220 
THE COW HER DISEASES AND MANAGEMENT. NO. 14- 
hold of " an old settler," before they could get it 
upon the beach far enough to take off a cut, which 
is done, cut after cut, until they are able to pull out 
the remainder. This may seem a very precarious 
way of supplying a large plantation with fuel, and 
yet it is the only dependence of many. Formerly, 
it was a tolerably easy method, but of late, there 
are so many hundreds of persons whose whole in- 
come is derived from this source, besides the great 
amount required by plantations, that the supply 
is hardly sufficient to meet the demand, and a great 
deal of very poor stuff is now caught with avidity, 
that, in those good old times of plenty, would have 
been despised* 
On my way, I called on my old friend and acquain- 
tance, David Adams. As is the general custom 
among the planters in the " rolling season," he 
eats and sleeps in the sugar house. I am well sat- 
isfied that the " Mayor of Pittsburg," who is a 
brother of Mr. Adams, did not enjoy a more pleas- 
ant dinner than Avas our sugar-house fare that day. 
Mr. A. says that he made 60 bushels of corn to the 
arpent upon one piece, this year, of a choice white 
kind, by manuring and deep plowing, which is thre& 
times the usual crop. His molasses cisterns are of 
cement, plastered directly upon the pit dug in the 
earth, which he thinks preferable to brick work. 
As he has had to catch or buy fuel, he has made a 
part of his crop this season, as an experiment, with 
Pittsburg coal, and is well satisfied with the re- 
sult. He mixes a small portion of wood under his 
kettles with the coal, which he thinks should al- 
ways be done. Out of the many planters and farmers, 
whose early life was spent in other pursuits and 
who afterwards made successful tillers of the soil, 
although mere book farmers, Mr. A. may justly be 
ranked. 
Among other enterprising and improving Creole 
planters, Mons. Boudousquie, below Mr. Adams', 
deserves mention, as does Mr. Felix Reine, in 
whose garden I found a great abundance of very 
large and most delicious sweet oranges, which are 
rendered quite unsaleable, even at the low price of 
40 cents a hundred, by the alarm of cholera in New 
Orleans, with the idea that indulgence in fruit is dan- 
gerous. 
Mr. J. Gasset, from Kentucky, at Bonnet-Carre 
Bend, with whom 'I spent a night, lives in the 
house built by the old Spanish Conimandante, 70 
years ago, which is still in a sound condition. It 
is built of red cypress, which is as much more dur- 
able than white, as is red cedar more durable than 
white cedar. Mr. G. has the first draining machine 
that I have met with. It is a steam engine and 
wheel which elevates the water five feet, and cost 
$5,000. He has 600 acres in cultivation, ditched 
every half arpent (about 100 feet). The machine 
works on an average about three days a week, at 
an expense of 300 cords of wood a year, which is 
worth £2 to $3 a cord, and one hand to tend. If 
run constantly, it would drain 500 acres. Mr. G. 
has plenty of wood, but it is in a wet swamp and 
troublesome to get out. He has used green bagasse 
to boil siurar, as he thinks to advantage, by mixing 
it with half the usual quantity of wood. The cost 
of drainage would be greatly lessened, if a united 
interest couJd be brought to systematize a great 
work of the kind. Time and increased value of 
the lands will bring this about, and make this " great 
swamp state," one of the gardens of the world. 
Canals will be made as common as in Holland, and 
a similar system adopted to get rid of the surplus 
water. More than half of the area of the state 
is susceptible of having a navigable canal made to 
pass through every plantation. When this i« 
done, the draining machines would empty the canals, 
and keep the surface of land that is now ten or 
twelve feet below flood height of water in the Mis- 
sissippi, in a perfectly dry and fit state of tillage, at 
a far less expense, per acre, than is now incurred 
by the imperfect individual system. " Union is 
strength," and that is the only kind that can con- 
trol the floods of such a "great father of rivers," 
with so many obstreperous children. 
Solon Robinson. 
New Orleans, Bee. 29 th, 1848. 
THE COW— HER DISEASES AND MANAGEMENT — 
No. 14. 
Hoven. — This disorder, sometimes called " fog 
sickness,"Js a species of flatulency, 'which is very 
sudden in its appearance and very violent in its ef- 
fects. It is occasioned' by turning the animal into 
fresh clover, lucern, pea vines, green Indian corn, 
buckwheat, or other rich pasture, to which she has 
not been accustomed, where she eats so greedily as 
to overload the stomach. 
In this state, the extrication of the gases of her 
food takes place, and produces such a violent dis- 
tortion of the paunch, that the gullet or upper part 
of the stomach becomes closed, so that no vent can 
be given to the contained matter, and unless prompt 
relief can be afforded, the death of the animal most 
generally ensues in a few hours. In the last stages 
of the disease, the tongue hangs out of the month, 
the eyes are full and protuberant, and the rectum, 
(last gut,) is distended externally sometimes four or 
five inches. The cow often drops down dead to 
all appearances, or exhibits signs of the most severe 
torture and pain, and her groans are piteous and 
distressing in the extreme. 
In this complaint immediate relief must be given, 
which may be procured by opening the cavity of 
the first stomach by pushing down the throat of 
the animal a flexible pipe, or tube, ^one formed of 
India rubber, gutta percha, or of linseed oil will 
do,) through which the air, or gases, suddenly 
rushes out, and she is soon relieved of all her 
distress. If this remedy is not at hand, the first 
thing to be done is, to open a vein ; then stab 
the animal to the depth of two or three inches, 
with a sharp-pointed knife in the left flank, about 
three inches from the hinder rib, as near the hip 
bone as can be done, without piercing the flesh. 
The operator should stand near the left shoulder 
with his left hand on the back of the animal, and 
make the incision with his right, in order to avoid 
being kicked, which sometimes, though rarely hap- 
pens. If she is down, the hind legs may be secured, 
for the moment with a cord. Be not afraid of 
wounding the intestines, as no danger can ensue, 
provided the cut is made high enough up. The 
knife must pierce the abdomen, to Jet the wind 
escape, which lies in the cavity around the paunch. 
The orifice must be kept open some little time, by 
inserting a small quill, and then healed up by ap 
plying over it a plaster of pitch. By this method 
