25 
[HE AUSTRALIAN GARDENER. 
ee 
Horses Blown By Lucerne. 
These few remarks on the above subject 
(writes D. M. Hugo of Nuy) are for- 
warded as the result of my own personal 
-experiences, and they may serve as a 
warning to farmers who are in the habit 
of feeding lucerne regularly to their 
horses. That lucerne is a perfectly safe 
feed when properly given no one can 
dispute, but accidents will occur in the 
best regulated establishments. One day 
one of my mares, a valuable Hackney, fed 
on faded young lucerne, was found to be 
badly griped, and despite the adminis. 
tration of homely remedies, she became 
worse and worse, and towards evening 
was so distended with gas that she had 
+he appearance of an ox in a similar con- 
dition. T hurriedly sent for Mr. Goodall 
the Government Veterinary Surgeon at 
Worcester, and for once was lucky enough 
to find him in, On making an exam- 
ination Mr. Goodall informed me that the 
only thing to save the animal’s life would 
be to puncture the bowel with a trochar 
and canula, but he warned me that it was 
September 1, 1909 
a risky operation in the horse, aud only 
to be thought of as a last resort. By 
artificial light the operation was success- 
fully performed in the right flank, and a 
tremendous amount of gas escaped; the 
animal obtained instant relief, and 
immediately went off into a sound sleep. 
She made a good recovery, and suffered 
no ill effects. Mr. Goodall informs me 
that he has performed the operation on 
several animals since with ,0.d results 
but, on account of the susceptibility of 
the horse to peritonitis, it is not an 
operation he would recommend anyone to 
undertake; but still, if a valuable animal’s 
life is at stake, it might be worth 
while. The great points to bear in mind 
are to sterilize the trochar and canula 
thoroughly by boiling, to cut the hair off 
the point of puncture and disinfect the 
skin, and to push the canula well in, so 
that it does not slip off the bowel. The 
operation is done in the right flank, in 
the middle of the triangular space between 
the hip-bone, last rib and backbone. The 
trochar canula ought to be at least eight 
inches long. 
Cape of Good Hope Agricultural Journal, 
eel 
Curing Hams and Bacon. 
Before being killed, a pig should have 
nothing to eat for at least twelve hours 
preceding the slaughter. By whatever 
means the animals death is accomplished 
every endeavour mnst be made to get the 
last drop of blood out of the bedy, other- 
wise the flesh will not cure well. Assoon 
as this is done, the carcase should be 
plunged into almost boiling water. The 
proper temperature is very important. If 
either too hot or too cold, the hair will 
not come freely off. A good old-fashioned 
plan to try the temperature is to let afew 
drops of pig’s blood fall on the water, If 
it spreads all over the surface, the tem- 
perature is right. Leave the pig in the 
water till the hair comes freely off. The 
next thing is to hoist the carcase out of 
the water. Hang it up and scrape it 
vigorously «with some sort of blunt 
scraper ; the lid of a billy is as good as 
anything else. When the 
removed, dry the carcase well. Next, re- 
move the intestines, and wipe the inside 
of the body dry. Let the pig hang in a 
cool place for twenty-four hours. Then 
cut it up into hams, hands, spare ribs 
loins, and belly pieces. The spare-ribs 
and loins are usually roasted fresh. The 
other parts are rubbed over with coarse 
salt and a little salpetre, and laid on a 
table, flesh uppermost, so as to drain off 
any blood. 
Where aside is to be dry-cured whole, 
after removing the joint oil and washing 
the cavity freely with salt and water, the 
flesh part of the side should be sprinkled 
freely with equal parts of powdered 
saltpetre and boric acid, to retain the 
colour. After twenty-four hours wash 
this mixture off. Then dry-salt with 
the following:—d0 lb. best fine dairy 
salt, 5 lb. of brown sugar, 5 1b. of 
powdered sultpetre. and 5 lk. of boric 
acid. 
These should be well mixed and passed 
Rub the flesh freely 
this mixture for 
hair is 
through a fine sieve. 
every morning with 
Vor GOODNESS Sake Use 
CEROY Tk 
