AND HORTICULTURAL REGISTER. 



PUDUSHED BY JOSEPH BRECK & CO., NO. 62 



NORTH MARKET STREET, (AonicuLTURAi. Warehouse.)-ALLEN PUTNAM, EDITOR. 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, JULY 13, 1842. 



[NO. 2. 



N. E. FARMER, 



From the Maine Farmer. 



GARGET IN CATTLE. 



Mr Holmes — I recollect to have seen in the 



dine Farmer, some year or two since, commun!- 



itions from certain gentlemen on the subject of 



hat is called the garget in cattle. If my memory 



rves me, there was qnite a difference of opinio.i 



1 to the existence and the canse of that disease, 



I neither of them, thought I, is right. I think 



B oenlleman of Di.xmoiil discarded the idea of 



ich a disease as garget in cattle. That there is 



is not such a disease, is not my object at present 



prove; but would merely say I have no objec- 



)ns to applying the name of garget to a certain 



isorder in our oxen and cows. It has been fre- 



ently said when an ox has the garget, his limbs 



e weak, his skin stiff, his eyes sunken, his nose 



w, and his appetite more or less gone. I care 



It by what name the complaint is called, if I can 



it find the cause and best cure ; but in my lan- 



ia<Te, I say the ox has taken cold, and has now a 



ver. What, says a reader, has the ox a fever ? 



Bs, really and soberly, the ox has a fever. Well, 



never heard of such a thing before! O, dear 



ftder, I have known cases of the above described, 



iiich I should term a slow fever — also an inflam- 



utory fever; one case of which I will describe. 



A few years since, a farrow cow of mine was 



Tned out of the barn in the evening, near the 



dJIe of April, to lie under an open shed. It so 



ppened it was the night before a southerly rain 



jrm ; it happened, also, that the shed was open to 



e south, and the damp wind blew directly in upon 



ecow, and at eight o'clock the next morning, she 



■iS swollen from lier nose to her rump to an ns- 



lishing size, the water was running copiously 



im her eyes, her eyelids hung down over lier 



es like sacks of water, and the skin so extended 



to be almost transparent ; respiration was ditS- 



U, with universal trembling, and no disposition 



eat any thing : indeed, had she knowledge and 



wer, I doubt not she would have said, / am sick 



over — for truly that was her appearance. Well, 



vs, what is to be doner I don't know — the 



w is sick. Well, we will put her into the barn 



d cover her with a horse-rug and buffalo — this 



ne, a heaping spoonful of saltpetre must be dis- 



Ived and turned down her throat ; and the result 



IS, that in about two hours the swelling abated 



d she began to eat, and by night she appeared 



11. So much for doctoring the cow ; whereas 



d she been suffered to remain without medical 



1, she would probably have died in two or three 



ys. 



I will also mention one case of lung fever. The 

 bject was a young ox, fleshy and healthy ; he 

 IS kept in the barn all winter, except when turned 

 t to water or in the yoke, which latter case was 

 Idom. About the first of April he was taken out 

 the yoke, where he remained half a day without 

 Dor, during which he laid upon the wet ground 



several hours: the next morning I was 

 look at him ; he was considerably swollen in his 

 body, and much distressed for breath. It was sup- 

 posed the difficulty was in his throat, or that he had 

 drawn something into his lungs. Various kinds of 

 medicine were given, but nothing for fever, and 

 nothing relieved him. In about fortyeight hours 

 after irwas known ho was sick, he died. I assist- 

 ed in skinning and examining the ox, and found 

 the diffi^Milty to have been an inflammation on the 

 lungs, of which he died. 



I have been thus particular in speaking of the 

 cases alluded to, not only to show the importance 

 of guarding against unnecessarily exposing our 

 animals to sickness and suftering, but to prepare 

 the mind of the reader to look at what I suppose 

 to be the real cause of what is called garget in 

 cows. There is by far the most complaint of gar- 

 get in cows soon after they calve and while they 

 give the largest quantity of milk. Now every man 

 of reflection must be sensible that a cow is most 

 likely to take cold soon after she calves, and every 

 observing man with a stock of cattle, will learn 

 that they are especially liable to take cold if expos- 

 ed during cold storms in the spring, summer, and 

 fore part°of autumn : this being the case, what may 

 we more naturally expect, than that cows, having 

 their bags or udders extended nearly to the utmost 

 with mill-, should be troubled with swelling and 

 disordered milk, if they are exposed to take cold ? 

