BOOK VI. XIV. 7-xv. 2 



When this happens, therefore, their necks ought to 

 be sprinkled with dust made by grinding brick-work 

 before they are unyoked ; then, when their necks have 

 dried, they ought to be moistened from time to time 

 with oil. 



XV. If the pastern or hoof has been injured by Kemedies 

 the ploughshare, wrap round it hard pitch and to'^p^t^^ 

 axle-grease, bind it with sulphur and greasy wool ^^^ hoofs. 

 and make a burn above the wound with a piece of 

 red-hot iron. The same remedy has an excellent 

 eifect after the removal of a piece of wood from the 

 hoof, if the ox has by chance trodden on a shoot or 

 pierced its hoof with a sharp tile or stone. If, how- 

 ever, the wound is rather deep, a wider cut is made 

 round it with a knife and it is then cauterized accord- 

 ing to the method which I have described above ; 

 next the hoof is covered with a " slipper " made of 

 broom and treated for three days with a suffusion of 

 vinegar. Also if an ox has damaged its leg on the 2 

 ploughshare, sea-spurge," which the Greeks call 

 iithymallus, mixed with salt, is applied to the wound. 

 The feet are rubbed underneath and are washed 

 with warmed ox-urine ; then a bundle of twigs is 

 burnt and when now the fire has sunk to embers, the 

 animal is made to stand on the glowing ashes and the 

 horny parts of the hoof are anointed with liquid pitch 

 mixed with oil or axle-grease. Cattle, however, will 

 be less likely to go lame, if their feet are washed 

 in plenty of cold water when they are unyoked 

 after work, and if their hocks, the crowns of their 

 hoofs and the division itself between the two 

 halves of the hoofs are rubbed with stale axle- 

 grease. 



* Euphorbia paralius. 



167 



