1868. 



NEW ENGLAND FARjMER. 



365 



and when the acute inflammation is subdued, a 

 blister ; the animal being kept perfectly quiet, and 

 allowed nothing but bran mash or other soft foods. 

 Colchicum, giiiacum, and other medicines which 

 are esteemed as valuable remedial agents on the 

 human subject in this disease, appear to produce 

 but little effect upon the horse." 



BLOODY WATER IN OXEN. 



I have noticed several articles in your valuable 

 paper of late about red water in cows, but I don't 

 see anything about it in oxen. I have an ox that 

 1 bought throe or four months ag<), and some three 

 weeks since, I noticed his water was considerable 

 bloody, and it has been so ever since. Sometimes 

 it is liiglK r colored than it is at other times ; but 

 it comes from him apparently as freely and easily 

 as ever it did. He is in good working order, and 

 eats, drink"^, works, and appears as well as usual. 

 But I fear if he does not pet 'better pretty soon it 

 will lie lil^ely to alfect his health. I have been 

 careful not to draw him very hard, and I don't 

 know that, he has ever been strained. Now if you 

 or any of your numerous suV)Scribers, can tell mc 

 of anything that will help him, you will oblige me 

 very much. a. b. 



tSouth Royalston, Mass., June 1, 1868. 



Remarks. — If our correspondent will refer to 

 the Weekly Farmer for March 14 and 21, or to 

 the Monthly Farmer for April and May, pages 

 161 an<l 223, he will find something about red water 

 in oxen. In the first, "L. W. B.," of Brookfield, 

 Vt., cured an ox that had been troubled for over a 

 year, by four doses of one tablespoonful of copperas 

 and two of saltpetre, — to be doubled in severe 

 cases, — given in the mining at intervals of "a few 

 days." In the other case, after the trial of "some 

 simple rcmed}'' without much effect, the ox was 

 fatted and killed. This writer "B. B. S." of Dover, 

 Me., believed the cause to have been warts on the 

 inside of the bladder, and had greatly benefited 

 cows l)y giving them vinegar. 



Dr. Dadd recommends "opening the sluices of 

 the body." For which purpose he prefers giving 

 the animal one pint of linseed oil, and its opera- 

 tions assisted in a few hours with injections of 

 warm soap suds, each injection containing a spoon- 

 ful of powdered ginger. 



In F. A. Gunther's Manual of Homoeopathic Vet- 

 erinary Medicine, it is said that this disease is 

 generally observed in the spring after the animal 

 has been allowed to browse the young shoots of 

 oaks or fir trees, or other noxious substances. The 

 principal remedy mentioned is ipecac, of which a 

 single dose will often suffice to remove it when ad- 

 ministered in time. 



bees — APPLE CROP — COWS DOING WELE. 



Bees are swarming well this season, but are stor- 

 ing little honey. Tliere have been too many rainy 

 days for nuuh honey. They came out of their 

 winter quarters with an unusually hirge amount of 

 honey, which has enabled them to rear thek brood 

 and swnrm early. 



Grass is lookinir very well, but many pieces of 

 grain are badly injured by the rain. Last autumn, 

 Hiram Stow, of Webster, gave it as his opinion, 

 that there would be more apples in 1868, than in 

 any year of the last ten. The blossoms that have 



just fallen from the trees were abundant enough to 

 verify the prcdi< tion. 



As a remedy for many of the diseases to which 

 cows are liable at the time of calving,an old milk- 

 man recommended "a thriving condition." Cows 

 may carry a good amount of flesh and yet not be 

 thriving. Such are very liable to do badly when 

 they calve, while others with much less flesh, and 

 to one unacquainted with their jjrevious condition, 

 apparently in far worse condition, will do well, be- 

 cause they are thriving. We have found no need 

 of rosin, snake skins, boiled rye, or such like rem- 

 edies, for thriving cows at calving time. f. 



Masti/ard, N. H., June, 1868. 



LOBELIA, OR INDIAN TOBACCO. 



A correspondent, who allows us to use only the 

 signature of "Mary," believes this plant to be the 

 cause of a great proportion of the sickness and 

 death of farm stock. The writer does not expect 

 people generally will agree with her, but believes 

 that careful observation will result in the convic- 

 tion that it is a mischief-making plant. As it flour- 

 ishes best in wet seasons, and more is gathered 

 with the second than first cutting of hay, our cor- 

 respondent suggests the large crop of last season 

 as the cause of the prevalence of the unusual 

 amount of sickness among sheep and other stock 

 the past spring. 



STIFLE OUT. 



I would like to inquire if any subscriber can ask 

 questions through the FARMER,«free of charge. As 

 I have just commenced farming, I would like to 

 ask a few questions through the Farmer. And 

 first, my best cow threw her stifle out, and I can- 

 not keep it in place. I would like to know if the 

 editors or any of the readers of the Farmer can 

 tell me what I can do for her ? Sometimes she 

 does not limp at all, but at others she can hardly 

 walk. B. M. Ballard. 



Fairfax, Vt., June 1, 1868. , 



Remarks. — Instead of making any charge for 

 publishing such inquiries, we are grateful to those 

 who take the trouble to make them ; because these 

 questions, — even those which appear the most sim- 

 ple to some, — draw out valuable hints and sugges- 

 tions. We hope the foregoing will do so. Since 

 its reception, a gentleman of much experience with 

 cattle, Mr. Charles Bird, of Walpole, Mass., in- 

 forms us that in very serious misplacements of the 

 stifle, it is necessary to fix up in the stable a rest or 

 swing for the animal, similar to that used by black- 

 smiths, so as to support a considerable portion of 

 the weight of the animal. The lame leg should 

 then be brought forvvai-d by means of straps, and 

 the bone put in place ; and an ointment of 4 oz. of 

 sweet oil, 3 oz. of skunk's oil, 3 oz. of good brandy, 

 3 oz. of balm of Gilead buds, 2 oz. of wormwood 

 and 1 oz. of hartshorn applied occasionally to the 

 joint. The animal should not be kept in the swing 

 more than four hours at a time. 



But in your case we hardly think all this neces- 

 sary. The animal should be kept away from other 

 cattle, and as quiet as possible, on a smooth sur- 

 face, without being requiifcd to go over bars, or 

 up or down steps in passing to or from the stable. 

 We think a more simple liniment than that recom- 



