grown up for several 

 years, and become so thickly covered with the 

 dead and withered grass that my cattle wont feed 

 it. What is the bett remedy ? Would you advise 

 burning it over ? A Young Farmer. 



Buckjield, Me., 1869. 



Remarks. — Sow ten bushels per acre of wood 

 ashes on your wheat field at the time of sowing the 

 seed. Scarcely anything would be better. Scatter 

 by hand, broadcast. 



Cut the bushes, if there are any, and burn over 

 the pasture. Then scatter a bushel or two of 

 plaster of paris to the acre, and on that a little 

 white and red clover seed, together with a small 

 quantity of timothy and red top seed, and harrow 

 the whole in. If your labors are favored by the 

 ijeason you will need large milk pails next sum- 

 mer. 



black-leg. 



The loss of five calves by Black-leg, mentioned 

 hy your correspondent "Luther," of North Dorset, 

 Vt., in March last, would not have been thought 

 au uncommon occurrence m the higher purts ot 

 Virt!inia near the Alleghany mountains thirty or 

 forty years ago, nor is it very uncommon to hear 

 of a few dying almost every year now. But the 

 disease is better understood there now than it was 

 then. Ic is considered to be almost, if not entirely, 

 produced by a change in the condition of the flesh, 

 owing to a change m the quantity or in the quality 

 of the food of the aniuial ; that is, such sudden 

 decrease, or increase in flesh, as is most likely to 

 take place in the fall or spring. Formerly that 

 disease was quite common at both seasons in that 

 region. Ic was then customary for farmers to 

 summer more stock than they could wi.itcr well ; 

 consequently as it was taken in the fall from their 

 new and luxuriant grass fields, their animals often 

 shrunk mich in flish, and ^ometimes suddenly; 

 then lu the spring when the stock, after being badly 

 wintered, was all at once turned on rank grass they 

 would often gain rapiiUy. Hence losses from 

 Bl ick-leg were common both spring and fall. 



This disease was the greatest difliiculty in raising 

 stock that the people had to contend with there at 

 that tune. I have known in the bounds of my ac- 

 quaintance more than one hundred to die in one 

 fall, or iu early winter. Indeed, I have no doubt 

 that iu two or three counties more than a thousand 

 were lost yearly. Some persons almost gave up 

 ihe idea of raising stock. After a while the cause 

 was better understood and people began to take 

 better care of their stock in the fall and winter, 



and such losses became less frequent. B'ack-leg 

 is seldom spokenof now, except in connection with 

 the remark that ''that man is too carcle-s with his 

 stock ;" especially is this remark used in the fall 

 season. 



I have known my father to lose twelve or fifteen 

 in one fall, and at other times a less number, all of 

 Black-leg. But after we come to know something 

 of the nature of the disease we were well a>sured 

 that it was all for want of proper care and atten- 

 tion, and this is now universally believed to be the 

 only cause of the disease. 



It is, though, much harder to guard against a 

 change in the condition of the flesh in the spring, 

 than in the fall ; but then it is not near so likely to 

 re«ult fatally at this season as in the fall. 



It may be proper to say that in later years It has 

 been common to use sulphur, saltpetre, or copperas, 

 with salt, and frequently soot, ashes and lime, as 

 preventives, e>>pecially when first turned on fresh 

 grass in spring, and also profuse bleeding. This 

 practice of blciding arose mostly from the fact that 

 it had been found to relieve some cases after an 

 attack of the disease. I have lost many animals 

 by the Black-leg, but do mt remember of a single 

 case of my own that re^^overed. I did, however, 

 know of one very bad case, where the hind leg of 

 a calf was ripped open for more than a toot, and 

 salt put in; the calf lived and got well; which I 

 Could not have believed had I not seen it myself. 



West Virginia, June, 1869. j. h. R. 



Remarks. — This disease is called black quarter 

 in England, and charbon in France. It is one of 

 the forms of the disease called Anthrax, a Greek 

 word, meaning coal. Mr. Murray, the Veterinary 

 editor of the Western Rural says, "it is character- 

 ized by a peculiar alteration in the blood and tis- 

 sues of the affected part. The tissues and blood of 

 the part affected become much darker in color, and 

 this has led to the term anthrax being applied to 

 maladies of this nature." He agrees with our cor- 

 respondent as to the cause of the disease, and says 

 it makes its appearance suddenly, and is first indi- 

 cated by the animal being lame in one of its legs. 

 On pressing the skin of the afiected quarter a 

 crackling sound is produced, and on the skin being 

 incised black colored blood issues from the wound. 

 He aho quotes Prof. Bouley, who has made the 

 most recent investigations on the subject. The 

 Professor says that the blood In this disease under- 

 goes a change rendering it almost identical with 

 putrid blood. He recommends the internal and ex- 

 ternal use of carbolic acid. In using this medicine 

 he advises that incisions of two or three inches in 

 length should be made through the skin of the 

 afiected quarter, and that the incisions should be 

 washed with a solution composed of half an ounce 

 of carbolic acid to a pint of water. The acid 

 should be given internally twice a day in drachm 

 doses, each dose being given in a quart of cold 

 water. 



TO relieve choked cattle. 



In looking over your last issue I see a remedy, 

 taken from the Country Gentleman, to relieve 

 choked cattle, which prompts me to write to you. 

 I think if eggs were given, as recommended, it 

 would be pretty sure to relieve them by death, if 

 the animal were choked by a potato or apple, as 

 the swallowing pipe being stopped up, anything 



