Middletown transcript., 1896-07-25

ing the mass II is difficult or impos-
sibl8 to cuts smooth section through
the middle OF the ball either fly saving
or by slicing, for toward the center tex
ture is much softer than at the sur
face and the hairs pack against the
blade precisly as in cutting through
atightly compressed mass of cotton.
a comparison of these hairs with
those of a mature plant Of crimson
clover shows the two TO be indentical.
They vary in length from about one
twenty-ffth to one-eigth Of an inch,
and under the microscope are found to.
consist each of a single plant cell with
wallis so thick that the cell cavity APP
pears as slender line running through
the center of the hair. The apex tapers
to sharp point. The surface is pro-
vided with scattered, sharp-pointed
tubercles bent toward the apex OF
the hair In fresh specimens the
hair is so transparent that these barbs
usually can not be seen until the hair
is stained, but in hairs taken from the
balls, which are already stained to an
amber color by the intestinal fluids,
| the barbs are at once evident.
1t is only in the fully mature, over
ripe plant that the hair becomes as stiff
and well barbed as those found in the
balls, and even then the stiff hans are
confined principally to the stalks cf
the flower heads and the calyxes of the
separate flowers In plants which
are in flower or which have not yet
Powered the hairs are soft and flexible.
If oYeIripe crimson clover is fed to
horses the bristly hairs will accumu-
late in the stomach or intestines in
spherical balls, which are increased in
size by repeated additions of tile same
matter totheir surfaces, the Whs5lemass
tending to become more compact be-
cause most of the hairs, upwaitiIy bar
bed, are constantly pushing toward the
center, base foremost. When a ball has
reached a sufficient size whether ..after
few days or several weeks we have
no means of knowing), it acts as plug
in the intestine, interfering with the
vital functions, and finally, after few
hours of intense suffering, the horse
dies from 'peritonitis or some related
difficulty. is wholly improbable tha
a ball, unless Of enormous size, remain
| ing in the stomach and not passing In
to the intestine would seriously affect
the health of a horse. The occurrence
of hair balls in tee stomach or intest-
inc of horses, and more commly of cat
tie or sheep, is well known to veterina-
RAM. Usually such balls are composed
of hairs taken into the stomach little
by little when the animals are licking
their coats. These finally become mat
ted into spherical concretions, often
composed in part also phosphate salt
or finely divided alimentary refuse ec-
cupying theminutes PAGES bstween the
hairs. In the center of the ball is fre-
q nentiy found Mailer some other hard
object around which the first hairs had
wrapped themselves when The forma-
tion of the ball was begun.
Hair balls made up of plant hairs
have also been observed, consisting of
the recalled '.teards, "or awDs, of oats,
barley. or other grain. In all the re-
corded cases the plant hairs are barbed
as in crimson clover, and it is doubt
less true that only plant with barbed
hairs can cause trouble of this kind,
unless the hairs are very long and fex-
ible and can hold themselves together
by wrapping around each other.
To explain The conditions under
which the feedings of crimson clover
proved SO disastrous Uncertain parts of
Delaware in 1895 it is to be noted that
crimson clover when intended for hay
is cut about The middle of May. If
intended for crop of seed the clover
is left standing about three weeks lon
er. After cutting, the clover ether
is left one or two weeks in the cock
and then thrashed directly from the
field, iris stacked until more con-
veaient time for thrashing, often a.
month or longer. The increasing de-
mand for crimson clover had induced
an unusually large number of farmers
in 1895 to save their crop for seed in
stead of hay. Consequently larger
amount than usual was left to mature
its seed and many farmers bad short
crop Of clover hay, upon which they
customarily depend at that season.
After the middle of May they were
forced to fodder their stock on overripe
clover, and after the clover-seed bar
vest M; ny of them fed their horses
/ from the stack. or, worse yet, on the
straw and refuse of the thrashing ma
chimes. Most Of the deaths occurred
in the latter half of July, at a time,
therefore, when the horses had been
kept on this improper diet from six to
ten weeks.
Though Grim son clover has long been
in use in Europe as a forage plant,
nothing appears to have been published
there regarding its liability to form hair
balls, and nothing, therefore, regarding
treatment of cases. When the balls
have once developed to such a::size that
they they can not pass through the ID
testine no practical remedy can be sug-
gested. But the prevention of dific-
ulty is in most cases easy. The hairs
of crimson clover do not become stiff
until the plant has passed the towering
m n nd 1,ofxs,ra tf. - IL rl.o..lS1