VOL. XXII. XO. 0. 



AND HORTICULTURAL REGISTER. 



4S 



From the Albany Cullivator. 



CANADA THISTLES-ABORTION IN COWS. 



Messrs. Gaylord S,- Tucker — Our friend, Dr. 

 Thomson, of Wilmington, Del., has given yon, in 

 the last number of the Cultivator, an account of 

 two evils that have invaded our noighborhood, 

 which seem to call for the serious consideration of 

 your readers in every part of the country. Unfor- 

 tunately, I have suffered in the same way, and 

 would therefore record my e.vperience for public 

 benefit. 



Some years since, a neglected farm came into 

 my hands, where was an orchard of 1 1-4 acres, of 

 which ihe Canada thistle had taken possession. As 

 my wish was to go to the root of the evil, [ deter- 

 mined to cut evi^ry thistle below the ground, just 

 as ihey had attained the height of about fifteen 

 inches, and apply a toaspoonful of salt to the bleed- 

 ing root; conceiving, if the remedy had been soon- 

 er applied, some of the distant fibres might have 

 escaped and set up for themselves. They were 

 now in full vigor, and bled profusely ; so the salt 

 being taken into circulation, the result was total 

 extirpation, root and branch. True, it was a labo- 

 rious business, and the neighbors thought it would 

 " never pay ;" but it did, most amply, for not a 

 thistle has since made its appearance, nor was the 

 herbage at all injured by the application ; nay, I 

 have no doubt it was benefitted ultimately. Dr. 

 Thomson has a small patch of these pests in a low 

 meadow, the grass of which is peculiarly vigo- 

 rous : I was grieved, the last time I passed, to see 

 that he had dug a trench around the spot, about 

 two feet wide and deep, throwing the earth on the 

 sides, so as to isolate the circle, and was told he 

 intended to cut the grass, and then cover the spot 

 with salt so thickly as to destroy every vestige of 

 vegetation. Now here again my experience has 

 taught me : I once owned a small field of Lu- 

 cerne, and finding that the natural grasses of the 

 soil had begun to usurp the land, I made several 

 experiments to ascertain the quantity of salt ne- 

 cessary for the destruction of the grasses, without 

 injuring the deeply rooted Luzerne; this I found, 

 but after the finer grasses had been annihilated, 

 the land became filled with those of a coarse and 

 deeply rooted species, which totally ruined oiy Lu- 

 cerne patch. And will not this be the result on 

 the Doctor's fine meadow ? The bank of earth 

 thrown up will be covered with weeds of gigantic 

 growth, the present season ; and long after it has 

 been returned to the trench from whence it had 

 been dug, will it require the greatest care and la- 

 bor for their eradication ; while, or I am much mis- 

 taken, the finer herbage within the circle will bo 

 totally destroyed by the salt, and its place, filled 

 with coarser grasses, will remain an unsightly gall 

 for years. Now all this might have been avoided, 

 and the destruction of the thistles accomplished, 

 by a boy with a sharp knife and a box of salt, in 

 tlie space of an hour, if taken at the proper season, 

 and tlie herbage eventually benefitted by the ope- 

 ration ; but 80 true it is, that a man can manage 

 the business of hia neighbor better than his own, 

 and one would almost suspect that it is in this light 

 the injunction of holy writ is to be understood, 

 when we are told, " Let every one look upon the 

 things of his neighbor." 



Dr. Thomson has suffered greatly from abortion 

 amongst his dairy cows. It is fortunate that he 

 did not go deeply into the improved breeds, else 

 the loss would have been grievous. He considers 



it safer to change entirely his stock of milch cattle, 

 many of which are excellent ; but is he sure this 

 will remedy the evil ? It is perfectly right to ad- 

 vise the removal of the foetus, &c. with the cow 

 herself from amongst the herd ; but abortion is the 

 effect of a cause that must have its origin else- 

 where. What does the Doctor think of the conjec- 

 ture that it arises from the nature of the pasture 

 and the surrounding atmosphere ? — a damp, low, 

 rich soil engendering, so it is confidently asserted, 

 the growth of ergot on the luxuriant herbage, and 

 producing a state of malaria which is believed to 

 be the fruitful source of disease and abortion, 

 amongst cattle as well as the human species. 

 These situations are generally Restitute of fresh 

 and living springs of v/ater ; the drink of the ani- 

 mals must therefore be contaminated with putrid 

 vegetable matter, and be rendered peculiarly un- 

 wholesome. 



The observation that the cows were in good con- 

 dition and had wintered well, and that no ill condi- 

 tioned health in the animals had been detected, is 

 no argument against this hypothesis ; for I would 

 ask, whether the evil is not generally experienced 

 in such situations and under similar circumstances? 

