THE MANGE. 125 



Ane, and after that the Diuretic Drink (No. 26, p. 69) every second 

 day. 



The milking should only be resorted to if the state of the udder 

 absolutely requires it, for every act of milking is but encouraging the 

 secretion of milk. 



CHAPTER XXXV. 



THE MANGE. 



This is a troublesome and a disgraceful disease. It argues bad 

 management in some way or other. An occasional cause is over- 

 feedin°g, especially with hot, stimulating food. A more frequent one 

 is starvation in tlie winter, by which the animal is so much debilitated 

 that he cannot support the change of diet when the flush of grass 

 comes on, and nature, overloaded^ relieves herself by this eruption on 

 the skin. A third cause is filth, and in the cow-houses of many little 

 farmers it is not an unfrequent one. The last cause that I shall men- 

 tion is contagion : mange is highly contagious, and if it gets into a 

 dairy will often run through all the cows. 



When there is not much eruption, the disease is recognised by the 

 hide-bound appearance of the animal ; the dryness and harshness of 

 the hair; its readily coming off; the beast continually rubbing him- 

 self; and a white scurfiness, but not often much scabbiness, being 

 seen on various parts. 



Medicine alone will be of no avail here. The beast must be dressed. 

 There is no occasion to use anything poisonous for this purpose, as 

 cow-leeches are too much in the habit of doing. The corrosive subli- 

 mate and hellebore and tobacco should rarely be suffered in the dairy. 

 They have destroyed hundreds of cattle. 



The most effectual application is an ointment of which sulphur is 

 the principal ingredient. Some mercurial ointment, however, must 

 be added, but in no great quantity, for cattle will lick themselves, 

 and salivation may ensue. There is nothing so injurious to the milk, 

 or to the fattening of the beast, as salivation, even in a slight degree. 



RECIPE (No. 54). 

 Mange Ointment.— Take flower of sulphur, a pound ; strong mercurial ointmeiit, 

 two ounces; common turpentine, half a pound; lard, a pound and a half. Melt the 

 turpentine and the lard together, well stir in the sulphur when these begin to cool ; 

 and afterwards rub down the mercurial ointment on a marble slab, with the other 

 ingredients. 



This should be well rubbed in with the hand daily, wherever there 

 is mange, the hair being carefully separated where the affected part 

 is covered by it. No possible danger can happen from the prolonged 

 use of this ointment if the animal is not exposed to severe cold. 

 XI* 



