Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1854-10-11

TRGoL) TIC THE FARMER
Having formerly been a practitioner of
medicine, my knowledge of the properties of
the above article has led me to some knowl-
elge of its valne as topical application to
the farm yard.
AT one of our Annual Agricultural Exhibit
tons year or two since, met with farmer,
who remembered, had the previous year ex-
hbited a COW whose fine bag had attracted
my attention, and which it seems, always gave
an abundant yield of milk, after calving,
which was regularly and seriously diminished
| by the difficulty of milking oecasioned by her
teats becoming sore not many weeks after the
calf was taken away. He informed me that
he had made the application to her teIts
which had recommended the year before,
and that it had speedily and entirely cured
the teats and that they had remained perfect
" well ever since. | had entirely forgotten
having recommended anything, and he could
not remember the name Of my prescription;
but upon my repeating one or two articles
| which l thought most likely to have been
suggested by me to him, he confidently caught
at the name as | repeated it, of the article
above mentioned as the one which he had SO
successfully used. 1t was not many months
after that, my hired man complained of SIM
liar difficulty in q valuable COW owned by N.Y.
self, causing her frequently to raise her foot
| Nile DSlllS uilhSNAs anu preventing SHOlOuSn
milking of the affected teat. Recalling to
mind the instance above mentioned, l prom
ised the man remedy for trial. but other
cares led me to postpone its preparation UNI
| till found after two or three weeks that the
sore or excoration on the teat was of the size
of finger nail. l then dissolved perhaps a
teaspoonful of sulphate of zinc in half pint
of water, and directed my man to apply it af-
ter each milking, by means of soft rag satu-
rated with the solution. 1t was four or Ave
days, think, (but possibly week. theleaf-
ter, before thought to inquire as to its eff
fects, when confess was as much surprised,
as my man seemed pleased, to find a perfect
! cure effected and natural and healthy appear
ing skin in place of the excoriation or sore
SKIN. This occurred some time last summer.
l should think about July or August, and
when left home the last of January, she had
been MIXED regularly since that time with
out the slightest return of soreness.
The hand of the man who milks is usually
suffered to be applied dry to the teat and is
often hardened by hard work, and it Is not
surprising that the friction occasioned there
bv land by very different surface from the
moist mouth of the calf-the mixer designed
by dame nature) should occasion inhamma.
ton in the skin, and consequent cessation
of the slight oily secretion natural to the pores
of the skin of the teat. The sulphate oil zinc
is decided astringent, and free from the OBJ
fashionable properties of s )me mineral astrn-
gents. Again had litter of Suffolk and
Mackay pigs Uttered last autumn, at that sea-
son when hot sun following cold nights IS
liable to produce irritation and cracking of
the tender skins, and consequent thick black
scar on the back, while their tails become an
entire scab and drop off. Five of this litter
were thus affected. They looked as if they
had been lying rolling III black mud, but
the pen was perfectly dry 1t increased from
dav to dav and the state Of the tail also salts
fed me that they were affected by some disease
of the skin, knew not what. l therefore
resorted to book upon the breeding and dis
eases of this animal, and found the affection
well described aud accounted for, but the
treatment very unsatisfactory to me. l deter
mined therefore to try the zinc, as | thought
it REASONABLE and probable that in this instance
also it would prove useful. Upon removing
tie tile things from the pen, we found their
backs occupied by seabs of great thickness
and so nearly touching each other as to pre-
sent the appearance of a uniform black patch;
but the skin was discoyerable in the cracks
| between each scab or row of scabs, and the
scabs were found surrounding and involving
the hairs. l had prepared the zinc by mixing
| perhaps heaping teaspoonful with lump of
| hogs lard of the size of goose egg. incorpo-
| rating it thoroughly with case knife. This
was thoroughly rubbed upon the parts affect
| ed, and the pigs returned after each applca-
| ton to the pen. 1t was repeated every other
| day, until it had been applied three times
after which, the thick scabs disappeared from
| four of the FIVE, leaving the skin in natural
| state, with the exception of very slight blush
| of red where the scabs had been. But this
shortly disappeared. The fifth was one which
we had brought up by hand, and was not
Il fho or,Olinofiou ho1 de-
five or six times. The tails were hopelessly
lost, exce5t one or two where the root of the
tail alone was affected The Others when we
commenced with the zinc, had the whole tail
involved and cracked, and looking as though
roasted (not brown) but to blackness The
speed with which the cure was effected, con-
sidering that the scales were at least an eighth
| of an inch thick, and that the pigs were con-
tinued in the same exposure where the disease
had originated, leads me to feel confident that
the cure could not be solely attributed to the
lard, which have no doubt would be SO far
serviceable that with longer time it might, or
probably would, remove the difficulty. l sold
the little fellows, at five weeks old, for SIS q
pair
But to ascend from cows and pigs, to high
er order of beings, for whose sake it may be
worth while to posses and to use this prepara-
ton of zinc. Suppose mother to have given
her young child an orange to amuse it, or to
eat, and not being watched the little fellow
has eaten the peel as well as the pulp. Or,
suppose that it has eaten some other equally
indigestible article, and that its stomach and
delicate nervous system rebel against the un-
welcome intruder. The child is found before
long, as sometimes happens, in fit or convul-
sion. 1t is laid upon the bed. and seems to
return to consciousness, but another and an
other fit succeeds. The doctor is sent for, but
half of our farmers live one or two miles dis
tant from the doctor, and half the time the
doctor is not at home. In such case, what
relief to the parents and household it would
be to know just what the doctor would do if
there, and to have the remedy at hand.
| Let them dissolve (aecording to the age of
| the child) from one-twelfth to one-fourth Of
a teaspoonful of sulphate of zinc in great
| spoonful of water, and give 1t to the child
| from the spoon, (for if a fit should occur, it
might bite piece from cup or glass; and in
from three to five minutes, the contents of the
stomach will be evacuated, the cause removed,
and nothing further but rest is needed. Its
operation would probably be FASTENED by CIV
| ing drink of warm water in order to slightly
1 distend the stomach. If it does not operate in
FIVE minutes, the dose should be repeated un-
til the stomach is evacuated. 1t might be we'll
to give from five to six drops Of laudanum af-
forwards, to allay any irritation Of stomach
caused by the zinc or the indigestible food,
especially if there is tenderness upon slight
| pressure to the pit of the stomach L A. r.