Jasper County Democrat, Volume 13, Number 90, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 February 1911 — STAGGERS INVESTIGATED. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

STAGGERS INVESTIGATED.

Moidy Corn Believed' to Bet,the Cauai of the Deaths of Many Horses. According to a bulletin issued by the Kansas State Agricultural college experiment station, blind staggers, sleepy staggers, mad staggers or meningoencephalitis has occurred in outbreaks of greater or less severity in many sections of .the United States. In adJdifion, there seems to be a continual loss of horses from staggers in any locality in which much corn of an inferior grade is fed. A certain green corn mold, known scientifically as Aspergillus glaucus, is blamed. The contents of the bulletin jnay be briefly summarized as follows: Feeding horses upon immature corn badly infected with molds and worm

[From bulletin of Kansas, State Agricultural college experiment station.] dirt, with its accompanying bacteria, produces typical eases of staggers. The extract of such corn is rapidly fatal to rabbits. Aspergillus flavus, Aspergillus niger and Ithizopus nigricans (molds) have been found abundantly on the corn only in localities which lose horses from staggers. Corn containing any molds should be thoroughly cleaned or “floated” before feeding. Mixing corn with bran and oats se r ’ to lessen the danger. Treatment to be effective must be begun early. During the course of investigations it was found that in some localities cases w hich were reported as staggers were in reality typical cases of parasitism produced in horses by the palisade worm in the intestines and blood vessels, the error arising from the similarity of some of the symptoms of the two diseases. The observations have not been sufficiently extensive to determine the relation between staggers and the so called cornstalk disease. The latter is the name popularly applied to many disorders of the digestive tract in cattle and horses, some of which are clearly not the result of any poison or toxin. It seems that neither the seasons nor the localities in which many cattle have died in the stalk fields coincide with those in which severe outbreaks of staggers in horses have occurred. For Digging Post Holes. Any farmer can easily make one of the tools shown in the illustration.

says a correspondent of the Orange Judd Farmer. ’ It is very simple and requires no outlay of money for materials. An old ax or a broad piece of steel with one sharp edge is bolted to a handle in the manner shown. Two holes must be drilled through the end opposite the sharp edge. The handle enables the worker to use the tool with ease in cutting off small roots while digging holes for feneeposts.

One great reason why some men win on the farm is because they keep (he ends tucked in. If you want to freeze on a cold winter night let the bedclothes get pulled out at the foot. Fanning is just that way. Don’t let the bedclothes get pulled out at the foot.

CORN DAMAGED BY MOLD.

LOST HOLE DIGGERS.