940 
W* RURAL. NEW-YORKER 
nounced than when pasturage is more suc¬ 
culent. A little beet pulp (wet), added 
to your ration would increase the succu¬ 
lence which you are not getting, due to the 
fact that you feed no silage. The trouble 
is not due to the cottonseed meal. Many 
farmers in the South feed 3 to 4 lbs. of 
cottonseed meal a day. You can safely 
feed 2 lbs. in your present ration. It may 
possibly be that your cows are well ad¬ 
vanced in lactation. Such a case might 
alone account for the difference in butter 
flavor that you note. 
The United States Department of Agri¬ 
culture, Washington, D. C., will gladly 
send you bulletins on the care of cream 
and butter making. J. w. *. 
Quick-souring Milk 
We have cows that give sour milk. 
What is the matter? Our grass and our 
hay seem to be of high grade, except that 
we have some garlic in it at times. We 
thought it was in the milking—that the 
cows were not stripped properly. But 
even with the cleanest stripping the result 
is the same. When the milk is fresh and 
warm it seems to be all right and sweet. 
We keep it in a clean, ice-cold refriger¬ 
ator, but the next morning, although it 
develops a thick, rich cream, that very 
cream is sour. What can it be? M. A. 
New York. 
Milk is never sour as it comes from the 
cow. Milk may have peculiar flavors at 
times, and often such flavors cause the 
milk to be undesirable. The actual sour¬ 
ing of milk is caused by the action of 
bacteria upon the milk sugar. Such bac¬ 
teria get into the milk after it is secreted. 
It can readily be seen, therefore, that 
Choice of Market Breed 
For the past few years I have been 
breeding White Bocks and White Leg¬ 
horns. As most of my income is from 
the sale of market eggs, baby chicks and 
hatching eggs, I have decided to dispose 
of the Rocks, as the brown eggs do not 
sell for as much as the white eggs on the 
New York market. The Rock eggs are 
not as fertile, nor do they hatch quite as 
well as the Leghorn eggs. I have also 
found the Rocks do not lay as many eggs 
as the Leghorns, and they are more apt 
to sit. What other breeds would you 
suggest in place of the Rocks? I do not 
like the Brown J^eghorns, as most of them 
lay a smaller egg than the White. How 
do the Anconas and White or Black 
Minorcas compare generally with the 
Leghorns as to number of eggs they lay, 
size of eggs, fertility, etc., and age at 
which chicks mature? How does the de¬ 
mand for chicks from these breeds com¬ 
pare with that of the Leghorns? WJhat 
is the reason that these breeds are not 
more generally raised? c. o. 8. 
Omar, N. Y. 
You have summed up the disadvantages 
of the heavier breeds about as well ae 
anyone could do it for you. Against 
these disadvantages may be balanced the 
greater production of meat, the more quiet 
disposition and greater ease of confine¬ 
ment to limited quarters, and, to many, a 
personal preference for the characteristics 
of the all-purpose breeds. As to a sub¬ 
stitute for the Plymouth Rocks, that de¬ 
pends upon your market. Calls for egge 
and chicks have doubtless given you a 
cue as to the popularity of the various 
breeds in your own marketing locality, 
and that cue may well be followed. The 
R. I. Reds are very popular generally, 
and the Black Jersey Giants may become 
so. I have never seen anything about 
tlm Anconas that made me desire to sub¬ 
stitute. them for the Leghorns, and while 
I admire, the size and stately appearance 
of the Minorcas and their beautiful eggs, 
I do not consider them equal to the Leg¬ 
horns as producers of white market eggs 
when kept in large flocks. 
The reason that the Leghorns, and 
among the Leghorns the Single Comb 
White variety, have achieved the greates*- 
popularity on commercial egg farms is 
simply that they have demonstrated their 
peculiar fitness for that position. They 
have held their position too long and too 
generally to ascribe it to passing fancy. 
This does not mean that individuals and 
flocks of other varieties may not surpass 
the Leghorns, even at their own game of 
producing white market eggs, but it means 
that, taking the breed and variety as a 
whole, the Leghorns hold the position as 
egg producers that the Holsteins have 
gained in the dairying field. 'j\r. B. D. 
Ill-flavored Butter; Ailing Hens ‘ 
Which, if either, is right? 2. How close 
to calving should a heifer, which has had 
only one calf be milked? 3. If cows 
were pastured on meadow land, pretty 
good, how much land would be needed to 
a cow? There being also a little pasture. 
