106 How THE FARM PAYS. 



beyond possibility of odor arising. Thorough disinfection of the 

 stable, by burning sulphur in it in some careful and safe manner, is 

 also important, to destroy the germs of the disease. The infected 

 cow should also be removed from the herd for several days. This 

 disinfecting of stables will be found useful in all cases of epidemic 

 diseases. For a stable of twenty cows one or two pounds would be 

 required. Injections, three times a day, of a pint of blood warm 

 water with ten drops of carbolic acid, should be given, for the purpose 

 of cleansing the cow which has aborted. My own experience in this 

 matter, I am happy to say, has never been such as to give me much 

 annoyance, having been in the habit of taking suitable precautions. 

 I am so confident that cows in a condition of pregnancy are abnormally 

 sensitive to the foul odors from decomposing animal matter, that the 

 slightest taint of it in our stables is at once hunted up and removed, 

 and this is particularly the case with all the finer class of animals, such 

 as Ayrshires, Jerseys or Holsteins, or any of the high bred or thorough- 

 bred animals, as they are seemingly more sensitive to such impres- 

 sions than the common stock. For this reason I consider it to be one 

 of the most dangerous things for any stock breeder to permit the 

 placenta, even from sound cows, in ordinary cases, or any other 

 similar animal matter, to remain for a moment longer than is actually 

 necessary to remove it. It should be at once removed and buried 

 deep enough so that no odor can be emitted from it. Eats or mice, 

 for this reason, should never be poisoned; the simplest remedy is 

 plenty of cats. If rats are exceedingly troublesome the following plan 

 is recommended: get a box trap and catch one; then paint it all over 

 with gas tar, except the head, which must not be touched, putting as 

 much tar upon the body as you can get to stick, and take it to its 

 hole and let it run in. Care must be taken not to hurt the rat in any 

 way, and not to get the tar into the eyes or mouth, as it must be able 

 to run through all the holes in the yard. If half a dozen are caught 

 and so treated, all the better chance of their being banished. 



(Mr. H.) There is no doubt that this disease is exceedingly trouble- 

 some and occasions serious loss. It is not confined, either, to any 

 one breed of cattle, although, perhaps, the Jerseys are the most sub- 

 ject to it, for cases occur quite numerously in dairies where only 

 native cattle are kept. I am inclined to believe that, while you are 

 correct as far as your experience goes, yet you do not go far enough 

 in your explanation of this dangerous, and sometimes mysterious, 

 disease. I have heard of cases in which the calves of a whole herd 

 have been lost, when there has been no known mechanical cause for 

 it. In these cases the abortion was emphatically a disease. In con- 

 sulting a standard work on veterinary surgery, by the leading 



