770 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



Kiiirlaiid. while otljers hold that the gt?rins are native to our soil and 

 only need a favorable opportunity to produce the disease, the same as in 

 Itlack leg. 



Hog cholera seems to have been introduced into J:his State from Ohio 

 by the driviuj? of hogs to the southeastern and southern counties for the 

 purpose of fattening. At first the disease was conlined to a narrow tract 

 along the Ohio Kiver, but the disease gradually spread northward and 

 westward until it reached Terre Haute in 1847 and 1848. The first agri- 

 cultural report, published in 1859 and 18G0, contains a most interesting 

 article upon this disease and dwells upon the heavy losses sustained in 

 the southern part of the State. The history of the spread of this disease- 

 following the lines of commerce— is strong evidence that it is not one 

 indigenous to our soil. Every county has now been invaded and some of 

 them very frequently, so that it may be said that we now have a general 

 in lection 



Losses.— Tlie total loss to the swine industry in the United States 

 has been variously estimated at from $10,000,000 to $25,000,000, but there 

 can be no doubt that in some years the loss greatly exceeds the latter 

 ligure. In 189G it is probable that the loss was between $45,000,000 and 

 $50,000,000. The annual losses vary between $1,250,000 and $5,000,000 in 

 our own State. 



According to the Bureau of Statistics the losses in the different years 

 have been as follows: 



Year. Number. 



1883 288,280 



1884 351,150 



1885 .326,555 



1880. 402,164 



1887 512,692 



1888 326,359 



1889 247,114 



1890 256,991 



3895 278,143 



3890 580,267 



1897 899,457 



1898 372,868 



1899 553,930 



1901 236,870 



1902 197,491 



1903 295,672 



The average loss for the seventeen years has been having a value 

 of more than $2,000,000. This loss will not be reduced to any appreciable 

 degree in the near future. We know more about the cause of the disease, 

 more about the disease itself, more about its relation to sanitary surround- 