4. If a cow “inverts the uterus,” is there 
a chance for saving her, and, if so, how? 
Is it an indication of something wrong 
in previous care? Is there any way to 
prevent it? e. s. b. 
'Connecticut. 
1. You should, of course, have tied the 
mare so that she would have been unable 
to eat the poultices. Tincture of iodine 
or a 1-500 solution of bichloride of mer¬ 
cury (corrosive sublimate) should be used 
to disinfect a nail prick. Peroxide of 
hydrogen is unsuitable. 2. At least six 
weeks. 3. A cow requires three acres of 
good land; few farms, comparatively, 
maintain a cow on so small an area. 4. 
A cow may often be saved in such a case 
by immediately cleansing and disinfecting 
the inverted uterus, returning it to place. 
This requires the skill of a veterinarian. 
As the animal may not conceive again, or 
would be likely^ to have a recurrence of 
the accident at a subsequent calving, it 
is best to let her go to the butcher when 
in fit condition. The accident usually 
results from rough handling at calving 
time or straining to expel a retained 
afterbirth. 
Distemper 
Do all horses that come from the West 
have distemper? How long before dis¬ 
ease develops? We have a couple of 
dealers who buy Western horses; gome 
of the horses come off the car sick and 
others don’t have it on arriving. The 
nose runs thick yellow matter and throat 
swells and has to be lanced. I wish to 
buy one of the horses for driving, but 
am afraid of distemper. What is a good 
Poultry and Livestock 
1. What could cause cream and butter 
to get a bitter taste? 2. I have some 
Plymouth Rock hens which are rather 
plump ; have given a ration consisting of 
purchased scratch food, cracked corn and 
oats, and a dry mash consisting of meat 
scraps, bran, ground oats. Hens- would 
seem drowsy in morning and comb would 
be pale, droppings brown and watery. 
Have lost a hen each morning for one 
consecutive week. Have performed an 
autopsy with one and found hen seemed 
in best of health, but contained very 
large quantities of fat around the intes¬ 
tines and heart. What could have been 
the cause of ailment, and what disease, if 
any. could it be? o. E. M. 
Rhode Island. 
1. Butter that is made from over-ripe 
cream may have a bitter taste due to the 
development of undesirable organisms in 
it. This should be avoided by more fre¬ 
quent churning and by the thorough 
scalding and sunning of the milk utensils. 
Scald them with boiling water and set 
them in the sun to dry. Throw away the 
old wash cloth and take the same care of 
the new one that is advised for the 
utensils. 
2. Some disease of the digestive or¬ 
gans. due to heavy feeding and restricted, 
exercise, may have been the cause of the 
hens’ death. M. B. D. 
Poor Flavor In Butter 
Of late my butter has not the usual 
good flavor and I am writing to know 
where the trouble is. I am making the 
butter as usual, but while it is not strong 
it has not the good flavor that my butter 
generally has. The grass is dry and not 
very good, with some weeds in it. I am 
feeding corn stover, some thrashed Al¬ 
falfa, and am giving the cows about a 
gallon of mixed feed with half of it ground 
corn. In this I put about a pint of cotton¬ 
seed meal, giving this once a day. I 
thought probably that the trouble is in too 
much cottonseed meal. How much meal 
can a cow be fed safely daily? Have you 
any bulletins on caring for cream and 
making butter? w. F. w. 
Cumberland, N. M. 
The ration that you are feeding is prob¬ 
ably causing “off flavors” to be imparted 
to your butter. The pasture is dry and 
contains weeds. Such feed very often 
imparts a “weedy” flavor, and especially 
when pasturage is dry, as then the 
“weedy” flavor seems to become more pro- 
A String of j 
milk is never sour as it comes from the 
cow. 
In the particular case at hand the 
trouble is undoubtedly due to bad flavors. 
These flavors may get into the milk in 
three ways: (1) by absorption within the 
body from feed; (2) by absorption from 
exposure to undesirable odors after the 
milk is drawn, and (3) by the action of 
certain bacteria in the milk. Feeds that 
contain garlic and other strongly flavored 
plants will cause such strong flavors to 
be imparted to the milk in the udder. 