 And can any of your readers give us instances of 

 the prevalence of the disease cm upland districts, 

 where the herbage is short, dry and sweet, the air 

 dry and healthy, and the water pure and ever-flow- 

 ing ? For myself, I have observed that the evil 

 has been alarmingly prevalent amongst dairies 

 where the cattle have been in high condition, upon 

 rich and rank pasturage ; and I would venture to 

 ask the Doctor — than whom I know of no one 

 more competent to answer the question — whether, 

 in liis professional capacity, he does not much of- 

 tener meet with cases of abortion among his rich 

 and luxuriously living patients, than among those 

 who are accustomed to be abroad in wholesome air, 

 and constrained to take exercise, with perhaps 

 spare diet — the evil arising from a too soft and re- 

 laxed habit of body .' But now to the remedy. 



You must know, Messrs. Editors, I am such an 

 advocate for the use of salt, even to profusion, that, 

 to be consistent, I believe I may say I take myself 

 about a pound a week. We know that sheep may 

 be fed with impunity on soils confessedly unsound, 

 if allowed salt in their troughs, and are removed to 

 higher lands for the night; and I have no doubt 

 the evil of abortion might be prevented by sucli a 

 course of treatment. It is conlemptille to hear 

 some of our agricultural friends recommend salting 

 their stock once a week ! Wore I thus to be re- 

 stricted, I have an idea I should be dead in about 

 that time. Parker, in his Treatise on Salt, says : 

 " A person who kept sixteen farm horses, made 

 the following experiment with seven of them, 

 which had been accustomed to take salt with their 

 food. Lumps of rock salt were placed in their 

 mangers, and these lumps, previously weighed, 

 were examined weekly, to ascertain what quantity 

 had been consumed ; and it was repeatedly found 

 that whenever these horses were fed on old hay 

 and grain, they consumed only from 2 l-S to 3 

 ounces per day ; but when they were fed with new 

 hay, they took .5 ounces per day !" Now cannot 

 we apply the reasoning of these animals to the 

 case in point, and by allowing them as much salt as 

 they require — they being the best judges of how 

 much that ought to be — reduce the catalogue of 

 diseases about one-half; and amongst these, abor- 

 tion and the Cnnnda thistle ? 



JVeiecastte ro., Del., 17(/i July, 1843. D. 



From the same. 



FORK FOUND IN THE STOMACH OF A 

 COW. 



Messrs. Gaylord ^- Tucker — In December last, 

 Mr. Martin Bishop, near this town, slaughtered a 

 cow, in whose stomach was found a common two 

 pronged table fork. Regarding the circumstance 

 as unusual, I recjuested Mr. Bishop to give me some 

 account of it for publication. A few days since, I 

 received from him the fork referred to, together 

 with a part of the sternum, or breast bone, into 

 which it had penetrated. 'J'he fork was probably 

 swallowed by tlie eow while drinking slop from the 

 kitchen. How long it had been in the stomach is 

 uncertain ; but there is no doubt that it would soon 

 have made its way tlirough the body of the animal, 

 which it ie likely would have been done without 

 any farther inconvenience than had already been 

 experienced. From appearances, it would seem 

 that the prongs of the fork first pierced that part of 

 the stomach lying near the posterior termination of 

 the sternum : that the stomach had become firmly 

 attached to the sternum, so that there was no pos- 

 sibility of its contents passing out at the aperture 

 made by the fork ; and tliat the fork had not only 

 passed through the stomach, but nearly through the 

 bone which has opposed its progress. It had en- 

 tered the sternum at a point between tlie two last 

 ribs which are attached to it, and had worked in so 

 far, that the points of the prongs had nearly protru- 

 ded on the opposite side. That part of the stom- 

 ach around the fork had assumed the form of a 

 tube, resembling, in the language of Mr. Bishop, 

 "a speaking trumpet," the small end attached to 

 the sternum. 



I subjoin n brief note from Mr. Bishop : 



Zantsville, O., March, 1843. S. H. 



"Mr. Howard — The fork and bone which I send 

 you, were taken from a cow which I slaughtered 

 on the 9th of December last. This cow was dried 

 off on or about the middle of September, but not 

 without much difficulty, so great was the flow of 

 milk. The pasture in which she ran was good, 

 and I did not commence feeding her until Novem- 

 ber, and then only once a day, with corn in the 

 ear. In this way she was fed through November, 

 or until within a week of killing her. The last 

 week of feeding, she was put in a stable, and her 

 feed and water given regularly, three times a day, 

 she continuing to eat large and full meals to the 

 last. 



While this cow was living, there was no ap- 

 pearance of disease, except an occasional stiffness 

 in her limbs, but then only in case of her being ex- 

 posed to cold storms. I can give you no definite 

 idea when this cow could have taken the fork into 

 the stomach; but from all 1 can learn, it could 

 not have been later than March l.»st, (1842.) The 

 fork, you will perceive, is in a good state of pre- 

 servation. Respectfully yours, 



M. BisHor." 



My system is to work a tree just as I do the corn 

 plant; the one a? an annual, the other as a peren- 

 nial ; give the tree all the cultivation it is to have 

 while young, and when the tree puts on the ap- 

 pearance ofVeiiia'ufe decay, I give to it a coat of 

 manure spread upon the surface of the ground : 

 this I apply in the fall of the year, always prefer- 

 ring long to short manure, and when ashes are 

 dee'med n'eccssary I have put them on in the spring. 

 — Cor. Mb. Cul. 



