388 FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 



JERSEY CATTLE AND PLEURO PNEUMONIA. 



DISCUSSION AT THE HANOVER INSTITUTE. 



President Willits : Are imported Jerseys more liable to pleuro pneumonia 

 than others ? 



Mr. Dean : No, sir. It is unknown in the Channel Islands, and has ex- 

 isted in no imported animals. There has been less among Jerseys than 

 among other breeds, and I think no one breed more susceptible than others. 

 Jerseys are as hardy as others and are kept advantageously in Canada. This 

 late attack of pleuro pneumonia came from one Jersey heifer in Ohio. They 

 had had it for years in New Jersey and the region about Washington, and 

 this particular heifer had been brought from the infected district near Balti- 

 more. 



I think for the ordinary farmer the Short Horn and its grades is the best 

 general stock, but I think every farmer who wants butter on his table, or has 

 grocery bills to pay, would do well to have one or two Jerseys to meet the 

 occasion. 



Mr. Wetmore: I used to be prejudiced against Jerseys, but once bought 

 a grade bull and soon found that two-year old Jersey grade heifers were way 

 ahead of my seven-eighths Short Horn old cows, and I found the same experi- 

 ence among my neighbors. 



Mr. Dean : I find wherever there are grade Jersey heifers the farmers 

 wont sell them for any $25, nor much, if any, under $50. 



President AVillits: Will Prof. Grange tell us something of pleuro pneu- 

 monia ? 



Prof. Grange : It was first described one hundred years ago, though it 

 doubtless existed long before that. It attacks no animal except cattle, and 

 of them only the lungs. As a rule the pleura is first affected, and afterward 

 the )ungs, producing a liver like quality, with a whitish membraneous sub- 

 stance interlacing it. I can see no difference between breeds in susceptibility 

 ■to this disease. The disease has never appeared in Jersey; indeed, it can- 

 not, because of the law against importing live animals. 



It was first introduced in this country by a Short tlorn, then by a Friesian, 

 and later by an English cow not a Jersey. 



Question: How is it communicated? by the breath? 



Prof. Grange : It is hard to say. It has even been suggested that the 

 germs may be carried in clothing, and I would think well to exclude visitors 

 from the quarantine slaughter-houses. The disease begins with rigors fol- 

 lowed by fever, the temperature rising to from 10:i to lu6, the natural tem- 

 perature being from 101 to 102. Subjects become much emaciated, exhibit 

 pain on applying the hand to the center of the back or tappiug fingers on 

 sides of chest. The lung is gradually converted into a liver like condition, 

 making extra work needful to the remainder of the lungs, and this can be 

 observed by the louder sound on listening at the chest. It is contagious and 

 never sporadic. The disease incubates in from two to six weeks, and runs 

 its course in from a fortnight to three months. There is a question whether 

 complete recovery ever takes place, though aconite and turpentine have been 

 administered with ameliorating effect. 



Senator Sherwood : Are the symptoms so plain that anyone could recog- 

 nize it ? 