The milk when drawn will carry these 
absorbed flavors. It is difficult to keep 
this flavor out of the milk, especially in 
early Spring, when the cows are on pas¬ 
ture that contains wild onions and garlic. 
Some claim that the milk will not contain 
such strong flavors if the cows are put 
into the barn for a couple of hours before 
milking. Milk will absorb bad flavors if 
left exposed to foul stable air or is kept in 
a refrigerator with strongly flavored 
foods. Dirty and careless methods of pro¬ 
duction will contaminate milk with bac¬ 
teria. These bacteria are able to sour 
milk in a very short time. One must al¬ 
ways be careful and practice strict sani¬ 
tation about the dairy. As soon as the 
milk is drawn it should be cooled imme¬ 
diately to a temperature below 50 deg. 
F., and this temperature should be main¬ 
tained until the milk is consumed. 
It would be assumed in this case that 
the seemingly sour flavor is no other than 
absorbed flavor from the garlic in the 
feed. Otherwise, the milk is not handled 
in a sanitary manner nor efficient cooling 
maintained. j. w. B. 
AILING ANIMALS 
Answered by Dr. A. S. Alexander 
Nail Prick 
1. My horse became lame. The veter¬ 
inarian thought the trouble was gravel, 
and told me to put on bran poultices. I 
put on two. which the horse ate up. A 
few days after a blacksmith found a nail 
in her foot. The blacksmith told me to 
use peroxide in the hole. The veterin¬ 
arian said that was wrong; I should use 
either iodine clear or a solution of sul- 
pho-napthol put in with a syringe. 
olstein Calves 
medicine for distemper, either to prevent 
or cure it? What is good to fatten an 
old horse? Is arsenic good, and will it 
put life in one? Is having the teeth 
filed and cut off any benefit? M. A. M. 
New Jersey. 
Distemper, properly called strangles, 
attacks all horses that have not had the 
disease, and the infection is contracted 
in railroad cars, shipping chutes or deal¬ 
ers’ stables. It may be vaccinated against 
with a fair degree of success, a veter¬ 
inarian being required for such work. 
When contracted the disease has to run 
its course, and there is no medicinal rem¬ 
edy. The forming abscesses should be 
poulticed or stimulated by application of 
liquid blister until they soften and can 
be lanced for liberation of pus. Mean¬ 
while the horse should have soft feed and 
be kept in a sanitary stable. The at¬ 
tending veterinarian will prescribe appro¬ 
priate medicines for the symptoms as they 
appear. After having the teeth put in 
order by a veterinarian, plenty of good 
feed, including a quart of blackstrap mo¬ 
lasses, fed twice daily, should soon put 
flesh upon an old horse. Half an ounce 
of Fowler’s solution of arsenic given 
twice daily is a good tonic and plumper 
for a thin horse, but should be discon¬ 
tinued gradually when no longer needed. 
It is best to avoid giving drugs unless 
absolutely necessary. 
Eczema 
My horse has an eruption at the base of 
her tail, which is scurfy, and causes the 
hair to drop off. I have treated it with 
oreolin and tar soap daily, but without 
benefit. Will you suggest the proper 
remedy? There are other spots on her 
body where the hair comes off, leaving 
the skin, naked, but with no apparent 
eruption. G. M. A. 
Maine. 
Better clip the mare at once and then 
give her half an ounce of Fowler’s solu¬ 
tion of arsenic night and morning until 
•the skin is in healthy condition, when 
the medicine should gradually be discon¬ 
tinued. taking at least 10 days to the 
process. Treat spots on body by scrub¬ 
bing clean ; then do not wash them again, 
but every three days rub in a mixture 
July 16, 1921 
of two ounces of flowers of sulphur, one- 
half ounce of coal-tar dip and one pint 
of sweet oil or cottonseed oil. Wash the 
skin of the tail clean, and when dry pour 
on and rub in a mixture of one part of 
kerosene and three parts of oil. Repeat 
the application daily for three days, then 
every three days apply the oil-sulphur 
mixture. Have the mare work or take 
outdoor exercise every day, and -do not 
feed corn in Summer. Feed oats, bran 
and good hay. 
Warblee 
I have 40 head of stock, and have been 
trying to clean them from lice. I find 
that they all have something like boils 
on their backs, about the size of an acorn. 
