FAKMKKs' INSTI riTHS. 769 



performed through the mirtdle line of the belly the same as spaying the 

 bitch. The method is to hang the pig up by a ganibrel with a loop for 

 each hook, make the incision about two inches in front of the pubis and 

 remove the ovaries as already indicated. This opening is closed by two 

 sets of stitches, one in the deep muscles and a second in the skin. One 

 of the objections to this method is the danger of small hernias. In either 

 method the parts should be washed with carbolic acid and tlie hands 

 and instruments should be clean. The loss from operating is-sliglit. 



Prolapse of the Anus. Causes.— Permanent protrusion of the mucous 

 membrane lining the rectum through the anal opening is called prolapse 

 of the anus. The cause is violent straining from constipation or diarrhea 

 or anything that will cause a weakening of the sphincter muscle of the 

 anus. It may be seen among breeding sows due to their eating cinders 

 and pieces of wood and the consequent constipated condition of the 

 bowels. 



Symptoms.— Sometimes only a few folds of the mucous membrane 

 appear behind the anus, but it may form a fair sized tumor rather hemis- 

 pherical in shape, red and slightly painful. When exposed to the air for 

 a time it becomes swollen and darker in color. It will become dry in 

 time and crack, sometimes it may«slough. 



Treatment.— Before replacing it. the mucous membrane should be 

 bathed with warm -water for a few minutes in order to reduce the in- 

 flammation and clean it. The protruded portion can be replaced by 

 pressing on the prolapsed portion with the finger. If caused by constipa- 

 tion a laxative of castor oil can be given and soft food fed the animal. 

 Sometimes the prolapse will again occur and need to be replaced. If 

 badly swollen it is best to bathe it with an astringent solution (five per 

 cent, alum solution). To retain it. a stitch can be taken across the anal 

 opening. If the protrusion becomes inured or sloughs, it can be cut off 

 and the margin of the bowel sewed to the margin of the anus. 



Infectious and Contagious Diseases.— Hog Cholera and Swine Plague. 

 —When and where hog choleia had its origin no one will ever be able to 

 positively determine. It is not an old disease in the sense of having 

 been known and described for a long time, like glanders or anthrax. 

 Neither is it such a new disease as some would have us believe. The 

 oft repeated assertion of old farmers that twenty-five or thirty years 

 ago the disease was unknown is merely evidence that the disease was 

 not so generally distributed throughout the country. According to earlier 

 Investitratiors. ontbrciiks of dis(>ase occurred in Oliio in 18:5;i. again in 

 South C.-irolina in IS'M. in 'Jeorgia in 18;{.S, and in Alabama, Florida, Illi- 

 nois and Indiana In 1840 that are believed to have been cholera. As close 

 observations were not made or records kept upon stock diseases at that 

 time, no doiibt many outbrcnks t scaped unrecorded. 



It is not known from whence the disease came; some writers claim 

 that it was introduced into this country by tlie importation of hogs from 



4»-.Agri. 



