508 
MANUAL OF MODERN FARRIERY. 
to have recourse to laxatives, to clear out the exciting cause 
of this irregularity. The first and most simple to try is a 
dose of half-a-pint of castor-oil, or half-an-ounce of the 
powder of bitter-apple, either of which may be given in a 
pint of flour-gruel. 
Great attention is required to the different conditions in 
diarrhoea, otherwise the disease may assume that character 
which is termed rottenness or scouring-rot , a disease which 
too often terminates fatally. The system should not be 
allowed to become too low ; to prevent which, nourishing 
mashes of oatmeal and malt should be frequently given, 
and in small quantities at a time ; for during the progress 
of this malady, it is found, that so long as the animal is 
permitted to indulge in a full meal, so long will the com¬ 
plaint continue. 
It will be found, that cattle, when left to themselves, 
will seldom eat more than is proper to enable them to per¬ 
form the necessary function of chewing the cud. It is 
only when they have been previously starved, or removed 
from a poor to a rich pasturage, that they exceed in this 
respect: so that, in those cases, they ought to be allowed 
to remain only a short time at first in such situations. 
A low condition of the system will induce diarrhoea, and 
when it proceeds from this cause, there is more danger to be 
apprehended, and the animal is, consequently, less able to 
withstand any sudden transitions from poor to rich living, 
or from heat to cold, or from cold to heat. When, either 
from a dearness of food, or scarcity, the animal is kept on 
short allowance, it is a wise plan, when the luxuriance of 
spring arrives, to continue feeding the animal in the straw- 
yard, or house, upon a mixture of chopped hay and suc¬ 
culent grass, for a short time previous to turning him out 
to the field. 
