1871. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



93 



EXTBACTS AND REPLIES. 



8CPP0SED CASES OF LUNG AND KIDNEY OR LIVER 

 DISKASES IN I'IGS. 



Last February I had a litter .of ten pigs. They 

 did nicely fur about ten days. I then saw that one 

 of them was liadly troubled in breathing. 1 thuik 

 that if 1 should say that he breathed like a horse 

 badly afflicted with the heaves, it would conic 

 nearer x\\c case than any description I could give. 

 There was a movement of the <lanks similar to that 

 of the horse, when badly alHicted wi;h this dis- 

 ease, lie seemed to be in con.-iilerabie distress, 

 lie lived about forty-eight hours after I lirst saw 

 him. 



A few days afterwards another one seeuicfl to l)c 

 in the same condition, bnt not (juitc as bad. Soon 

 after an(jt!ier and then another, and so on until all 

 but fo:ir had the same trouble. They lived several 

 days after they were taken, hut none that showed 

 any of these symptoms recovered. I kept them in 

 a stalilc. From the time they were tlrojiped, until 

 within a day or two of the time that I noticed any 

 tn;ul)le, it was very warm and pleasant. We then 

 had a cold snap. 



During the summer, I had two litters of pigs 

 running together in my orchard. Svhcn they were 

 about a fortnight old, (somcuf them a little older,) 

 they commenced to tnni Iilack. They looked as if 

 they had been stuck in the mud, and it had nicely 

 dried upon the .^^kin. There was no mud or water 

 in their pen ; nothing that they could get into to 

 make them look as they did. They seemed to eat 

 ipute heartily, but mstcad of growing larger, they ; 

 grew smaller. Several of them cHeii and the re>t 

 of them recovered. I don't know as I ought to say 

 that they i-ecovered, for they have grown l)ut little 

 since. They have done the meanest of any pigs 

 that I ever owned, and I keep a large stock ot" them. 

 I have heard of an instance similar; but no cure 

 did the owner find after several trials. ♦ 



During the latter part of their "blackness," I 

 l)laced fresh water in their pen. They seemed to 

 like to drink it; and if anything helped them, it 

 was this. I am quite anxious for advice and infor- 

 mation, as I fear that I may see the same trouble 

 again. p, 



Mirickville, Mass., Dec, 1870. 



Remarks. — We believe the pigs fii-st mentioned, 

 died of inliammation of the \nx\Q»,^piieumonia. 

 This was caused by a sudden change in the weather 

 from warm to cold ; a very common cause of the 

 same disease in the human species. If wc had pigs 

 similarly aflectcd, wc should put them in a warm 

 place, feed them with warm milk and water — equal 

 parts — and w;ush them thoroughly, two or three 

 times a day, with warm water, and a little common 

 salt in it. 



The other pig.s, probably, suffered from a disease 

 of the liver; or, from an alfeetion of two little 

 bodies situated, one upon each kidney, and called, 

 in anatomical language, supra-renal capsules, ^c 

 judge by the symptoms mentioned, that the latter 

 disease might have been the true one. The causes 

 of such disciises arc not well understood; and i)er- 

 haps the owner of the pigs can form as correct con- 

 jectures in the nnittcr, as we can. We know of no 

 l)etter treatment in such cases, than to give them 

 the most nutritions lood, and as much of it as can 

 be put into them ; keci> them in a clean and well 

 ventilated pen from which they can go at will into 

 the open air; anil wabh them every day with elcsui 



warm water. Perhaps a little potash or soda in the 

 water would improve it. Wc should have little 

 conlidence in internal remedies in this allection ; 

 but if we were to prescribe anything of that kind, 

 it would be water impregnated with iron, or a solu- 

 tion of co\i\)Qvsi»— sulphate of iron. 



FOULS OR FOOT-ROT IN CATTLE. 



I noticed in the la.^t Paumer a piece written hy 

 Otis T. Strceter, entitled foot-rot in cattle, and not 

 being able to fall in with the cure that he pre- 

 scribed, which was much like cuttim; olf a cow's 

 head to cure the honi ail, 1 thought I would com- 

 municate to you a little of my experience with that 

 distemper. 



In the year 18-50, I was keciwig a dairv of sixty 

 cows, which grazed a very nice hill plisture. In 

 the month of June, the foot-rot broke out in the 

 Hock, which I Ibuiul to be a very severe disease. 

 When a cow commenced being lame she would 

 nearly dry up her milk on the best of feed, and be 

 reduced in llesh very nxjiidly. I commenced doc- 

 toring in various ways, and with various medi- 

 cines, such as alcohol, saltpetre, blue vitriol, spirits 

 of turpentine, various kinds of i>ainkiilers, &c. 

 Finally I commenced washing the sore teet with 

 brine as strong as could lie made of the Ijcst dairy 

 salt, dissolved in boiling water. After AvasLing 

 twice each day for two or three successive davs, in 

 order to cleanse the sores thoroughly, 1 covered 

 the sore thoroughly with pitch tar, and soon the 

 sore would be well, and the cow come to her usual 

 mess of milk again. The disease went nearly 

 through tny llock that season, before I found a 

 means of checking its run, which I did liv feed- 

 ing saltpetre pulverized and mixed with salt, 

 after the rate of about a teaspoonful to each cow 

 once a week. I have been kcci)ing a large dairv 

 ever since; sometimes as many as one hundred 

 cows, and have frequently had the same thing 

 breiik out in my tlock ; and have always succeeded 

 in enuring and stopping the disease by using the 

 saltiK'tre. As late as last summer itcomnienccd 

 in my (lock of sixty, and with the above remedy 

 1 stopped it by having only four cases of sore feet. 

 Milton, VI., Jan. Li, 1871. a. m. a. 



reminiscences of the NEAV ENGLAND FARMER,, 

 AND OF WESTERN EMIGRATION. 



The prospectus in the last number of the Far- 

 mer, announcing the fact that the \y.\\WY is about 

 entering its liftieth year, recalls to my mind sonic 

 remembrances of its early volumes, Ivhich may be 

 of interest to your young readers. 



About the year ikS'i, when a boy, I fell in with 

 two or three bound volumes of the Farmi:i:, which- 

 i)elonged to a neighlior of my father, and wliiehl 

 borrowed and read with great" pleasure. 1 remem- 

 ber little distinctly of their contents, cxcci)t a il'w 

 lines of i)OCtry, which have lingered in mv mem- 

 ory, from that time till the pre.--c!it. 'J'hVrc was 

 then an extensive emigration to Michigan, and) 

 some poet had broken out in praise of liiat Stnte, 

 which was then considered "(he West." I should 

 be much pleased to see it reprinted, and i)erhaps 

 you can hunt it up for that iiuri)<)se. The iiajier 

 was then jfubli^hcd in the (piarto form, and nuulo 

 quite a poi'table, convenient book. 1 am quite sure 

 that Mr. Thomas (i. Fessenden was the editor, in 

 those days; and if I mistake not, he i)nl)lished or 

 edited an almanac, furnishing some very origmaF 

 poetry as heading ft)r the months, of which 1 re-, 

 member the following specimens : — 



"My dear M.uliim May, I am sorry to Bny 

 Yon l(M.k riithir sickly iiml palllil, 

 Ah K from »<im<- hole, junt \uh\kt I he jhiIc 

 Your Ludjrtliip lately liud itallkd, &.e.'' 



