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MOOBE’S BUBAL NEW-YOBMEB 
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£j;iii[i| Husbandry. 
MORE CONCERNING THE MILK OF DIS¬ 
EASED COWS. 
We have referred, from time to time, to 
the importance of selecting only sound ani¬ 
mals for the dairy, and in taking due care 
that they be kept in good health during t he 
time they are in milk. H is only of late that 
attention has been called to diseases that are 
liable to be carried from the milk to persons 
or animals that partake of it. And it cannot 
be doubted that more serious troubles result 
from the use of milk from diseased animals 
than is generally supposed. Recent researches 
with the microscope have very clearly dem¬ 
onstrated that diseased milk contains living 
organisms; and that these arc Carried into 
the blood of those who uso the milk, and are 
thus the cause of disease. 
Touching this question, gome interesting 
facts are given in the last number of the 
Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of 
England, by Mr. (1. T. Brown, Chief Inspec¬ 
tor in the veterinary detriment of the Privy 
Council and Profess >r of Physiology and 
Therapeutics in the Royal Veterinary Col¬ 
lege. Mr. Brown discusses, at some length, 
the character of the foot and-mouth com¬ 
plaint of cattle, and the causes whichded 
to its recent extensive prevalence in Great 
Britain. Referring more particularly to the 
blood and milk of animals affee‘ed with this 
disease, he says:—“Microscopic examination 
of the blood reveals the presence ol' organic 
bodies, which are always associated with a 
diseased condition of the fluid. First, the 
red blood-discs, on which the color of the 
blood depends, are covered with minute 
projecting points, instead of being circular 
in form and smooth on the surface. There 
is also an excess of the colorless corpuscles, 
and there are also small spheroidal and ellip¬ 
tical bodies, which move rapidly in ail direc¬ 
tions, and sometimes very numerous bacteria 
und vibriones are found in largo numbers in 
the advanced stage of the disease ; their 
presence in large numbers is indicative of 
the malignant, form of the affection, in which 
the condition is rather that of blood-poison¬ 
ing than simple foot-and-mouth complaint. 
Milk taken from cows affected with the 
disease preseats appearances which are very 
characteristic, but which vary much, accord¬ 
ing to the stage of the disease. Most of the 
specimens examined had a low specific grav¬ 
ity, 1024, although in some instances, when 
the quantity which was yielded was very 
small, the normal specific gravity, 1032, was 
reached, and now and then exceeded; but 
in these instances the fluid ttos ubnormul in 
character, being charged with large exuda¬ 
tion cells, and, what is more significant, 
bacteria and vibriones were abundantly pres¬ 
ent." Mr. Brown gives a drawing illustrat¬ 
ing a specimen of milk obtained from a cow 
which had suffered from the disease, for ten 
days, presenting a large proportion of dis¬ 
eased elements in the milk. Those are shown 
in large, dark, granular cells, many elutin- 
like bodies (vibriones), and moving bodies 
composed of two eliptioal links (bacteria). 
Nearly all the s[jecimens of milk obtained 
from cowa affected with foot-and-mouth dis¬ 
ease, he says, contained more or less of ab¬ 
normal elements represented in the drawing, 
and in some the pus-like Cells remained for 
several weeks after the animals had quite 
recovered. 
Boiling the milk from the diseased cows, 
as might be expected, has considerable effect 
in retarding its decomposition, but it does 
not arre3t the movements of the minute 
bodies which are so constantly present. 
Of the deleterious effects of the milk of 
diseased cows upon the system of other 
animals, no doubt, he says, can be cuter- 
ta'iaed. Sucking calves huvo been frequently 
poisoned by it, even before the cow gave 
evidence of the disease, which then existed 
in the incubative stage. Pigs have been re¬ 
peatedly infected by the milk when given to 
them warm from the cow, but the injurious 
qualities seem to be modified by boiling the 
fluid, or keeping it sometime before it is used. 
As to the use of the milk for human con 
sumption, he remarks further, it is sufficient 
to say that no one who had seen the fluid 
under the microscope would patiently con¬ 
template the possibility of its being em¬ 
ployed for the food of man, putting out of the 
question any risk of the disease being com¬ 
municated to human beings by snch means. 
