PREFACE 



A KNOWLEDGE of the pi'oper management of domes- 

 tic animals, and particularly of the causes, preventives, 

 symptoms, and treatment, of the various complaints 

 they are subject to, should be possessed by every farmer. 

 Should a member of his family be indisposed, the 

 medical adviser, expressly educated to prescribe for "the 

 ills that (human) flesh is heir to," can be readily called 

 in, and the case properly treated. But for his quadru- 

 pedal and gallinaceous tribes — wdth the exception, per- 

 haps, of here and there a farrier — no such provision ex- 

 ists ; and the farmer, w^hen an animal is attacked by dis- 

 ease, has to rely upon his own skill and resources for 

 its treatment. The dictates of humanity, therefore, as 

 well as a proper regard for the welfare of his flocks, 

 render a knowledge of the proper course to be pursued 

 at such times indispensable. It is with a consciousness 

 of this necessity, and in a measure to supply the wants 

 it indicates, that the present work has been prepared. 

 In addition to the experience of the writer, information 

 has been drawn from the best authorities, some of it 

 from voluminous works not generally accessible ; and 

 indeed were they, few farmers would have either the 

 time or the patience to glean it out. 



It has been the design of the writer, to make the work 

 strictly practical — to leave speculative reasonings to vol- 



