“If the case is not severe enough to warrant tapping, the following remedies will be found useful: A gag made by winding a good-sized rope back of the horns and through the mouth, or a bit, made of a piece of wood the size of a fork handle, can be tied in the animal’s mouth. The bit should be smooth, to prevent injuring the mouth. Then a small handful of salt should be thrown well back on the roots of the tongue. This causes the animal to work its tongue, increases the flow of saliva, and thus favors the regurgitation, or gulping up, of the gas. The salt and saliva swallowed help to stop fermentation. “Blankets wrung out of cold water and wrapped around the abdomen or belly, or cold water dashed on with a bucket, often give relief. Turpentine given as a drench, in milk sufficient that it will not irritate the animal, is good, two ounces of turpentine for adult cattle and one-half ounce for sheep being a dose. Hyposulphite of soda, dissolved in water and given as a drench, is good; one ounce for cattle and two drachms for sheep. This can be repeated every half hour for two or three doses. Aqua ammonia, two ounces for cattle and one-half ounce for sheep, well diluted with water; carbolic acid, cattle 30 drops, sheep 8 to 10 drops in sufficient water; common soda, in half-ounce doses for cattle and one-half drachm for sheep, can be given. In giving medicine as drenches, they should be well diluted with water or other substances until they will not burn when touched to the tongue. In giving drenches, be careful and not choke the animal. If the animal coughs or struggles violently, stop at once until it recovers somewhat. Give drenches slowly. “Drenches are mostly administered from a long-necked, thick, glass bottle, or drenching horn. Take hold of the nose with the left hand, by putting the thumb and finger in the nostrils, while an assistant takes hold of the horns, and tips the head back. Standing on the right side of the animal, with the right hand put the neck of the bottle in the right corner of the mouth, and pour the medicine in slowly. After the bloating has been relieved, it is a good plan to give the animal a purgative--one pound of Epsom salts, with one-half pound common salt, for cattle; and for a sheep, six ounces of Epsom salts and three ounces of common salt, dissolved in plenty of warm water, and given as a drench. The animals should also be dieted until their digestive organs regain their normal condition. By dieting, I do not mean starving, but plenty of easily digested and nutritious food. An animal that bloats once is very liable to bloat again. By judicious handling and feeding, by watching animals closely, and treating them in time, few will be lost by alfalfa bloating.” ALFALFA AS A SOILING CROP