Quite a common disease among cattle, and 
one which Is scarcely ever thought to be 
worth noticing, is scrofula. This is a heredi¬ 
tary, but non-contagious, malady • but it is 
very doubtful whether the milk of such 
stock is a healthful article of food. Scrofula 
can frequently bo detected, says Prof. Si¬ 
mons, by the existence of tumors in various 
parts of the body of cattle, but they show a 
greater preference to form about the throat 
and sides of the face than elsewhere. These 
tumors, especially such as are hard or nod¬ 
ulated to the feel and ouly slightly pain¬ 
ful, cannot be completely dispersed by any 
kind of treatment; but, after a time, they 
often yield to a degenerating process, and 
discharge a purulent-like fluid from sinuses 
which are formed within them. 
In selecting animals to raise stock from, it 
is important that none be taken that, show 
the least evidence of disease, nor indeed 
should they belong to a family known to be 
affected. In our own experience in raising 
stock, scrofula has appeared in the offspring 
of certain families, although the parents im¬ 
mediately from which the animals were 
raised showed no signs of the malady, thus 
reappearing in the third or fourth generation 
from animals so affected. 
Another source of diseased milk Ls from 
gargety cows, and these prevail in some 
dairies to an alarming extent. Garget often 
makes its appearance in summer, some 
weeks after the cow has come in milk, ami 
not unfrequently ono or more quarters of 
the udder become affected, and are lost so 
fur as yielding milk is concerned. In such 
eases the practice is by no means uncommon 
to save the milk from that portion of the 
bag not directly affected through the high 
inflammation i f u portion of the udder, and 
the near proximity of the affected milk 
glands to those that are apparently sound 
must vitiate and poison the milk flowing 
from these parts. And we believe that many 
parties not only save the milk from affected 
cows, but are free to use such milk without 
suspecting it to be harmful. It is important, 
therefore, that this question concerning dis¬ 
eased milk he brought to the attention of 
dairymen, for we are convinced that many, 
after being made acquainted with facts 
proving the harmful nature of diseased milk, 
will take more pains to see that it does not 
get mingled with milk that Is known to be 
good, and thus it will be discarded from use 
as an article of human food altogether. And 
in this connection we may refer to several 
well-authenticated cases in which typhoid 
fever was caused by persons using the milk 
furnished from farms and families suffering 
from this disease. In these oases the germs 
of the diseases wore introduced into the milk 
by the milkers, who hail either boon em¬ 
ployed as attendants on the sick or were in 
the atmosphere of the rooms occupied by 
them. From all the facts coming under our 
observation, w« are convinced that the evils 
resulting from the milk of diseased cows are 
more serious and wide-spread than have- 
been commonly supposed ; and there are 
reasonable gronnds for believing that the 
cause of “ poison-cheese ” may yet lie traced 
to the sources named. 
- 
LEAKS IN THE DAIRY. 
Cows are not unfrequently injured late in 
the season by continuing the milking into 
winter, and by “ drying them off ’’ in an im¬ 
perfect manner. Cows, to do their best, 
should not only have an abundtinco of nu¬ 
tritious food but they should be kept strong 
and in vigorous health. A cow that has 
been milked from the 1st of March until the 
1st of December, and is again “ coming in 
milk" on the 1st of March, requires to be 
dried off as speedily as can be done without 
impuiring Health or doing injury to her ud¬ 
der. As winter weather approaches cows in 
milk are susceptible to cold, and unless led 
with meal or some concentrated food in ad¬ 
dition to what hay they will take, they get 
thin and weak—the drain from continual 
milking and the burden of carrying their 
young are more thou can be safely Imposed, 
if their future usefulness is to be insured. 
All dairy cows, when practicable, should 
have a respite from jHelding milk from two 
and a-half to three months previous to drop¬ 
ping their young. Nature demands this 
time for recuperation and the product ion of 
healthy offspring. It has been suspected, 
and apparently with good reason, that the 
habit of milking cows far into winter and up 
to within a few weeks of calving, has been 
one leading cause of abortions now so preva¬ 
lent in some of the old dairy districts of New 
York. When it is considered that cows late 
in fall and during early winter get no extra 
feed and are kept upon coarse fodder or hay 
alone, while this excessive drain on tneir vi¬ 
tality is going on, and especially at a time 
when they are more or less subjected to cold 
and the inclemencies of the weather, we 
may very reasonably conclude that nature is 
unequal to the strain, and hence the trouble 
referred to. It is time some animals are very 
difficult to be dried of their milk and are in¬ 
clined to yield it up to the time of calving. 
