ALLEGED CURE FOR BOTS,

Wanganui Chronicle, Issue 15000, 19 September 1900, Page 2

ALLEGED CURE FOR BOTS,

The United States Department of Agriculture haa recently published the following experiments, which "n gentleman from Georgia tried, and found effective in dispelling bots from horses. Some years ago a friend, of his lost <v valuable horse by these pests. He took from the stomach of the dead animal iibout a gill of bots to experiment with y Ho made a preparation of all the remedies ho had heard of, and put some of the bots in each. Most of them had no effect; a few affected them slightly, but sage tea-; more than anything else, killing them in fifteen hours. He concluded he could kill them by putting them in nitric acid, but it had no more effect on them than water, as the third day they were as lively as when put in. He took a handful of tansy, bruised it, added a little water, squeezed out the juice, and put some of the hots in. They were dead in one minute, Sonic time after ha had another hopse affected with bots. He gave him tansy in the morning and a ■dose of salts in the evening. The nest morning lie took from the excretions three half-pints of bots. ■ If this account can be relied, on, and it ought to be, published as it is by so high an authority as the American De])ajtment of Agriculture, it will not be a difficult matUjr: to, circumvent the bots. Farmers, therefore, and settlers generally, will have to go m for the growth of tansy, th.it they may be able to make a, ftecoction of so simple and effectivj a character that Jjorses troubled with the grubs may be cure J. The common' tansy (tanacetum vulgare), as most people know, i.s an erect herbaceous plant, one to two feet in height, with repeatsdly- , divided, deeply -cut leaves, and terminal corymbs of buttoii-liko flower-heads, ihe flowers being yellow. I)) English gank-ns it is a very common plant. All parts of it have a strong, aromatic scent, as ulso an exceedingly bitter taste. At one time tansy was much used in- medicinal prepuratiotis, and still retains a place in old cookery books as an ingredient in puddings and I cakes. Among rustic practitioners tansy wine used to enjoy some amount of reputation as a .stomachic, tansy tea being an okl popular tea for certain ailments. The plant is a native of Great Britain and the Continent, and has been introduced and naturalised in the States of America.