213 



NEW ENGLAND FAEMER. 



May 



EXTRACTS AND BEPLIES. 



B\RN ITCH — PEMPHIGUS, OR VESICULAR ERUP- 

 TION — SCRATCHES. 



I would like to inquire, through your columns, 

 the cause and remedy for the barn-itch ? My 

 stock is troubled with it more of less every year, 

 commencing soon after stabling. It troubles my 

 working cattle much more than those giving milk. 



Please tell me, also, a sure remedy for the 

 scratches on horses ? l. j. n. 



Cheshire, Mass., 1870. • 



Remarks. — The term, "Barn-Itch," is a com- 

 mon one among farmers, and the disease known 

 by that name is not an unusual one. But we can- 

 not find in any of the books which we usually con- 

 sult as authority, the term "barn-itch" used. Even 

 in Allen's late and excellent work, American Cat- 

 tle, we find no allusion to "barn-itch," nor is any 

 disease spoken of which would indicate it to be of 

 that nature. 



It has required considerable research and 

 thought to come to any conclusions as to what 

 the disease "barn-itch" is, and when found, how 

 it ought to be treated. 



What causes the itching is not easily deter- 

 mined. It may arise from an impure state of the 

 blood, from contact with some poisonous sub- 

 stance, or, as in the case of common itch in human 

 beings, by the entrance into the skin of minute 

 parasitic insects. 



The surface of the skin of the ox and cow is 

 covered with small vesicules, or bladders, which 

 vary considerably in size. From some cause 

 these become enlarged, are filled with a watery 

 fluid, and occasion a most annoying itching. 

 There are other symptoms, also, which are quite 

 marked, and are termed, "Pemphigus, or Versicu- 

 lar Eruption," and this disease, it seems to us, 

 from the investigations made, is very similar to 

 or the same as barn-itch. Sometimes, when the 

 disease has advanced, the vesicles, or bladders of 

 which we have spoken, burst, and a serous or 

 watery fluid dribbles from them and sticks the hair 

 together, or takes it off and leaves bare patches of 

 the skin. 



In symptoms like these, Dr. Dadd, in his 

 "Diseases of Cattle," recommends the application 

 of the following mixture :— 



Glycerine 4 ounces. 



Bubliniate Sulphur 1 ounce 



Lime Water 8 ounces. 



Linseed Oil .2 ounces. 



Two or three applications of the above, he says, 

 on successive days, will soon change the morbid 

 action of the skin, when what is left remaining 

 upon it may be removed by a sponge and warm 

 water. 



A correspondent of the Country Gentleman has 

 used the. following with complete success: — Take 

 hog's lard or any sott grease, and stir in sulphur 

 until it is quite thick, with which anoint the parts 

 affected — twice is generally sufficient. 



We shall be glad to have our correspondent 



send us the precise symptoms attending the itch- 

 ing of his cattle. 



The late Paoli Lathrop, of South Hadley, Mass., 

 who was a distinguished stock raiser, recom- 

 mended the following as a positive remedy : — 

 "Take a cob and rub the affected part until the 

 surface is smooth, and then apply grease as an 

 emolient." 



The same remedy, he said, is always efficient 

 for the scratches in horses, unless the disease pro- 

 ceeds from some general disorder in the system of 

 the animal, in which case other and more efficient 

 means must be used. 



From personal experience, we know that this 

 treatment will remove scratches ; but the feet and 

 legs must be kept dry and clean, while in the 

 stable, and washed each day with warm watetand 

 castile soap. 



WORMS IN HORSES — THE CATTLE ITCH. 



Can you inform me through the columns of the 

 New England Farmer a sure remedy for worms 

 in horses ? 1 have a valuable colt thus afflicted. 



Some of my neighbors have cattle troubled with a 

 kind of disease taking their hair ott' around tneir 

 eyes. I don't know the name of this disease, but 

 it seems to be a kind of an itch. 



A Down East Subscriber. 



Columbia, Me., 1870. 



Remarks. — A gill of clean wood ashes, mixed 

 with wet oats or corn meal, every other day for 

 ten days, has always been effectual in the treat- 

 ment of our horses. If this does not succeed, give 

 emetic tartar, with ginger, made into a ball with 

 linseed meal and molasses, every morning for 

 three or four mornings, and half an hour before 

 the horse is fed. Or, this failing, give an injec- 

 tion of linseed oil, or of aloes dissolved in warm 

 water, and you will be likely to start out some 

 thousands of the small white pin worms. 



We would also remind you of an article pub- 

 lished last year, page 87 Monthly Farmer, in 

 which Mr. Haserich recommends the use of lard. 

 He says that the pin worm breeds, not in the intes- 

 tinal cavities, but outside the folds of the sphincter 

 muscle, where it lays its eggs, which hatch in five 

 or six hours. If the exterior orifice is kept thor- 

 oughly greased with lard a few days the worms 

 cannot lasten their tggs, and breeding stopped the 

 worms disappear. 



See article in another column, entitled, "Barn- 

 Itch," for the unknown disease you speak of. 



PLAN OP HEN HOUSE. 



I design building a hen house, and want it on 

 the mo8t approved plan. Will some of your cor- 

 respondents, interested in keeping hens, give me 

 some information or a plan for building, tbrough 

 your paper. Alburgh Subscriber. 



Alburgh, Vt., Feb. 25, 1870. 



Remarks.— Last year,— see Monthly Farmer, 

 page 85,— we published a perspective view and 

 plan of a convenient but cheap poultry house de- 

 signed, built and used by the Senior Editor of the 

 Farmer. We now copy from the new work on 



