_Milzbrand_. He described it as a dreadful pestilence, the scourge
of many a mountain-pasture. Hundreds of cattle, he tells them, are
sacrificed to it yearly. Even the deer and lesser game die from the
contagion, as well as human beings; death in the latter case being
occasioned either by eating the meat of diseased animals or by having
cuts or wounds which have come in contact with the victims. Even the
bite of a fly which has fed on the contaminated meat will propagate
the malady. Hides or reins made of the skins are known years after
to reproduce Milzbrand. Where the body of an affected animal has been
buried the ground becomes contagious for a long run of years, the
cattle pasturing there being attacked. The only remedy consists in
burning the contaminated body, and then keeping the live-stock from
the place where the victim fell. When Milzbrand appears the farmer
feels he has no option between sacrificing his cattle and abandoning
for a season his rich pastures. And yet a little attention might soon
cause a remedy, the evil often arising from the water of a particular
pool or brook, which if carefully guarded against makes the rest of
the Alp perfectly secure.

When I ventured to quote from the calendar to Moidel, suggesting that
at Jagdhaus it might certainly be the water, she remained impervious
to any new views on the subject. "There was Milzbrand, and that might
arise from the water, for all she knew, but at Jagdhaus it was a rod
of God, which only prayer averted."

Adolf Trientl appears to be a Tyrolese priest, who travels annually
through his native land watching closely the agriculture and domestic
economy, and trying, countenanced by government, to help his country
people to an easier working life, healthier houses and more profitable
land. To the credit of the clergy of Brixen, his practical often pithy