The people's journal. (Pickens, S.C.) 1891-1903, 1897-04-01
ABOUT A COWS TAIL.
Scientific Investigation Knocks Ont
a Familiar Belief

ralnll1af bolt0f,
DR.. Galen Wilson in Practical Farmor
Those OF us who have been .blessod
| with opportunities to learn better. are
| inclined to deride those who still be-
| lieve that there are such diseases of cat
tie as "hollow horn" and "hollow tail. -
and OF horses as hooks" yet we must
not Ignore the fact that millions of the
intelligent people of the United States
are firm in tho faith of the existence
of such diseases. The following letter,
addressed to me, from o gentleman OF
Hanover County, Va, in both chiro-
graphy and elegance of expression,
would be creditab!e to tho brightes,
and most painstal1ing college graduate.
He writes:
You nave, on several occasions, in the
T.. f., denied the existence of two cattle
ai!ments, viz: "hollow horn" and "hollow
lall' ! send portion of cows tai! SO
ai1ected You Will note that nothing has
been done to it except to sever it from the
parent sten,, which ! consider more hu.
name than splitting it open, ,scraping clean,
illil"g with pepper and salt and binding
up-the method Of treatmcnt pursued here
You. will further note that it is the first
| five inches Of the small end of the tail that
! is affected, though have cut up into the
n"n-atiected rtion that you may observe
| The, process of decay in tn. bone in the five
| inches men Toned. You will find ,he bone
entirely rotted away and the cavity filled
with brown, watery substance, identical
with :hat found in the cavity OF a hollow
horn It's effect I" hollow tail in cow
| is to make the animal become poor and
very lraclous toward her kind. Finally
she gets down and refuses to eat, Then
the COW doctor is called, the seasoning "
| aiCrcmentioned is introduced, when the
| animal resumes the even tenor Of her
way. This is the second case of the XII q
| nave known The other affection was in
| IN middle OF the tail, was treated as de-
scrlbed and recovered. Personally
Know iittlc OF such things; but what am
| to oclicvc.--thc evidences of my own
| senses, or the teachings Of science?
| Not to be accused OF "airing nv
prejudices through reply, sub.
nltted the piece OF tail and accom-
"anylng letter to one OF the best vete-
! 'lnarians in the State of New York
| Without examining the tail at all, and
requested an examination by him and
-uch reply as the case warranted,
6el0w is his report in full:
Your letter from H. NJ, also a portion Of
| cows tail duly received, and in reply,
would say thal the ta,l was no, hollow in
any sense, nor was it softened several
"ayed bone, no pus or fluid or chccsy mat
| ter. The writer promised that we should
hnd the bone entirely rottcd awav
ana its cavity in its place filed vii! a
conditions were fulfilled or disco cred
| lie states that its effect on the COW is to
make her poor. Our experience has been
'lth an such cases, that the trouble origi-
ind that COWS thus affected, properly fed,
toned up and nedicalcd f"r such ails-
ments as they are suffering from that give
rise to this condition, usual recover. As
Nonf correspondent duly says, a COW with
tail in this condition will finally get so she
cannot rise when down. then q COW doc
| tor is called. The writer thinks that the
day is about past when our stockowners
Will allow cattle to reach this point. 1t is
| 100 expensive to wait until such lengths
| thousands who have had any cXperien ce
| with this trouble, and whose heads are OF
IKE the tails---too soft will begin before
Tins stage is arrived at In years forcgone
| IN thls country it was common practice TO
let cattle stand out cold winter davs in
| stack yards, (and many we're very lucky if
there was stack in said yardD and the
animals were fed on poor hay, straw, or
corn corr, fodder onl y; Exposed to inclement
arrive, those that had lived through the
winter wcr. many of them suffering from
this so-callcd hollow tail, due simply to
the 1act that the poor creatures had not
weak from exposure and privation and
starvation and their tails being far from
the centre Of circulation were prone to
soften, and in many cases, rot off. Where
one case of this sort is ow observed, hun
dreds could he noted forty or fifty years
ago. 1t is not necessary to point the moral.
Some of tho older citizens Of the
country call to mind tho swill-milk
var" il New York City, MANY years
,go, originated by Frank Leslie and
conducted vigorously in one of his pub
ications as principal, and aided more
n less by nearly all the local press
| Distillers there kept COWS to consume
refuse, in slops mostly, aud sold the
| milk. Cows were confined to low
filthy stables continuously. The dis
| tillery feed did not furnish the nutri-
| nent the animals required, and much