PREVENTION CHEAPER THAN CURE. 273 



as clean as possible, while suffering from this com- 

 plaint. 



If the urlder is hot and feverish, a wash may be 

 used, consisting of eight ounces of vinegar and two 

 ounces of camphoretted spirit; the whole well and 

 thoroughly mixed, and applied just after milking, to be 

 washed off in warm water before milking again. 



In very bad cases, iodine has often been found most 

 effectual. An iodine ointment may be prepared by 

 taking one drachm of hydriodate of potash and an 

 ounce of lard, and mixing them well together. A small 

 portion of the mixture, from the size of a pigeon's egg, 

 in limited inflammations, to twice that amount, is to be 

 well rubbed into the swollen part, morning and night. 



When milk forms in the bag before parturition, so as 

 to cause a swelling of the udder, it should be milked 

 away ; and a neglect of this precaution often leads to 

 violent attacks of garget. 



Prevention is always better than cure. The reason 

 most commonly given for letting the cow run dry for 

 a month or two before calving is that after a long period 

 of milking her system requires rest, and that she will 

 give more milk and do better the coming season than 

 if milked up to the time of calving. 



This is all true, and a reason sufficient in itself for 

 drying off the cow some weeks before parturition; but 

 there is another important reason for the practice, which 

 is that the mixture of the old milk with the new secre- 

 tion is liable to end in an obstinate case of garget. 



To prevent any ill effects from calving, the cow 

 should not be suffered to get too fat, which high feed- 

 ing after drying off might induce. 



The period of gestation is about two hundred and 

 eighty-four or two hundred and eighty-five days. But 

 cows sometimes overrun their time, and have been 



18 



