CATTLE. 175 



where it grows for years without touching it, and then suddenly 

 becoming possessed of the same idea, a number will eat thereof 

 and die. 



Treatment. — Yew being a narcotic poison, the best treatment 

 is to immediately administer a rousing stimulant and to follow 

 it with a dose ot linseed oil, as the properties of the yew seem 

 to be somewhat masked by oil, and repeated doses help to clear 

 the canal before more of the plant is digested. Stimulants in 

 gruel at regular intervals offer the most hopeful plan of 

 treatment. 



Prevention.— Have no yew trees. Cattle cannot well be 

 kept from eating them, as their presence on your lands or your 

 neighbours' is sure to be forgotten, or a new man is employed to 

 lop the overgrowth, and the branches fall into a field where 

 cattle are kept. 



CARE OF CATTLE. 



The first step in civilization v/as made by the herdsmen we 

 are told, and we may add that the methods pursued by man) 

 are still very primitive. Between coddling and carelessness 

 there is a happy mean. 



The cattle of these islands are the best, and all nations come 

 to us to renew their blood-stock. The variations of temperature 

 though frequent, are seldom extreme, and this perhaps engenders 

 carelessness on our part in the housing of cattle not intended for 

 show, or belonging to such delicate breeds as those of the 

 Channel Islands. 



Air. — Extreme changes of temperature do not so much 

 affect the breathing organs as does the quality of the atmo- 

 sphere inhaled. 



The removal of a cow from a town-shed to the country, and 

 vice versa, is effected in one day and no thought, as a rule, is 

 exercised as to the change affecting her health until something 

 the matter is discovered. As regards air-space it is now pretty 

 generally accepted that 800 cubic feet of air is necessary to each 

 adult animal, but we may remark in this connection that the 



