AN OPEN QUESTION.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1012, 30 December 1910, Page 8

AN OPEN QUESTION.

. EFFECT OF ERGOT ON CATTLE. ,i ; .The report from Taranaki that dairy .herds on some of the West-Coast farms j- were suffering from ergot is probably ! -■■ -somewhat astray. , - Ergot is a-fungus which grows on ceri'-•: . 'tain grasses. It is found.with cocksfoot, I. '.tail, fescue is very liable to it, and it k ; : has .been seen "on tussock grass in the [ r South Island. >•' I , - " Findlay, Dun's ; "Veterinary Medicines" Bays.that'..tho earliest symptoms oflergot i 1 come abolit :the>' timo of' blooming.'when 'tho ears of .the-'ryo'exhibit drops 'of yellow, ''sweet, fungous slime called honey dev. which attracts ants and beetles, and after a few days dries up. The soft ovaries of the grains attacked are mean- ; : while covered and filled by white, sponsy, : . '-felted-together cells—tho spawn of the i, claviceps pnrojrea.--*.TUe. grain. far disin, tegrated; at its base.-the mycelinni.'celß - •-! ; .separate, swell, solidify, and form a comi'. iPacti dark violet body, which, as it grows j:. lin a. curved, horn-like shape, protrudes : -the pales, and constitutes the ergot.: Abortion, in cows used' to be'- attributed . to ergot, but the experts and tho investigators of- to-day are . very doubtful whether it'dees as much harm as it was su'pposed to be capable of. •".'Mr. Gilruth, the former Chief' Yeterin-' ; ; ariari of New, Zealand, once made- experiments, with- the object -of ' ascertaining • the effect .of, ergot'on cattle. . He 'fed two ' calves, on. affected grass for some .time; and;t.he-.animals .were.in a-thriviug rendition throughout.