Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1869-05-21
From the f>o0thcrn Planter ant Farmer.
niStemper ia Cattie-~-pregeAtatiye

MEssKs EUIToRs :--Ilaviug seen it stat
cd the past year that the d!stemptr pre-
vailed amoEgstthec cattle around Richmond,
as also in some other places, ] feel dispoS-
cd to repnbish The substance Of commu-
nication of mine il :he Southern Planter
for 1854, which, a. Z preventative. ] have
IL yer yet known to fail
About the fast week III May procure Il
trough to correspond in size to the humber
Of cattle; place IL where they are ponncd,
and bore hole through the bottom to let
OIL the surplus water after d rain. Fill it
nearly full Of red clay, then put on Iibers
quantity OF salt, and when the cattle are
penned at night, they viii invariably so 10
the trough ana lick To their satisfaction -
The first rain that falls the salt Will Si.tur-
ate the clay, and the cattle wilt cone,lme
the whole of 1t. This remedy must be
continued until the first hard frost.
My fasher was the first that [ know Of
who adopted this treatment, he HAVING
heard that cattle afflicted With distnmpef
had been known to resort to red clay and
get we'll. lie, suppose, recoIectlng that
natEIo often performed o cure hey Ond the
powers Of art sailed his cattle some two
or three times q week Oh a red CALLED spot
and although his neighbor's cattle were
dying rapidly around him. and that for
several years, yet he never had a solitary
case amongst bis stock. For some two or
three years he kept them in his enclosures,
but alter this, IN consequence of an I'M
perfect fence, his cattle would go on an
adjoining common, and roam with his
nel ghbOrs' distem pered cattle from week
to week, yet they entirely q capped this i'll
fictitious disease. These facts speak for
themselves, and go TO prove that my ia
theirs remedy Is a specific TO stay this fatal
malady.
Al uncle OF mine told me years ago. that
the diStemper being amongst his cattle,
one Of his mich cows was taken with the
disease, went off, and when found, was in
a gully eating red clay, and got well.
One Of my sons at one time lost all his
cattle except milch COW, and when taken
with the disease she went off, was gone
several days. and when found, was in
gully eating red clay. and she got well.
Here we have the instincts of nature
beautifully exempliied, and we may add,
the deg, when sick, seeks relief from herbs,
ANA the guayahii, when bitten by a
serpent, finds IN aEtidOte in 3 certain
plau:.
In the Southern Planter for u, slime
wafer is recommends a. p sovereign cure
for d5tenper even in the last stages OF
III" "i9PaHe, abu ny TIE way, tE4S is SAID
to b" the best known remedy for aigtem-
per IL horaes,
The late Dr.. VIM. $. Morton, in d com
munication to the Southern Planter in "a,
on dlstemper in cattle, said Il strongly
suspect that what we call (listemper, is the
bloody murrain Of Scotland and other
parts Of sreat Britain, and that it was
carried 20 North Carolina by Scottish en-
lgrants. The above suggestion [ have rca-
son to believe is correct, as [ once lived in
North Carolina, and frcm authentic infor-
nation, ! learned that the first case of
distemper occurred III that State near Fay
ettcville, which was settled principally by
the Scotch. Hence the new name Car
DINA distcmper"
W. II. HATCHETr.
kEYsyILLE, Va, April, 1869.