6 o 8 Supplement to the “ Tropical AgricultunsV’ [March 1, 1 898 . 
23. Crude potash saltscanbe applied withbenefit 
in the preservation of stall manure, but their 
value for this purpose is perhaps over-estimated. 
24. Potash fertilizers should, as a rule, be 
applied in the autumn, or at least from two to 
four weeks before planting, and should be 
thoroughly worked into the deeper part of the 
soil in order to come into contact with the root- 
lets of the plant, • „ 
25. The germination of seeds, especially it 
they have a low vitality, is retarded by bringing 
them into direct contact with potash salts. 
26. The application of crude potash salts to 
a soil which is not easily cemented may be useful 
during a dry season by reason of their power of 
attracting and holding moisture. 
27. Potash salts favor the decomposition ot 
mineral particles in the soil, and thus tend to 
add to the stores of plant food therein. 
28. The application of crude potash salts to 
the soil tends to protect the crop from frosts by 
preventing the too rapid evaporation of moisture 
and by producing a more luxuriant foliage, 
29. The too abundant application of potash to 
the soil may become injurious by reason of the 
retardation of the process of nitrification which 
it produces. 
30. Crude potash salts, especially kainite, 
when added abundantly to a soil, are said to act, 
to a certain extent, as an insecticide or a preven- 
tive of disease, and when mi.xed with stable 
manure act as a preservative by checking the 
activity of the denitrifying ferments. 
31 It is impracticable to give formulas for 
the preparation of fertilizers containing potash, 
since both the quantity of potash to be used and 
the form in which it should be applied are deter- 
mined by local conditions, which cannot be taken 
into account in the preparation of directions for 
the use of fertilizers. 
TEAT TROUBLES. 
It is sometimes found that cows have naturally 
malformed or imperforated teats. In such cases 
the gland, of course, enlarges, but there is no 
exit for the milk and inflammation results from its 
retention. In some instances an incision at the 
end of the teat may open a partially dewloped 
duct from which the milk may be drawn off by a 
tube or syphon, but usually abcesses form and the 
curdled and decomposed milk is thrown of with 
the pus Cows with congenital defects such as 
malformed and imperforated teats, and, as some 
times found, without any teats at all should not 
bo bred with. . r , -r 
Warts on the teats, especially of heifers, are a 
common source of trouble to the milker, rendering 
the animal difficult to milk owing to the soreness 
occasioned by the regular friction twice a day, and 
nccasionally, when growing on the end of the teat, 
Sng occlusion of the duct. This leads to 
retention, and, in its turn, to mammitis in more or 
less severe form. The cause of these circumscribed 
growths is a moot point. Some associate them 
with dirt, others with what has been called a warty 
diatliesis,’but the tendency is now to regard them as 
the work of a specific organism. Dirtmaybe favour- 
able to its development, but we certainly frequently 
meet with animals growing warts the cleanliness 
of whose skins leaves very little to be desired. 
It is sometimes found that after the animal has 
calved the warts disappear as mysteriously as 
they appeared, but the worst of waiting and hop- 
ing is that should they persist they become sore 
from friction, while the treatment is more difficult 
than when the animal is dry. Interference after 
calving necessarily occasions even more soreness 
than friction by the hand in milking, and it is 
generally better to take steps for the removal of 
warts in good time, so that the teats may become 
perfectly healed and the skin hard before regular 
milking becomes a necessity. Soreness of the teats 
from any cause invariably causes great difficulty 
in getting the animal to stand quietly, and where 
it does not lay the foundation of kicking or vici- 
ousness, it may lead to the retention of the milk. 
The method of removal depends largely on the 
nature of the growth. An excrescence on the 
point of the teat, or any case where the attachment 
is by a narrow neck, is best removed by ligature, 
i.e., tying it tightly round the base with a 
waxed tliread or piece of suture silk, so that the 
supply of blood by which it is nourished is cut off, 
when, as the result of the strangulation, it dies 
and drops off. 
In most cases, however, of warts on the teats 
they are very numerous, and have their bases so 
diffuse that a ligature is out of the question. 
Some heifers have their teats, and in some cases 
portions of the mammary gland, so completely 
covered with small excrescences, popularly known 
as “seed” warts, that nothing can be done for their 
destruction except the application of caustic agents. 
A remedy of this class, specially applicable to 
warts on the teats, and growths too small to 
ligature, is a formula introduced seme time ago by 
M. Bondeaud. It consists of — Arsenious acid, 
powdered gum arabic, and powdered savin, of each 
10 parts ; simple cerate 86 parts. This when made 
semi-fluid by heat forms a very adhesive applica- 
tion. It should be spread over the surface of the 
warts, carefully avoiding the skin, by means of a 
camel-hair pencil. Another formula, to be employ- 
ed in the same way, is— Corrosive sublimate, 1 
part ; castor-oil collodion, 30 parts. 
Soretiess of the teats from erytliema can be best 
prevented by carefulness in milking, and drying 
them so as to avoid chaps and craks. The ben- 
zoated ointment of oxide of zinc is a useful appli- 
cation, or, as an alternative, the glycerine of car- 
bolic acid may be tried. Once they become sore 
the necessity for regular milking interferes so 
greatly with healing that it is much better to use 
every endeavour to prevent the trouble than to 
cure it. 
Wounds of the teats are not uncommon, indeed 
are met with increasing frequency since the intro- 
duction of barbed wire. Those of a superficial 
character require treatment similar to soreness of 
the teats, viz., careful milking, or the use of the 
teat-syphon for the removal of the secretion, in 
order to interfere as little as possible with repair, 
and mild astringent dressings to facilitate drying 
up of the sore. Wounds that tear or penetrate 
the substance of the teat and establish an opening 
into the duct are much more serious. A fistulous 
opening is then established, from which the milk 
squirts in a powerful stream when the teats are 
