568 BOAED OF AGRICULTUEE; 



[Bulletin.] 



Sinoe early in the spring reports have been received from stockmeil 

 to the effect that a strange eye disease was affecting the cattle. These 

 reports have been received from widely separated localities, showing that 

 the disease has a tinite general distribution. In some places the cattle 

 simply have sore eyes, and in others the affection is more serious and a 

 greater or less number go blind. The loss is not so much from the number 

 that are blinded, as to the unthriftiness occasioned, and to the diminished 

 milk flow in dairy cattle. 



This disease is infectious, and when started in a herd is likely to 

 attack a large per cent, of them before running its course. It occasionally 

 affects sheep, but rarely horses. It has l)een attributed to a variety of 

 causes, as the pollen from some plants, and to dust. The disease does 

 usually occur at a season of the year when both pollination and dust are 

 at their most irritating stage, but we are inclined to believe that these 

 are only secondary causes. The germs that have been found are pus 

 producers. This Station regards the disease as one produced by a special 

 organism. The disease is not new, having made its appearance in this 

 State ten years ago, and remained ever since. 



The symptoms are local and general. The body temperature is raised, 

 the appetite interfered with, and rumination checked. In the mild cases 

 these symptoms are not marked. When tirst affected one or both eyes 

 are held nearly closed, the lids swell, and tears pour over the face. A 

 whitish film forms over the eyes, which may become dense. The cornea 

 may bulge forward owing to the pressure of the abscess from within. 

 Yellow spots from the size of a pinhead to that of a grain of corn form, 

 and from the margin will radiate reddish lines. These are abscesses, and 

 when they heal whitish scars will take their places. One eye may be at- 

 tacked and then the other. The course will last from three to six weeks, 

 but it rarely happens that there is complete blindness in both eyes. 



The treatment is comparatively simple. Keep the badly affected cattle 

 in the shade of a woods, or in the barn if necessary, during the middle 

 of the day, to prevent aggravation. Locally, apply equal parts of finely 

 powdered boracic acid and calomel, by means of a small insect powder 

 blower. This can be done quickly with little restraint, and is preferable 

 to an eye wash for the cow. 



R. A. CRAIG, 

 Assistant State Veterinarian. 



CONTAGIOUS ABOKTION. 



A disease that is little known to the public, but one that is a most 

 trying annoyance as well as the cause of considerable loss to breeders, 

 is contagious abortion. The presence of a single case of glanders in the 