 Where may we look for a cold or fever to be seated, 

 if not in the part already irritated and predisposed 

 to fever, from extreme distention ? I think every 

 man who keeps oxen or cows may, by a little re- 

 flection and observation, bo satisfied that nearly if 

 not all the cases of garget in oxen or cows, arise 

 from the animals taking cold : but enough of this, 

 if we have found out the cause. 



Now for the cure. Garget root rnay be given; 

 a piece also put in the brisket is beneficial, or nitre, 

 in quantity from one to two table spoonsful — this 

 will generally afford relief in a short time. But it 

 is said an ounce of prevention is as good as a pound 

 of cure. The course I have pursued of late years 

 with my cows is this : — near the time of their calv- 

 ing, before and after, I have endeavored to be par- 

 ticularly careful to keep them warm and dry, and 

 keep them up in the barn through storms during 

 the whole year. In this way, I find the same cows 

 that used to be troubled' with garget, are free from 

 it, ffive more milk and keep in belter flesh. 



N. F. 



SURFACE DRAINING. 



From a late number of the Mark Lane Express, 

 we copy the following: — 



"It is now generally admitted, by all those who 

 are competent to give an opinion, that draining is 

 the most important improvement of the soil that can 

 be adopted. The operation may be divided into 

 two departments — surface drainage and main drain- 

 age. By the former, lands under cultivation will 

 be rendered capable of producing a much larger 

 accruable quantity of produce ; and by the latter. 



called to many tracts of land constantly under water, or fre- 

 quently flooded, will be rendered permanent by 

 production. Speaking of surface draining, Mr 

 Dudgeon says : — 'Taking the arable land alone 

 of the Empire, we may well conclude there are not 

 less than what would be equal to 10,000,000 acres 

 annually under crop, to which the improvements of 

 thorough draining and its accessaries might be pro- 

 fitably applied, and with immense advantage to the 

 nation's comfort and pecuniary resources. From 

 what is known of the effects of those operations, 

 on different kinds of soil, I consider that I am with- 

 in the mark in estimating the result of their appli- 

 cation on so extended a scale as I have contem- 

 plated, as equal to an average of fully eight bush- 

 els an acre. Indeed, Mr Smith stales, the effect of 

 such improvements upon the most unpromising 

 sterile soil, as exhibiting a return of sixteen bush- 

 els an acre higher than the average assumed by 

 Mr McCulloch for the arable land of all England ; 

 and, in point of fact, to justify the expense of all 

 those operations, we are warranted in assuming to 

 the full the increase I have supposed. This, then, 

 without having recourse to new soils, would give 

 an addition to the annual produce of the empire of 

 10,000,000 quarters — an amount about ten times 

 larger than our average annual importations for the 

 last forty years.' Here is a source of improvement 

 involving the profitable employment of from fifty to 

 sixty millions in labor, and affording means for 

 continuing the permanent employment of that labor." 

 Upon the above, the British American Cultivator 

 says — 



" We have for long been convinced thut there 

 is not any improvement more required in Canadian 

 agriculture, than more perfect surface draining and 

 main draining. Good farming, or productive crops, 

 we never can have on land that is not sufficiently 

 drained. In this climate, in particular, the soil 

 never can be in a proper state for arable culture, if 

 it is not drained. And how can we expect that 

 plants will thrive and find nutriment in a soil that 

 is at one time saturated with moisture, and at anoth- 

 er time dried and hardened by the effects of exces- 

 sive heat and drought. When the soil is properly 

 drained, plowed land will not become hard, but re- 

 main loose and open, and receive the full benefit 

 of the dew, and light summer showers, tliat are so 

 well calculated to nourish and preserve, in a healthy 

 state, the plants growing upon it. The tender and 

 delicate roots of plants cannot extend, or collect 

 sufficient nutriment in a hard soil, which neither 

 dew nor slight showers can penetrate ; and soil not 

 sufficiently drained, will be sure to become hard in 

 the summer heat we have in this country. In pass- 

 ing through the country in the summer season, it 

 is easy to observe the destructive effects of the 

 want of draining, on lands that are naturally flat, 

 and the soil of strong quality. Last year, in par- 

 ticular, we had an opportunity of seeing the crops 

 of grain growing upon such lands, and we believe 

 in many instances they would not produce the seed 

 sown. How could it bo otherwise ? as the soil 

 must have been in a wet and unfit state for sowing 

 and harrowing, when the seed was put in." 



