474 
Abortion in Cows. 
from the fact that the period comprises some nine or ten months 
out of the twelve. The shorter the herbage, the viore likely is 
ergot to be picked up by an animal. The comparative immunity 
of "lane-cows" [i.e. those grazing on the roads) from this 
malady puzzled me for some time, as the herbage on road-sides 
consists chiefly of rye-grass, and is particularly infested with 
ergot, on account of being sheltered from the wind and sun. 
These cows have also greater opportunities of contracting this 
malady from infection (if that be possible) than ordinary farm- 
cattle, as in their peregrinations they are not only liable to be 
infected by local animals, but by strangers on their way to fairs, 
markets, &c. This comparative immunity must be due, I think, 
to the following circumstances : — 
1. They are only on the roads from May to October, and 
then only for a portion of each day. 
2. The large percentage of cows are spring-calvers, conse- 
quently, during the time that they are on the road-sides, such 
animals are without calf, or only recently bulled. 
3. The grass is not often so closely eaten as is the case fre- 
quently in pastures. Thus ergot is not so likely to be picked up. 
On ascertaining the above facts, I was no longer puzzled at 
their comparative immunity. 
When writing on this subject in December last, I said, " I 
have examined the pastures on all the farms mentioned in this 
Report where abortions have recently taken place, and without 
exception have found sufficient ergot on each to account for such 
occurrences." That statement still holds good for the enquiries 
instituted up to that date, viz., from 1 to 13 of the series. To 
make it applicable for the whole series of 30, it must be modified 
by the addition of the sentence, " When such examinations were 
conducted at a time that ergot, if present, would be readily 
discernible." The last seventeen enquiries took place between 
January and July 1886, during months when ergot, as a rule, 
has fallen to the ground.* I did find a few specimens on 
* On September Sth I found ergot in large quantities in a recently sown-down 
pasture ; I then made enquiries of the bailiff in charge of the farm, who informed 
nic that in the spring of 1883 or 188-1: all the in-calf heifers aborted, as well as 
most of the cows, the whole number of abortions amounting to seven or eight, 
out of a total number of ten in-cnlvcrs ; and as the calves had not previously 
done well, the proprietor had given up breeding. 
September 7tli. — Mr. L.'s only cow cast a living calf about a month before her 
time. I foimd nearly every rye-grass in the small pasture infested with ergot. 
September 15tli. — I visited Mr. T. U. at K., some seven miles from here, lie 
came to the farm in 1882, and has had six or eiglit cows abort annually since 
lliiit time. In tlic somewhat bare jiastures I found about onc-lialf of tlie grasses, 
capable of bearing visible ergot, infested with that fungus. In a cornfield on 
bouie waste land adjoining the river, I found ergot growing in such abundance 
as I had never previously seen ; every grass and nearly every spikelet seemed to 
1)0 infested with it. Mr. U. informed me that one neighbour had had from twenty 
to tliirtv cows abort recently, and another liad about four during tiie p:ist spring. 
