PRocEEDiyas OF THE Faj.'mees'' Club. 51-3 



tiiral Department at Wa.^liiii<j:;ton lias given, and is giving, this 

 matter a good deal of attention. Tie is sifting its merits, and will 

 let ns know the conclusions he arrives at. 



Gakoet. 



Mr. B. S. Robinson, of Greenlield Center, Saratoga county, i^. Y. 

 — I have occasionally had cows affected with garget, and have never 

 given anything but "garget-root," or " poke-weed " root, as it is 

 commonly knowm. Several years ago I had a cow affected very 

 seriously with garget. The udder was much hardened, the swelling 

 extending under the belly nearly to the fore legs, no milk could be 

 obtained, and the head had begun to swell. The cow refused all 

 food, even the most tempting. I w^as recommended to get some 

 poke-weed root and give about four pieces about the size of a butter- 

 nut, no more, as it w^as poisonous, and must be given with care. I 

 offered it to the cow, and she ate the prescribed quantity greedily, 

 and ke})t teasing fur niore, wdiich I continued to give till I had fed 

 her in a half hour, as much as two quarts. My neighbor was aston- 

 ished when I told o^ my doings, and probably thought it a boyish 

 caper, but in two hours my cow began to nibble grass, and in forty- 

 eight hours her bag was in good condition, and in. a week she was 

 giving her usual flow of milk. She had but that mess of medicine, 

 and that, or something else, did the work, and I gave her nothing 

 else. Last summer one of my cows was sick with garget. I gave 

 her all she would eat of poke-root ; at the next milking she w-as all 

 right. I find when a cow's milk organs are all right they wdll not 

 eat the poke-weed root; but when tlieir milk gets disordered they 

 eat of it greedily till they have enough, when they stop, and you 

 needn't try to make them believe its good any Ljnger. 



Dr. George Lee, Barre, Mass. — I notice that Dr. Trimble can 

 hardly conceal his contempt for so sinqde a cure as poke-root. It is 

 not best nor wise for doctors and clergymen io be much bigoted or 

 dogmatic in their professions. There is science, philosophy, or truth 

 not yet understood nor dreamed of by our best philosophers. Xow 

 the evidence is overwhelming that a ])iece of garget or poke-root 

 inserted under the slcin of tlie ])reast of cows will cure the garget. It 

 nuiy thus cure from counter-disease or irritation, or Ijy absorption of 

 the medicine into tlie blood and lymphatic vessels, or circulation, so 

 as to act specifically upon the diseased gland by either a chemical or 



[Inst.] 33 



