228 



Murrain in Cattle. 



Vol. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Murrain in Cattle. 



We have sad accounts from England re- 

 specting the fatal disease which is carrying 

 off their cattle by hundreds, and think that 

 Mr. A. B. Allen did wisely in abstaining for 

 the present front bringing over any horned 

 cattle. It is said the veterinary surgeons 

 term the disease the bloody murrain, and con- 

 sider it infectious: now I know not how this 

 can be, for amongst the very many cases that 

 I have witnessed, I have never been able to 

 convince myself of that fact. It is true that 

 to a casual observer it may have the appear- 

 ance of being so, for the cattle in a large pas- 

 ture, or even in a whole parish or hundred, 

 will oftentimes be attacked by it, and the dis- 

 order will spread abroad like a contagious 

 fever, but I have no doubt the evil arises from 

 a disordered state of the digestive organs, 

 brought on by an unwholesome state of the 

 atmosphere, or by feeding on unhealthy pas- 

 tures, those low, cold and damp meadows, in- 

 fested by aquatic plants, which, being taken 

 into the stomach, become putrid and indiges- 

 tible; and thus that noisome and putrid dis- 

 ease is engendered. For I have known" one 

 half the cattle upon a certain farm to be car- 

 ried off by it, while not a single case has oc- 

 curred on the immediately adjoining estate, 

 but on the next farm again to that, the whole 

 herd has been swept away ; and just so have 

 I observed the produce of their pasture lands 

 to vary from dry, sweet and healthy herbage, 

 to that which is long, moist, sour and un- 

 wholesome. And I am inclined to believe 

 that the murrain in cattle, like the botts in 

 horses, may be considered an effect, rather 

 than a cause, both disorders arising, perhaps, 

 from an unhealthy state of digestion, by which 

 is engendered a disease, which, although it 

 must be termed epidemic, might not be by 

 any means infectious; indeed I well remem- 

 ber a dairy of fine cows which was thinned 

 to less than one-half its original number, 

 where the individuals were attacked by the 

 disease on being confined to their winter 

 quarters, the occupants of stalls 1, 3, 4, 6, 8, 

 10, &c., being carried off, while the interme- 

 diate numbers escaped uninjured, and remain- 

 ed in perfect health. 



But to many persons it will no doubt seem 

 strange to consider the origin of two disor- 

 ders, so very different in their appearance, 

 symptoms and effects, as the botts and mur- 

 rain, as arising from the same cause, namely, 

 indigestion, but as I conceive that they are 

 engendered by a disordered state of the sto- 

 mach caused by sour and unwholesome food, 

 and that they might both be cured, or which 

 is better, be prevented by timely administra- 

 tion of a medicine, alkaline in its nature, I 



believe that reason will bear me out in 

 conclusion to which I am partly led by p 

 sing an article on this subject in the Cab 

 vol. 4, p. 177, where it is said — quoting i 

 the American Farmer — " Some years sin 

 purchased a horse, but he had the appeari 

 of labouring under disease ; I commenc( 

 course of treatment which I had before 

 sued in cases similar to appearance, but v 

 out effect ; I was therefore induced to tr) 

 use of lime, as I was confident he was f 

 with bolts, for he had discharged severa 

 therefore commenced by giving him a ts 

 spoonful of slaked lime three times a vi 

 in bran mashes. After pursuing this co 

 near two weeks, the botts began to pass a 

 in quantities, varying from ten to tvve 

 which he would expel from his intestines 

 ring the night; in the mean time his a 

 tite began to improve, and in six weeki 

 was one of the finest geldings I ever s 

 from that day to this I have kept up the 

 of lime amongst my horses with decided 

 nefit; and as an evidence of its good efft 

 I have not lost a horse since I begar 

 use it. And lime is a certain preventivi 

 keeping cattle from taking the murrain, 

 an evidence of this fact, I have used it am 

 my cattle three times a week, mixed \ 

 salt, for three or four years, and in that t 

 I have not lost a single animal by this 

 ease ; but in the mean time some of my ne 

 hours have lost nearly all the cattle t 

 owned. But I will give a stronger case t 

 even the one above mentioned. One of 

 neighbours who lost all his cattle, ha 

 friend living within two hundred yards 

 him, who had several cattle which ran d 

 with those that died, and his cattle all 

 cnped — he informed me that he made i 

 invariable rule to give his cattle salt and 1 

 every morning. I have, therefore, no dc 

 but salt and lime are a sure and infallible 

 medy for botts in horses and murrain in 

 tie." 



And I am remindedof a circumstance I: 

 friend, who has often before mentioned 

 he had two fields of pasture near his hous 

 on one of these he spread lime upon the t 

 to the amount of more than 200 bushels 

 acre, but as the other field lay immedial 

 below his cattle-yard, from whence he 

 formed drains to carry the water over its ( 

 face in the most complete manner, he de 

 mined to let that suffice for a dressing; \ 

 the effect of the highly impregnated w£ 

 from the yard was a growth of grass truly 

 tonishing. Both fields were kept in pasti 

 and when the stock had eaten one of th 

 down, they were removed to the other, i 

 so changed regularly about ; but the efl 

 of the different crops on the appearance 

 the stock, horses and cattle, is not to be 



