No. 7. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 227 



After the animal has been buried in the ground for years these 

 spores may be brought up to the surface and become attached to 

 grass and other forage which may be growing tliere, and any ani- 

 mal eating this forage is lilcely to contract the disease. The spores 

 may be washed out of the soil and float down a stream and animals 

 drinking the water may contract the disease. You will see from 

 this that one of the essentials in controlling this disease is a pro- 

 per disposition of the carcasses and a thorough disinfection of any 

 ground surface, or of any premises which may have been con- 

 taminated with blood or other discharges from an animal affected 

 with the disease. When an animal is dead of anthrax it is a 

 mistake to hold a postmortem examination, because the person 

 doing this not only runs a risk of infecting himself with the disease, 

 but the germs which are contained in the blood will develop spores, 

 and as these spores or seeds are much more resistant to conditions 

 outside of the body than the germs, the ground or premises are 

 therefore almost certain to be infected. The carcass of an animal 

 should be disposed of by burning or should be buried at least four 

 feet below the surface and should be covered with quicklime. Stones 

 or timber should be thrown over the ground above the grave to 

 prevent dogs digging into the carcass, and to prevent animals from 

 grazing over the surface. There is a vaccine which can be applied 

 to protect cattle against infection with this disease. This vaccine 

 should never be used until it has been positively determined that 

 the disease exists in the pasture or on the farm; otherwise, the dis- 

 ease may be introduced into localities which are free from it. An 

 incident was brought to my attention the other day which illustrates 

 the length of time articles or places infected with the germs of 

 anthrax remain dangerous. On a certain farm there were several 

 cases of anthrax in cattle in 1906. The cattle remaining on the 

 place were vaccinated in 1906 and w^ere again vaccinated last year. 

 No further losses from the disease have occurred. There is on the 

 farm an old wagon which was used in 1906 to haul away the car- 

 casses of the animals that died at that time. After being used for 

 this purpose it was put away until about two months ago. At that 

 time the owner decided that he would take it out for some reason 

 or other, and about ten days of two weeks later he developed an 

 anthrax pustule on one of his arms and came very near dying of 

 the disease. 



Blackleg is similar in many respects to anthrax. The bacillus 

 which causes the disease lives in the soil and the infection is ob- 

 tained from the soil. The same precaution in disposing of car- 

 casses of animals dead of this disease is therefore necessary. Ani- 

 mals which are kept on infected ground can also be protected from 

 this disease by vaccination. 



Another disease which has many features in common with an- 

 thrax and blackleg is hemorrhagic septicaemia. The bacillus which 

 iiauses this disease also makes its home in the soil, and the appear- 

 ance of the organs and tissue of an animal which has died of this 

 disease is similar in many respects to those of an animal dead of 

 anthrax. Unfortunately, however, we have as yet no vaccine that 

 can be used to protect animals from this disease. Cases of this 

 disease have been met with in the mountainous parts of the State. 