Whoii such cases occur, it. should always be 
a rule to commence early with generous 
diet, and by no means allow the animal to 
lose flesh. The cost of wintering cows is 
very much lessened if they go int o the barn, 
at the commencement of the foddering sea 
son, In good condition, but if they are thin 
and weak at. this t ime they will require much 
more food to bring them through the win¬ 
ter. Thera is nothing like a good coat of 
flesh and vigorous health to withstand cold 
and the rigors of our Northern climate. 
When, cows are kept, upon hay and milked 
through the greater part of the winter, they 
are illy preparad to resist disease and are 
liable to meet with accidents which endanger 
life or from wldch their usefulness is seri¬ 
ously impaired and perhaps may be destroyed 
altogether, but which would not have oc¬ 
curred had the animals beeu strong and 
well cared for. We ure convinced that very 
grave mistakes are not unfrequently made 
by dairymen in late and excessive milking of 
dairy cows. It is short-sighted policy to 
push an animal beyond her natural capacity, 
for nature will have compensation one way 
or another, and it comes often with funrlul 
interest. 
We saw adnirymau recently who is dis¬ 
tinguished for his success iu the management, 
of stock and in the large yields obtained 
from his dairy. He said in purchasing or in 
selecting cows for a herd his first considera¬ 
tion was to lock for strong, healthy, robust 
animals. After that ho had regard to milk¬ 
ing qualities. On no account would he take 
an animal of poor constitution, oven though 
excelling in her milking qualities. All ani¬ 
mals naturally inclined to be weak or tender 
were annually weeded out of his herd and 
their places filled by those that were strong¬ 
er, He believed that cows would give the 
greatest quantity of milk with less liability 
to accident and disease if they were allowed 
to go dry at least three months before calv¬ 
ing. Ho believed in pushing a cow to her 
full capacity in yielding milk during a proper 
season and then giving time to recuperate. 
The system of “dragging at a cow's under ” 
during the whole season he denounced as 
“ cruelty to annuals "—quite as reprehensible 
and deserving of prosecution as many other 
eases of cruelly that come under the law for 
t he protection Of our dumb boasts. 
In drying cows of their milk core should 
be taken not to allow thick, dotted milk to 
remain in the udder. Tbs tents should be 
tried at intervals of two, three, four or more 
lays, according to the progress made iu dry¬ 
ing, for if this old milk is not emptied from 
the udder, serious trouble will be liable to 
follow when the cow comes again in milk. 
Many eases of garget and the complete stop¬ 
page of the milk-duct in one or more t&ats 
come from neglect in properly “drying off" 
cows. Of late years we Hear of a grei t, 
many “ three-teated cows ; ” and in many 
sections there is scarcely a herd but has one 
or more of such cases annually. Years ago, 
when dairies v, ere smaller and the owner of 
the herd paid strict attention to the drying 
off of the beasts, “ three-teated cows ” were 
rare. In these latter days many farmers 
trust entirely to hired help in this matter or 
leave it with those who have no interest in 
tile stock, and the consequence is that 
many valuable animals arc injured and 
ruined. The loss of one or more good cows 
in a herd, after bringing them thrpugh to 
grass, makes considerable inroad on the 
profits of the year. To make dairying pay, 
the farmer must look well to his stock and 
avoid losses. To purchase animals in spring 
to replace those lost during winter from 
neglect or over-milking, is very bad economy 
and is often the source of dissatisfaction and 
complaint that farming does not pay. These 
uro some of “the leaks" in dairy farming 
which many dairymen feel but often do not 
readily see. 
-- ♦ -*-•*- - 
ABOUT MILKING. 
Next to having good cows is the import¬ 
ance of having milking well and properly 
done. Cows should be put in to some secure 
place to milk, either in the bam or a shed 
expressly for that purpose, with a good ven¬ 
tilation for warm weather. The practice of 
milking cows running loose in the yard is 
inconvenient and disagreeable^ neither can 
It Vie done cleanly us in stanchions ; nor 
will they do us well out-of-doors, where they 
are the greater part of the season teased by 
flies. There should he as much uniformity 
in the hours of milking as possible. Before 
commencing to milk,* the odder should be 
entirely clean and each milker should milk 
the same cows through the season anil in tie 
same order. Harsh treatment should never 
be tolerated; for cows that are not well 
treated will not give so great a flow of milk 
as when used gently. c. w. 
