1868. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



55 



clean with castile soap and warm water, then apply 

 while warm, an ointment of gunpowder ground 

 fine, mixed with sweet cream or fresh butter, to 

 tJie consistency of thin paste. 



WARTS ON CATTLE. 



I have a heifer eighteen months old, which has 

 a large number of warts, (I should call them) on 

 her skin, commencing just front of her bag and 

 reaching nearly to her front legs, the whole weigh- 

 ing a half dozen pounds or more. They have 

 been growing for three or four months. None of 

 my ncighiiors have ever seen an-, thing like it. 

 The bunches hang down six or eight inches. Per- 

 hajis some of your readers can tell me what to do 

 f<ir her. She is half Dutch, and otherwise than 

 the l)unches a fine looking heifer. 



H. H. Brown. 



South Sudbury, Mass., Nov. 29, 1867. 



Remarks. — We think we have never seen so 

 many warts on cattle as this year. Whether the 

 unusual amount of rain which has fallen the past 

 season in New England has any connection with 

 their production we cannot say. During the fall 

 we have, seen so large excrescences on some ani- 

 mals that we have been led to doubt, with our coi-- 

 respondent, whether they ought to be called warts. 

 We saw a cow a few weeks since whose back was 

 literally covered. We hope sonle of our readers 

 will be able to advise Mr. Brown what to do in the 

 case of his heifer. In the meantime, we copy 

 from Hooper's "Pracii al Farmer," the following 

 suggcsiive observations. Cattle, he says, are sub- 

 ject to various excrescences growing from the cuti- 

 cle at first, but afterwanl identified with the true 

 skin. They assume many forms, from that of 

 scales of greater or less thickness, and accompa 

 nied sometimes by chaps or sores, to fungous 

 growths, of ditfercnt size and hardness, and bear- 

 ing the character of warts. They are occasionally 

 very numerous and exceedingly troublesome; 

 and they are most numerous and most trouble- 

 some about the teats. When they grow about 

 the eyelids they are a sad nuisance to the beast. 

 When there are only exfoliations and scales of the 

 cuticle, friction with camphorated oil will occa^- 

 sionally remove them. It has been known to dis- 

 perse the watery excrescences. Mercurial prepar- 

 ations, whether blue ointment, or corrosive subli- 

 mate and soap, are dangerous, but they will usually 

 get rid of the smaller ones. When they are nu- 

 merous, and particularly about the udder, the 

 practitioner will pi-oliably try to remove the largest 

 of them by means of a ligature passed round the 

 roots. This, however, will often be an almost end- 

 less affair, and recourse must be had to the knife 

 and to the cautery. The cautery will stop the 

 bleeding, destroy the root of the wart, and thus 

 prevent its springing again. When they are. small, 

 this wija be most successfully attacked by means 

 of the nitrate of silver, the warts being touched 

 daily with it in a solid form, if they are few and 

 distinct; or washed with a strong solution of it, 

 if they are more numerous and scattered over a 

 large surface. They have been attributed to va- 



rious causes, as contusions, stings of insects, want 

 of condition, inflammation of the skin; but in 

 most cases the actual cause is unknown. 



In case recourse must be had to "the knife and 

 cautery," it will be necessary to cast the animal, 

 and sear the root with a red-hot iron, as unless 

 this is done the warts will speedily sprout again. 



PLOUGHING IN MANURE. 



Feeling myself called upon to reply to your cor- 

 respondent, "H." who seems to be a "staunch 

 friend of the harrow," I l)cg leave to answer in 

 the first place, most emphatically, that while claim- 

 ing to be no less a friend to the harrow than himself, 

 I have "no experience" in harrowing in niiunire; 

 believing the plough the only proper impl'mrnt 

 for burying manure, for any crop. Whether this 

 view is sound or unsound, the practical farmer can 

 jiiitge. The harrow gives a superficial covering, 

 and much of the coarse miinurc from the barn 

 yard, is not covered at all. The plough gives it a 

 deep bed. Its gases are evaporated to the surface 

 impregnating the soil all through, which gnscs pos- 

 sess about all the fertilizini: properties of the ma- 

 nure. The theory of its leaching and being lost 

 has, I think, become an exploded doctrine. 



The vegetable roots seek the source of these 

 gases till they find the decomposing mnnnre. 

 When harrowed in there is a mere surface benefit — 

 soon to evaporate, dry and waste. 



The largest crop of corn I ever raised was with 

 manure ploughed in. The largest winter wheat 

 crop lever knew in Massachusetts, nearly fifty 

 bushels to the acre, was on good pasture land, 

 dressed with pig manure, and ploughed in. Fal- 

 lowing, with any green crop, or the turning in of 

 mowing stubble with second cnp, illustrates the 

 principle of evaporation on the wii'iur wheut crop, 

 and its nourishing effects. lam unable to com- 

 prehend how the statement of "II." about the "pile 

 of manure" applies toor explains his harrowing the- 

 ory . But it is quite certain this fact jn'oves nothing as 

 totheusualmanncrof fertilizing. Of course anian- 

 ure heap drenched by rains must enrich the soil on 

 which it lies. "H." says on the "lands at the 

 West, the Lord grows taller grass, keeps it in bet- 

 ter condition than we overwise mortals do, but 

 that he never owned a plough and does it by tcjp 

 dressing." A bounteous Providence has bestowed 

 upon mnch of the soil of the West a degree of 

 fertility which for a time obviates the neces'sity of 

 enher manure or "top dressing." But the time 

 will come when the voice of Wisdom which directs 

 ''that man shall till theground," and that he must 

 "live by the sweat of his brow," will be heard and 

 heeded. 



Brooklyn, L. I., Dec, 1867. H. Poor. 



SAFE AND SURE REMEDY FOR LICE ON CATTLE. 



I was sorry to see in a late number of the Far- 

 mer so dangerous a remedy as unguentum recom- 

 mended for use, and to stay its application, I for- 

 ward you a receipe that I have used for ten years 

 and have never known it to fail to exterminate the 

 vermin without any injury to the cattle. 



To one gallon of soft water add one pint of soft 

 soap, and boil them together; then add one ounce 

 of arsenic, and stir till well mixed ; after this add 

 another gallon of soft, cold water, and it is fit for 

 use. The soap neutralizes the poison and renders 

 it harmless to the cattle, but a dead-shot to lice 

 and their eggs. 



My manner of application, is, to take an old 

 coffee pot and pour the liquid slowly upon the 

 back of the animal, from head to stern, while two 

 persons, one on each side, rub it in with old cards 

 or swabs. David Currier. 



Peacham, Vt., Dec. 2, 1867. 



