Live Stock, 



242 



[September, 1909. 



patients fed, as they should be, on 

 small quantities of rapidly digested fare 

 obviously require food more frequently 

 than in health. With retuiningappetite 

 a convalescent occasionally greedily eats 

 more than can be easily digested, and 

 against this contingency well-intention- 

 ed attendants require to be warned. 

 Relapses of stomach and bowel troubles 

 sometimes occur by allowing animals, 

 immediately after recovery, their full 

 allowauce of food, 



There are few diseases, if any, in 

 which animals injure themselves by 

 taking too much water or watery fluids, 

 but they are often rendered uncom- 

 fortable and injured by undue restric- 

 tion. A supply of water should always 

 be within the patient's reach. Cold 

 water seldom does harm, and is more 

 palatable and refreshing than when 

 tepid. 



In towns, particularly, much mis- 

 management occurs with regard to the 

 ventilation and temperature of the 

 habitations of sick animals. Draughts 

 should be avoided, but cool air should be 

 freely admitted, and the stable, kennel, 

 &c, kept scrupulously clean. No res- 

 torative or tonic is so effectual as cool, 

 pure air, and it is especially needful 

 in diseases of the respiratory organs, or 

 of a lowering or wasting nature, such 

 as influenza in horses and distemper in 

 dogs. 



Sunlight is also an essential factor in 

 the promotion of health, especially in 

 the young. It increases the capacity 

 of the blood and tissues for oxygen, 

 favours healthy excretion, and is an 

 excellent disinfectant. In the Transvaal 

 it would be undesirable to allow the 

 direct rays of the sun to play for any 

 length of time on a sick animal ; if a 

 suitable stable or shed is not conveni- 

 ent, a shade of some kind should be 

 improvised. 



A comfortable bed greatly conduces to 

 the restoration of most sick animals. A 

 sick, exhausted horse, who to his dis- 



advantage would continue to stand if 

 kept in a stall, will often at once lie 

 down and rest if placed in a comfortable 

 box or nice shady place with a proper 

 bed. In febrile and inflammatory at- 

 tacks, and during recovery from ex- 

 hausting diseases, it is desirable to 

 conserve the bodily heat. For this pur- 

 pose a warm rug or two, and bandages 

 to the legs, do good. They help to 

 maintain equable temperature and com- 

 bat congestion of internal organs, but 

 at least twice daily these rugs and 

 bandages should be removed, the skin 

 wisped over, and the clothing at once 

 replaced. 



Attention to the position of the 

 patient is frequently important, and 

 must be seen to; thus a horse allowed 

 to lie for any great length of time on 

 one side is liable to suffer from con- 

 gestion of the lung of the under- 

 side ; cattle when very sick, if allowed 

 to occupy the same recumbent position 

 for any length of time are liable to 

 become tympanitic, and their chance 

 of recovery is thereby seriously im- 

 paired. Sick animals should never be 

 allowed to lie prone in any position for 

 a long period ; turn them over occa- 

 sionally, and hand-rub the parts they 

 have been lying on; this will assist 

 local and general circulation, and con- 

 tribute materially to their general 

 comfort and ultimate recovery. The 

 feeding of sick and convalescent animals 

 is of the greatest importance ; the 

 guides are, give nothing difficult to 

 digest, tempt the appetite, but do not 

 overload the digestive tract. 



To sum up, in dealing with sick ani- 

 mals, we should use our common sense, 

 which dictates that we should pay 

 particular attention to the patient's 

 general comfort, his dieting and water- 

 ing, and only administer medicinal 

 remedies whose action we understand, 

 or that from previous experince we 

 know to be beneficial in the particular 

 trouble with which we have to contend. 



SERICULTURE. 



ERI OR CASTOR SILK. 



By H. Maxwell-Lefroy, m,a. 



(From the Agricultural Journal of India, 

 Vol. IV., Pt. II., April, 1909.) 

 Eri silk is the cocoon of an insect 

 known to science as Attacus ricini, and 

 probably the domesticated form of 

 Attacus cynthia which is found in a wild 

 state in Assam and along the outer 



forested slopes of the Himalayas. • Eri 

 silk is domesticated in the Assam Valley, 

 where it is grown for local use and, to a 

 limited extent, for export. With Muga 

 silk (A nthercea assama) it forms what is 

 known in India as "Assam silk " as apart 

 from Tusser and from mulberry silk. 



At the present time, eri is not generally 

 cultivated outside Eastern Bengal and 

 Assam, Rungpur being about its western 

 limit. During the past two years it has 



