TEE AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 



pletely closed, the edges wouJd not come 

 nearer than half-an-inch to each other, 

 but I managed to fix it up so that the 

 viscera could not return to the sac, and 

 trusted to the inflammatory exudate 

 filling up the cavity before the catgut 

 gave way. I then thoroughly syringed 

 out the hernial sac with a solution of 

 perchloride of mercury, and afterwards 

 dusted iodoform and starch over the in- 

 ternal wound, then sutured the incision 

 through the skin, and dusted that also 

 with iodoform and starch. The cow was 

 now allowed to get up — the operation 

 had taken nearly two hours to perform — 

 she was placed in a clean stall, and fed on 

 soft nourishing food, receiving nothing 

 of a bulky nature. In a few days the 

 inflammatory exudate was enormous, 

 filling the cavity which had previously 

 held the viscera. I had told Mr. Wallace 

 to remove the stitches in the skin on the 

 seventh day after the operation, but he 

 had to be away at the time, and on his 

 return three or four of the stitches had 

 sloughed through, leaving an open v/ound, 

 which I think proved beneficial, as it 

 allowed the serous exudate to escape. 

 The remaining stitches he removed. I 

 now had the wound syringed out daily 

 with a solution of potassium of iodide 

 to promote absorption, afterwards dusted 

 with iodoform and starch, and then 

 covered with cotton wool. When I saw 

 the cow last, on July 25th, she was pro- 

 gressing famously, the swelling had com- 

 pletely disappeared, and the skin wound 

 was nearly closed. 



GREYTOWN.— D.V.S. CORDY. 



Scab. — Two fresh outbreaks have oc- 

 curred. 



Lung sickness. — The district is once 

 more free from this disease. 

 (iUuiders. — None. 



Rinderjiest. — No fresh outbreak oc- 

 curred during the month. With the ex- 

 ception of a few days, my time was 

 solely devoted to the rinderj)est quaran- 

 tine area. All cattle in the immediate 

 neighbourhood of the outbreak wore 

 inoculated with serum from the Allerton 

 Ijal)()ratory. Three head of salted cattle 

 were repeatedly fortifiei with virulent 

 blood, and eventually bled for serum, 

 which was sent to the Laboratory at 

 Allerton. All cattle in the (juaiantine 



area were kept under observation by re- 

 peated inspections. In nearly all cases 

 these had to be made on foot, the country 

 being altogether too broken to permit of 

 taking a horse. 



General. — A large number of cases of 

 vegetable poisoning have been reported 

 from all parts of the District. In most 

 cases it has been attributed to the cattle 

 eating large quantities of the old and de- 

 cayed mealie stalks. Several deaths have 

 occurred in some of the troops, although, 

 in other cases, all those affected have re- 

 covered. 



NEWCASTLE.— D.V.S. HDTCHINS JN. 



Lungsickness. —I have again to report 

 that there is no diminution of the number 

 of outbreaks of this disease in the Lady- 

 smith and Newcastle Divisions. The re- 

 ports from the Upper Tugela and Umsinga 

 Stock-Inspectors are more favourable, no 

 further outbreak having occurred in 

 either of these Divisions. 



The number of fresh licenses issued 

 have been, vi . : — Newcastle 32, Lady- 

 smith 28, and Dundee 7. 



The infected herds are chiefly the pro- 

 per, y of natives and surrendered burghers 

 from the adjoining Colonies, the majority 

 of whom have not previously taken the 

 precaution to inoculate their cattle. They 

 are being settled on farms adjoining the 

 borders of the Colony, which, previously, 

 have been outside the traffic of infected 

 cattle, thus, in a great measure, escaping 

 the disease. 



The influx of stock from the adjoining 

 Colonies still continues. About I2,00U 

 head of captured cattle, irrespective of 

 those belonging to surrendered burghers, 

 have arrived in the Colony during the 

 month. 



The conipari-on between Natal-bred 

 and imported cattle suffering from this 

 disease is interesting. The percentage of 

 losses amongst imported animals often 

 reaches as high as 50 per cent , whilst in 

 the case of Natal-bred cattle the death 

 rate very rarely exceeds 5 per cent. 



Numbers of Overberg cattle die from 

 complications, it being nothing unusual 

 to see animals suffering from redwater 

 and lungsickness at the same time, more 

 especially during the summer months. 

 Another thing worth remarking upon, is 

 that virus taken from Overberg cattle for 



