Live Stock. 



554 



[June, 1909. 



Bay on which they could be landed. 

 The question is now under consideration, 

 and efforts will be made to settle it as 

 soon as possible. 



The second is to exclude entirely all 

 shipments containing infected animals. 

 This action is not absolutely essential 

 now, as cattle can be landed under cer- 

 tain restrictions and immediately slaugh- 

 tered without spreading diseases, but 

 the exclusion of infected shipments 

 would deter importers from buying 

 cattle at infected ports, and place a 



§remium on importations free from the 

 iseases which we have been fighting 

 so many years. A shipment from an 

 infected port, found to be free from 

 disease on arrival and permitted to land 

 is much more dangerous in spreading 

 disease than the infected shipment land- 

 ed for immediate slaughter only. The 

 one is alive and in contact with native 

 cattle, to which disease will spread if 

 it develops, while the other is dead and 

 beyond the possibility of spreading 

 disease. 



The next will be the complete exclu- 

 sion of all animals from ports or places 

 known to be infected. While this step 

 is not justified at the present time, 

 it will ultimately prove an absolute 

 necessity. It can be done just as soon 

 as it becomes certain that an abun- 

 dant supply of cattle and carabao, to 

 meet all our demands, can be had from 

 ports which are known to be free from 

 diseases, and from which infected ship- 

 ments will never come. The only safe 

 course is to make sure that the animals 

 of these Islands will have no chance to 

 become infected, and the only certain 

 way of guaranteeing them against 

 the further invasion of infective animal 

 diseases is to completely exclude all 

 animals from all ports and countries in 

 which infective diseases exist or are 

 liable to prevail. 



CORNS ON HORSES' FEET. 



(From the Agricultural News, Vol. 

 VIII., No. 179, March 6, 1909.) 



A corn on the foot of a horse or a 

 mule necessarily results in a certain 

 degree of temporary lameness. If the 



E roper method of treatment is adopted, 

 owever, the trouble can usually be got 

 rid of in a comparatively short time, 

 but it is important to remember that 

 unskillful or ignorant treatment may 

 readily increase the trouble so as to 

 result in more serious lameness. The 

 following sensible note on this subject 



is extracted from Hunting's ' Art of 

 Horse-shoeing ' : — 



A corn, be it remembered, is not a 

 tumour or a growth ; it is merely a bruise 

 of the sensitive foot under the horn of 

 the sole. It shows itself by staining the 

 horn red, just as a bruise of the human 

 body shows a staining of the skin above 

 it. To ' cut out a corn ' with the idea of 

 removing it is simply an ignorant pro- 

 ceeding. 



If a corn be slight, all that is necessary 

 is to take off the pressure of the shoe, 

 and this is assisted by removing a thin 

 slice or two of horn at the part. When 

 the injury is very great, matter may be 

 formed under the horn, and, of course, 

 must be let out by removal of the horn 

 over it. Provided there is no reason to 

 believe that matter has formed, a corn— 

 i.e., the bruised and discoloured horn- 

 should not be dug out in the ruthless 

 manner so commonly adopted. Cutting 

 away all the horn of the sole at the 

 heels leaves the wall without any sup- 

 port. When the shoe rests upon the 

 wall it is unable to sustian the weight 

 without yielding, and thus an additional 

 cause of irritation and soreness is manu- 

 factured. The excessive paring of corns 

 is the chief reason of the difficulty of 

 getting permanently rid of them. 



The simplest device for taking all 

 pressure of a corn is to cut off an inch 

 and a half of the inner heel of the shoe. 

 With the three-quarter shoe a horse will 

 soon go sound, and his foot will then 

 resume its healthy state. The saying 

 ' once a corn, always a corn ' is not true ; 

 but it is true that a bruised heel is 

 tender and liable to bruise again, from 

 very slight unevenness of pressure, for 

 at least three mouths. All that is neces- 

 sary is care in fitting, and abstention 

 from removal of too much horn at the 

 part. Of course, when the degree of 

 lameness is such as to suggest that 

 matter is formed, the horn must be cut 

 away so as to afford au exit for it ; but 

 the majority of corns are detected long 

 before the stage of suppuration has re- 

 sulted from a bruise. 



DAIRY FARMING: WILL IT PAY 

 IN CEYLON? 



By Geo- Schrader. 



(From the Ceylon Independent, 14th 

 January, 1909.) 



By dairy farming I do not mean the 

 manufacturing of butter and cheese, 

 but the supplying of pure rich milk to 

 large towns at a reasonable price. 

 Everybody living in towns knows how 