Horseman. 
FEEDING A SPRING COLT. 
I beo to indorse what is said in reply to 
,the query under this heading, but wish to 
add that the colt should not be confined to 
the box 12x12 or “indoors" (under cover) iu 
the day time, I don’t caro what, any one 
says to the contrary, every day the sun shines 
in winter the colt should bo allowed to ruu 
at large, cither in a yard or close, for air and 
sunshine is as essential to a colt’s health and 
thorough vigorous, growth as it is to vegeta¬ 
tion ; and though some may suppose.the 
picking of a little grass in green spots will 
take the appetite off of hay, outs and bran, 
it is “no suih thing;" on the contrary, it 
will sharpen the digestion and produce appe¬ 
tite, and in this case, with daily range over 
atly old natural grass sod, cats may be given 
freely ; half a. peck per day would not be too 
much if a very tine yearling is desired. 
If there is no convenience for having air 
and exercise in the light and influence of the 
sun, oil meal will be beneficial ; but in such 
a dilemma it would be well to teach the ani¬ 
mal to lead and have it out with a halter ; 
for young stock of any kind kept in through 
a winter will become weak and miserable. 
Hay made from early cut grass would be 
excellent ; as for chaff, about equal measure 
with the oats and bran will be very well to 
make it chew the oats better, which, in my 
opinion, is the only argumentin favor of chaff. 
Thousands of colts of the farm draught- 
horse breed are raised in England, which lie 
iua small field with ashed to run under at 
pleasure, and where they have some nice, 
sweet hay once a day in line, mild weather 
and twice during cold spells. These colts 
ar© stronger, and have grown more dur ing 
the winter than any kept in confinement 
without open air and sunshine. Then again, 
there is no occasion to be particular about 
the quantity of food of any kind when treat¬ 
ed as I suggest; the only attention necessary 
is to give enough and find out what that is 
hy not letting any waste occur, which of 
course requires that whenever any is left less 
must be given till it is always cleared up. 
My work horses and mules are always fat 
as working animals should be, and were last 
winter ; they had then oat straw, hay and 
corn in the ear—the latter decreased when 
idle ; they eat straw once in 24 hours greed¬ 
ily us a change ; of course, it was very bright 
and sweet; after the straw was gone, I gave 
some corn tops, which were relished as a 
change in the same manner. This winter 
they are having no corn, but have some oat 
straw unthrashedgiven sparingly when work 
is light ; but they have as much hay as they 
can eat; and when idle 1 have the stable 
opened and let them run in an old pasture 
Held for two or throe hours ; when not best 
for them to go there, 1 put them in the yard, 
which is spacious. Thus 1 never have any 
swelled legs and no ailments worth naming, 
and last your i sent them out without cloth¬ 
ing while they had the prevailing epizootic, 
and they would not have been known to be 
sick but for the coughing and discharge from 
the nose. A Working Farmer. 
FROM BALTIMORE, MD. 
Ik “ Ono who wishes to emigrate ’’ would 
come to Baltimore and put an advertisement 
in the Daily Sun, stating just what he wants, 
he would have scores of offers at the Sun 
office during a day: for that paper chargee 
so low, considering the corresponding prices 
in some cities, that everybody uses this 
means of obtaining what they want ; and 
there is more land rented and changing 
hands than elsewhere,chiefly inconsequence 
of the largo land-owners renting instead of 
farming themselves, and because Baltimore 
increases rapidly and vegetables are in de¬ 
mand, not only for home consumption, but 
the climate being earlier than further North, 
early produce goes in great quantitii - to 
New York,—cabbage hi particular, for they 
will stand the winter as good sized plants 
set out on the south side of ridges, and he a 
long time in advance of the Long Island and 
New Jersey cabbage. A man wants to be 
in Baltimore fora week at least, and lie can 
visit the markets and make acquaintance 
with the large market-gardeners and others; 
for there is an open-hearted, free kind of 
feeling among Marylanders, and a stranger 
seems at home with them. 
A Working Farmer. 
$ 
