322 
THE CULTIVATOR 
Oct 
is abundant in the system and nature is making an 
effort to rid herself of the offending matter, and will do 
so unless you interfere by the use of remedies opposed 
to the vital principle. Many of the drugs used at the 
present day, such as copper, antimony, corrosive sub¬ 
limate, calomel, nitre, glauber salts, and laudanum, 
would kill a well animal, whatever they might do to 
the diseased. 
You then enmerate the change in color, from yellow 
to brown, and lastly, resembling coffee grounds. 
This shows that symptomatic fever, or constitutional 
irritation has set in; the cure in this stage of the disease 
would be very difficult. 
In a few days a natural diarrhoea comes on, and the 
animal is better. 
This is the manner in which nature attempts the 
cure; the diarrhoea carries off a large amount of mor¬ 
bific matter, which could not remain in the system 
without producing serious consequences, “ and the ani¬ 
mal often gets well” 
Here nature speaks in a language too plain to be 
misunderstood; we must open the sluices of the body. 
One pint of linseed oil should be given, and its opera 
tion assisted with injections of warm soapsuds, each 
injection containing a table spoonful of powdered gin¬ 
ger; after the bowels are evacuated, the distemper 
powder, sold by Stimpson, Reid &, Co , 26 Merchants’ 
Row, Boston, is the only article we use in this form of 
disease, and with remarkable success. The animal 
should be allowed a tea for a few days, composed of 
boneset and pennyroyal, one ounce of the former to 
two of the latter, infused in half a bucket of boiling 
water. The diet should be light and nourishing, and 
of the very best quality. G. H. Dadd, M. D. Bos¬ 
ton, August 14, 1848. 
Heaves in Horses* 
In 1845, I had a horse which was worthless, for use. 
I was frequently told that he could not live, but he 
is now alive, and as well as ever. The cure was a 
simple one. Take the young shoots or buds of the 
white pine, say in May or June, boil them, and when 
the liquor is cold, give the horse a junk bottle full once 
a day, for ten days. John D. Spinner. Herkimer , 
N. Y., August, 1848. 
[Our correspondent has omitted to tell what should 
be the relative quantities of the “shoots or buds and 
water, and does not tell how much the “junk bottle” 
should hold. It seems necessary to know what should be 
the strength of the decoction, and how much should be 
given to the horse at a dose.— Eds.] 
Disease in Seeep. 
I have taken the liberty to ask some information as 
regards a disease that prevails among my sheep, 
through which I have this summer lost about 20 ewes 
and weathers. The disease commences with a dis¬ 
charge of pus from the nostrils, the animal falls away 
in flesh, has a dry cough, and the discharge is often ac¬ 
companied with blood. After a time, (some linger two. 
three, and sometimes four weeks,) the head becomes so 
clogged that the animal dies. I have seen from half a 
pint to a pint of putrid matter run from the nose after 
death. On opening the head no grubs or worms can 
be seen, but the brain is highly inflamed. 
Some of the farmers, formerly of western New-York, 
say it is the rot in the head, and that the sheep were 
often diseased in the same way where they formerly 
lived, but they can tell me of no remedy. I have fol¬ 
lowed Mr. Jewett’s plan of injecting snuff-water up 
each nostril. I have fed them quantities of tar, flour 
sulphur in salt, rubbed the poll with spirits turpentine, 
and all without any visible effect. 
The large Leicestershire buck that you saw with me 
when I passed through Albany last summer, is now 
attacked, and I am afraid, (unless you can inform me 
of a remedy,) I shall lose him. The sheep are all in 
good condition when attacked with the disease. Rich¬ 
ard Ferris. Onondaga, lag. Co., Mich., Sept. 9th , 
1848. 
[The disease above described is new to us. We 
hope some of our correspondents will be able to give a 
remedy.— Eds.] 
Foot-Rot in Sheep. 
We published on page 247, of the Cultivator for 
1846, a statement of some very interesting and impor¬ 
tant facts, relative to the application of a remedy for 
this formidable disease, which had been tried with sig¬ 
nal success on the extensive flocks of Humphry How¬ 
land, Esq., of Cayuga county, N. Y. He has since 
authorised us to add, that a continued application of 
the remedy has wholly removed the disease, and that 
not a solitary case remains; and so simple and effectu¬ 
al is the remedy, that had it been applied at the com¬ 
mencement of the infection of his flocks, it would have 
saved him several thousand dollars. 
For the benefit of such of our readers as may not 
have noticed the statement two years since, we give its 
substance below:— 
This remedy is now in use for the second season, du¬ 
ring which time the rot has diminished from thirty per 
cent, to one per cent., in a very extensive flock, or on¬ 
ly one sheep is now lame where thirty w T ere formerly. 
Other flocks in the neighborhood, to which the remedy 
has not been applied, are as badly affected as ever. 
The remedy consists in mixing flour sulphur with 
the salt given to the sheep, in a proportion just suffi¬ 
cient to discolor slightly the salt, or about one-twentieth 
part. They are regularly and constantly fed with this 
mixture the season through. 
The disease being considered as allied to the itch, 
the sulphur mixed with oil was also applied to the backs 
of the sheep immediately af er shearing, and whatever 
effect this mixture may have had upon the rot, the 
grease was found to have increased the weight of wool 
about a quarter to half a pound per head. The practice 
of applying oily substances • -xternally to sheep, and the 
beneficial results, have been elsewhere known, and this 
experiment further establishes the advantage. 
The cost of these materials for large flocks, may be 
lessened by purchasing in quantity in New-York city. 
Flour sulphur is often retailed at iwelve and a half ets. 
per pound; in New-York it costs three dollars per hun¬ 
dred, and fifty cents additional, as freight, brings it to 
only three and a-half cents per pound. Lard and lamp 
oil are costly as external applications;' but train oil. or 
oil of the true whale, is only about 32 cents per gal¬ 
lon in New-York, if bought by the barrel, or $10 per 
barrel; this would be enough for 2 000 head of sheep, 
or half a cent per head;—the sulphur mixed and the 
labor of application would be about two cents per head. 
A preserved heart.—Dumas, the noted chemist, 
states that the heart of Richard Cceur-de-Lion is p e- 
served at Rouen. It shows scarcely a trace of organic 
matter, but is composed almost entirely of incense in a 
state of powder or small particles—odorous powders 
being the principal substances used for embalming. 
Curculio. —The Cleveland Herald says, “a neigh¬ 
bor has pursued the practice of shaking his plum trees 
every morning, and gathering his insects to destruction. 
His trees have now but few stung fruit upon them.” 
We have pursued the same practice with equal success; 
but the insects being unusually abundant, we are com¬ 
pelled to collect them three times a day. 
