100 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Fes., 1900. | 
Tf the pigs are a month old they may themselves get a teaspoonful of castol | 
oil, with 10 to 15 drops of laudanum, as a preliminary to further treatment 
which may, or may not, be necessary. Castor oil not only gets rids of irritating — 
material that may be the cause of scour, but after this action it tends to bint } 
the bowels. After the preliminary purgative dose of oil it may be useful to 
treat diarrhoea in sucking pigs by giving the sow a few old beans. 
Exposure to wet and cold is also a cause of porcine diarrhcea, and young 
pigs reared in damp buildings or on cold stone floors very commonly scour. 
THE REMEDY. 
The remedy then is, of course, dependent on the removal of the cause. 
Very often, diarrhoea is the result of improper feeding or the use of cheap — 
meals. Pigkeepers are often tempted by stuff offered at a low price, such a* | 
mill sweepings and the dirt and refuse of cleaning machines. ; i 
Some months ago such stuff was extensively advertised in the agricultural | 
journals, and led to a prosecution, which, it is to be regretted, failed, so caret 
is the law of the adulterator, and so fixed is the idea that “adulteration 184 
form of competition.” 
The only way to avoid trouble with “scour” is to pay a fair price for 
middlings and other meals, and to deal with firms which have a reputation 10 
lose or maintain, or to buy corn and get it ground, than purchase offals from — 
unquestionable sources. 
Diarrhea from cold may be treated by giving a mixture of juniper berries; 
tormentilla root, and camphor, in doses to suit age or weight. 
When medicine is necessary after the preliminary dose of castor oil, the | 
old-fashioned mixture known as “Sheep and Calves’ Cordial” is very useful. 
An example of a formula is: Prepared chalk, 1 oz.; tincture of catechu and 
tincture of opium, of each 3 0z.; Armenian bole and essence of peppermint, of 
each 2 drachms ; water to60z. Dose, 4 0z. to 1 oz. twice a day, or a teaspoonfu 
to sucking pigs. 
Palsy, paralysis, or what is known as weakness in the back of a pig, and loss 
of power of the hindquarters may result from an injury to the spine, such as 
heavy stroke across the back, or cold causing congestion, or damaged food. Jt — 
caused by an injury, it is hardly curable; if by cold, or bad food, give a mild — 
physic of salts or sulphur and charcoal, and apply a stimulating liniment along — 
the spine. A change of location to cleaner quarters, more room, and purer al” 
is often beneficial. — 
There are several remedies in case of scouring in young pigs. First, reduce 
the feed of the dam or change it to something else. If this does not stop it, 
take a lump of alum the size of a walnut, dissolve it in 1 pint of water, give 
each pig 1 teaspoonful three times 2 day. Another good remedy is to parch 
wheat flour until brown, and mix with skim milk and feed in the same way, 0% — 
if the pigs are old enough to eat, feed in a trough. ‘This last is an excellent 
remedy for scours in calves or young colts. 
OVERFEEDING BAD. 
Stuffing newly weaned pigs in order to force them on rapidly, or feeding — 
them with foods to which their undeveloped digestive organs are not accustomed, — 
often causes diarrhoea, and thus defeats the end in view. Go slowly for a start | 
and feed, not so much according to what is available as to what, in view of — 
their age and previous management, the pigs can digest and assimilate. There 
is a limit to the ability of pigs to consume rubbish. 
It must be noted, too, that diarrhcea is often a feature of tuberculosis, tO 
which, next to cattle, the pig is prone, possibly from the consumption’ of the 
product of tuberculous cows. Jn such cases there would be chronic diarrho® 
and more rapid wasting than usually characterises this condition of the animal: 
