THE 



FARMER'S DICTIONARY. 



ABO 



ABATTOIR. A building for the 

 slaughtering of animals. 



ABDOMEN. The region of the 

 body containing the stomach, intes- 

 tines, liver, spleen, &c. In insects it 

 is the third division of the trunk, in 

 spiders the second. 



ABIES. Tlie Fir genus of trees. 

 See Pinus. 



ABNORMAL. Irregular or unu- 

 sual: applied to deviations from the 

 ordinary development of parts of an- 

 imals or plants. 



ABORTION. Miscarriage. In 

 veterinary surgery, miscarriage, slip- 

 ping, slinking, casting, or warping, all 

 meaning tlie expulsion of the young 

 at so early a period of pregnancy as 

 to render it impossible for it to live. 

 The immediate causes appear to be 

 the death of the fetus, or derange- 

 ment in the functions of the womb or 

 its dependencies, arising from some 

 external cause or causes operating 

 on the mother. Among these causes 

 may be reckoned too much or too 

 little food, producing fullness or ema- 

 ciation ; sudden fright or sympathy 

 with certain smells or sights, sucli as 

 the smell or sight of blood, of bones, 

 of horns, and particularly of tlie abor- 

 ted fetus of another animal. Acci- 

 dents, also, such as falls, bruises, 

 over-driving, or fatigue, and the like, 

 may frequently bring on abortion. 



The signs of approaching abortion 

 are, great languor, uneasiness, and 

 restlessness, sometimes a discharge 

 of bloody matter, and the sudden fill- 

 ing of the udder, similar to the signs 

 of approaching delivery. 



Abortion in the Mare. — Abortions 

 very frequently happen among mares. 

 This often arises in consequence of 

 over-exertion during the latter period 

 of pregnancy. Mares are liable, also, 

 very frequently, to various accidents 

 A 2 



ABO 



in their pastures, which may be the 

 cause of their slipping their foal, such 

 as kicks, tumbhng into holes and 

 ditches, over-exerting themselves to 

 get over fences, and the like. On 

 this account, when a mare is near 

 her time, she should be kept by her- 

 self, in some cotivenient place. But 

 tliere is another, and, we suspect, a 

 very general cause of these accidents 

 in mares ; we mean a stinting of them 

 in their food, either in quantity or 

 quality. It appears, indeed, that some 

 imagine that the mare, when she is 

 in foal, may be turned out almost any- 

 where ; but this opinion is ill-found- 

 ed ; for, although she does not require 

 to be kept so high in condition as 

 when she is at hard work, yet she is 

 not to be turned out into a pasture 

 where she may be in a manner starv- 

 ed : but how often do we see the 

 mare in foal on the worst piece of 

 ground in the whole farm, exposed, 

 during the rigorous winter season, to 

 endure the cold, as well as to put up 

 with scanty food 1 On the other hand, 

 when the mare is not worked at all, 

 and indulged with too high keep, she 

 is almost equally in danger of abor- 

 tion, her high condition having a ten- 

 dency to cause inflammation and oth- 

 er disorders ; and these, deranging the 

 reproductive organs, frequpntly pro- 

 duce miscarriage. It would seem, 

 then, that moderate exercise and diet 

 are best suited as means to avoid the 

 misfortune of the premature exclu- 

 sion of the foal. 



Abortion in the Cow. — Abortion oc- 

 curs oftener in the cow than in all 

 other domestic animals put together. 

 Perhaps it is one of the greatest an- 

 noyances the proprietor of cows has 

 to encounter. The causes are fre- 

 quently involved in obscurity ; but it 

 may be mentioned that an extremely 



