368 CATTLE. 



most of the neighboring ones being annoyed by it, and especially if 

 the soil and the productions of the soil are similar ; and even cattle 

 in the straw-vard have not then quite escaped. It is more prevalent 

 in the spring and autumn than in the winter, and more in the winter 

 than in the summer : it is particularly pi n-aleiit when, in either the 

 sprinor or the fall of the year, warm days succeed to cold nights and 

 a heavy dew. It is peculiar to certain pastures : the farmer scarcely 

 dares to turn even the cattle of the country upon some of them ; and 

 a beast brought from a distant farm or market is sure to be attacked. 

 It oftenest occurs in woody districts, and particularly in low marshy 

 lands ; but in them there are exceptions, which, in the present state 

 of the botanical knowledge of the farmer and the veterinarian, cannot 

 be satisfactorily accounted for. A wall or a hedge may divide a 

 perfectly safe pasture from another which gives the red-water to 

 every beast that is turned upon it. One farmer scarcely knows what 

 the disease is except by name, while on the grounds of his neighbor 

 it destroys many a beast every year. The same pasture is safe at 

 one time of the year and dangerous and destructive at another. The 

 fields surrounded by copses may be stocked with impunity, or advan- 

 tage, in summer or winter ; but the farmer must beware of them 

 when the buds are shooting or the leaves are falling. 



The result of general experience is, that it has more to do with 

 the nature of the food than with any other cause ; and the produc- 

 tion or the unusual growth of the astringent and acrimonious plants 

 may have considerable influence here. The malady may w^ith more 

 probability be traced to the quality of the general produce of the soil, 

 than to the prevalence of certain plants of known acrimonious or 

 poisonous properties. 



This noxious quality may be communicated by excess or depriva- 

 tion of moisture. There is no farmer who is not aware of the injuri- 

 ous eflfect of the coarse rank herbage of low, and mai*shy, and woody 

 countries, and he regards such districts as the chosen residence of 

 red-water. • 



The fanner must carefully observe the effect of the different parts 

 of his farm in the production of this disease ; and observation and 

 thought may suggest to him that alteration of draining or manuring, 

 or other management, which may to a considerable degree remedy 

 the evil. 



Acute Bed-water is ushered in by a discharge of bloody urine, 

 and is generally preceded by dysentery, suddenly changing to obstinate 

 costiveness ; and as soon as the costiveness is established the red-water 

 appears. There is laborious breathing, coldness of the extremities, 

 ears and horns, heat of the mouth, tenderness of the loins, and every 

 indication of fever : it often runs its couise with fearful rapidity, and 

 the animal is sometimes destroyed in a very few days. 



When th? carcass is examined, there is generally found some in- 