Some have a small hole in the top. Some 
of the cows have a lot of them, and some 
a few.. Could this be caused by lice, or 
not being cleaned often enough, or is it a 
disease? What can I do for them? They 
all eat well and •seem to feel all right, 
but some look a little rough. w. o. s. 
Each of the boils will be found to con¬ 
tain a big grub or larva of the ox warble- 
fly, developed from eggs deposited during 
the previous Summer. Extract the grubs 
by pressing down hard on each ripe boil 
with the open mouth of a large bottle, 
then destroy them. If necessary, slightly 
enlarge the opening in the skin to allow 
removal of the grub. Afterwards bathe 
the back twice a week with a 1-100 solu¬ 
tion of coal-tar dip. Ox warble flies 
should be kept off by spraying pastured 
cattle freely and frequently wtih a reli¬ 
able fly-repellent. 
Foot Rot 
My sheep are limping, first one or two 
and now increasing to a largo number. 
I thought perhaps they have the foot 
disease, as it seems to be in the feet. 
What treatment is required? H. J. 
New Jersey. 
At once isolate affected sheep and keep 
the others out of wet and filth when the 
disease is contracted. Cleanse affected 
feet, then cut away every bit of rotten or 
loose horn. Pus under-runs the wall or 
sole of the hoof- and all such under-run 
horn should be cut away. Use a clean, 
sharp liorseshoer’s knife for the purpose. 
After the cutting has been done, immerse 
the treated font in hot water containing 
all the sulphate of copper (bluestone) it 
will dissolve. Then turn treated sheep 
in a pen on tie floor of which slaked lime 
has been spre: d two or three inches deep. 
Repeat the treatment when seen to be 
necessary, ar di watch flock for new cases. 
If many sh r ep are affected, walk the en¬ 
tire flock through .a narrow trough con¬ 
taining a s lution of four ounces of blue- 
stone to the gallon of water, or a five per 
cent solution of coal-tar dip. Afterwards 
specially treat any sheep that continues 
lame. 
Garget 
1. I have two cows, and bought Alfalfa 
hay. The one did not eat any of it, the 
other gorged herself and consequently is 
off her feed. Can a cow eat too much 
of it? IIow much Alfalfa with grain to 
make a good ration? 2. Is garget chronic? 
I am using wool fat; am advised cocoanut 
oil is the thing to use. F. II. 
New York. • 
I. Always accustom an animal grad¬ 
ually to any change of feed. Gorging on 
a new feed may cause serious bloating or 
other forms of indigestion with mammitis 
(garget) as a possible complication. Ten 
pounds of clover or Alfalfa hay along 
with 30 lbs. of corn eilage and 1 lb. of 
mixture of meals for each 3^ to 4 lbs. 
of milk yielded daily makes a good ra¬ 
tion for a dairy cow. 2. Garget tends to 
become chronic in all cases, and that is 
the ysual result when due to grains. Fat 
of any kind does not cure garget, and 
may do more harm than good unless used 
as a vehicle for turpentine, fluid extract 
of poke root, camphor, belladonna, etc., 
which are effective remedies. 
Skin Trouble 
Two of our rmp-es that had been on 
roughage all Winter, then turned out to 
pasture in early Spring, were brought in 
about three weeks ago suffering with 
swollen legs from the feet to the hocks. 
There was a yellowish pus exuding from 
same, which had a foul odor. When the 
legs were rubbed the hair came off, as 
it. would have done had the legs been 
blistered. The front of the faces was 
also sore, but not swollen. Their appe¬ 
tites were good at all times. Our veteri¬ 
narian does not know what caused this 
trouble, but he has given us some oint¬ 
ment to rub on the affected parts. They 
seem only slightly better at the present 
time. They were in good Blue grass pas¬ 
ture, with access to a portion of woods 
in which various kinds of w’eeds grow. 
Three other horses in pasture with these 
two were not affected at all. w. r. 
West Virginia. 
If the skin affected in these cases i* 
white in color we suspect St. John’s-wort 
poisoning. Alsike clover may also cause 
similar effects. After perfectly cleansing 
the affected parts we should advise wet¬ 
ting them twice daily with a lotion com¬ 
posed of four ounces of Goulard’s extract, 
one ounce of glycerin and one pint of 
soft water. If any spots continue to dis¬ 
charge dust them twice daily with a mix¬ 
ture of equal quantities of tannic acid, 
boric acid and starch powder. Writ# 
again if necessary. 
