March, 1910.] 



233 



Live Stock. 



mucous deposit is present, sometimes 

 to such an extent as to form casts of 

 parts of the gut. This greyish mueuous 

 deposit consists of mucous exudate and 

 shreds of epithelium which is found 

 detached over large patches leaving the 

 surface red. 



The large intestines are generally 

 affected to a lesser extent ; it is rare 

 to find the entire surface in a state of 

 inflammation. Patches of iufiammation 

 are the rule except in the last portion of 

 the bowel (Rectum). This is often in- 

 tensely inflamed with dark blood-stained 

 longitudinal streaks. The epithelium 

 is thickened and covered with the same 

 muco-purulent exudate as is present in 

 the small intestines. 



The Liver may appear healthy in 

 some cases but, as a rule, is congested 

 and yellowish in colour. The lining of 

 the gall bladder sometimes shows small 

 patches of inflammation. The bile itself 

 varies in quantity. In colour it may 

 be light green, light brown, dark brown, 

 or reddish brown. Its consisteuce may 

 be very thiu or thick and cury-looking. 

 The spleen is usually normal. The Kid- 

 neys are congested. The urinai y bladder, 

 uterus and vagina are congested and 

 thickened and a variable amount of 

 mucous exudate is present. 



Many of the above mentioned lesions 

 may be absent, but in the post mortem 

 examination of an animal suspected of 

 having died of Rinderpest, the seats 



of constant lesions are the mouth, 

 fourth stomach (abomasum) and in- 

 testines. 



Treatment of Rinderpest.— Medical 

 treatment is of little use and it is prob- 

 able that in cases in which recovery 

 has been attributed to drugs, the true 

 reason is that the animal was either 

 natuarlly somewhat resistant or the 

 virus somewhat weakened. Even in a 

 severe outbreak some recoveries occur 

 naturally. In the case of valuable 

 animals being attacked, and treatment 

 decided on, good housing and hygienic 

 conditions, a limited amount of drink- 

 ing water and administration of gruel 

 ai*e more important than dosing with 

 drugs, Intravenous injection of serum 

 has a curative action in the early stage 

 of the disease. 



Diagnosis of Rinderpest. — Some of the 

 symptoms of Rinderpest are found in 

 other diseases, but all the symptoms 

 described in conjunction with the rapid 

 and fatal course, and the existence or 

 introduction of cattle plague in the 

 vicinity facilitate diagnosis. 



The diagnostic symptoms are — sudden 

 rise of temperature, bran-like concre- 

 tions or ulcers in the mouth, reddened 

 conjunctiva and discharge from eyes 

 and nose, abdominal tenderness, foetid 

 diarrhoea, frequently containing blood, 

 clicking sound during expiration, pecu- 

 liar foetid odour, rapid progress of the 

 disease and generally fatal issue. 



SCIENTIFIC AGRICULTURE, 



THE DIRECT ABSORPTION OP 

 AMMONIUM SALTS BY PLANTS. 



(Prom the Gardeners' Chronicle, Vol, 

 XLVI, No. 1194, November, 1909.) 

 A question of considerable scientific 

 and also practical importance is discuss- 

 ed by Messrs. Hutchinson and Miller, 

 of the Rothamsted Experiment Station, 

 in a paper which appears in the current 

 number of the Journal of Agricultural 

 Science. The question to which Messrs. 

 Hutchinson and Miller contribute a 

 decisive answer, and which has been 

 debated inconclusively during the last 

 twenty years, is — are green plants able 

 to take up nitrogen from the soil in the 

 form cf ammonium salts ? 



It is unquestioned that ammonium 

 salts — sulphate of ammonia, for example 

 -serve to supply plants with nitrogen. 

 But, since nitrifying bacteria are present 

 and active in most soils, and since these 



organisms change ammonium salts into 

 nitrates, only direct experiment can 

 determine whether the ammonium salts 

 supplied to the soil are first changed 

 by the agency of these organisms to 

 nitrates, or whether salts of ammonium 

 may be absorbed as such by the roots 

 of plants. 



General considerations, as well as 

 previous experiments, are in favour of 

 the view that ammonium salts may be 

 absorbed directly. Thus, it is well 

 known that the soil under forests is 

 deficient in nitrates, and hence it is 

 assumed that the trees derive their sup- 

 plies of nitrogen from ammonium com- 

 pounds formed during the decay of 

 humus. 



The experimental grass plots of Ro- 

 thamsted, manured for many years 

 with ammonium salts, point to a simi- 

 lar conclusion ; for the soil of these plots 

 has become distinctly acid, and the nitri- 



