138 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



easy reach of the College, to ascertain whether the epidemics were due 

 to the true hog cholera bacillus or some other contagious element. In 

 every case the disease was called hog cholera. Examinations and inves- 

 tigations were made in the vicinitj' of Jackson, Otsego, Delta and Hudson, 

 and in each instance we have been unable to discover the presence of the 

 hog cholera bacillus. Pathogenic germs have been found in the intes- 

 tines, where were located the primary lesions, yet in no instance have we 

 been able to establish the relation of the germs found to the disease, 

 unless those which are under observation at the present time should 

 act differently. This is due to the fact, largely, that the germs isolated 

 would generally lose their virulence from artificial culture before it 

 could be determined that they have any relation to the disease. Bacte- 

 riologic technique has not been able to overcome the difficulty arising 

 in changing germs from natural surroundings to artificial surroundings, 

 and this may be the reason we do not find the germ that is at the founda- 

 tion of the trouble. 



Moore of the Cornell Station, New York, has given this subject a great 

 deal of attention for the past few years, and has tentatively concluded 

 that a large per cent of suspected hog cholera about the eastern states 

 is not the true hog cholera at all, but is due to some local surroundings. 

 So far, he has been unable to isolate the germ or germs causing them. 

 These epidemics seem to spring up, run a course of two or three months, 

 then die out, and are not so persistent as true hog cholera. In cases of 

 hog cholera, it is unsafe to turn pigs into the same lot for two or three 

 years after the epidemic; but in these epidemics, after the course has 

 been run, hogs are turned into the infected lots with total indifference. 

 While the mortality may be nearly as great in any herd affected as in true 

 hog cholera, the danger or the seriousness of the case cannot compare 

 with it. Consequently, it is well that the farmer know whether he 

 has true hog cholera or summer complaint, caused by improper food 

 or water, among his hogs — whether we are able to determine the exact 

 cause of this complaint or not. Summer diarrheas of a choleraic nature, 

 which are so common among human beings and which are due to different 

 germs and no specific germ, give symptoms which are almost indentical. 

 These may give us a clue, reasoning from analogy, to the real nature 

 of the local epidemics among swine. 



CLEANLINESS IN MILKING. 



Work is under way to demonstrate the great need of cleanliness in 

 handling milk. No one appreciates, or can appreciate, the actual filth 

 of milk until he has studied it bacteriologically. It is our purpose to 

 begin with the milking process, and eliminate, so far as it is possible and 

 practicable, the filth that gets into the milk. It is believed that a 

 greater share of it may be eliminated if a few percautions are taken. 

 This of course, will increase the trouble and work entailed in milking — 

 but it will eradicate nearly all the diseases which milk is heir to, and 

 will make milk palatable to those who know what filth gets into milk 

 during the ordinary methods of milking. 



Verv respectfullv submitted, 



CHARLES E. MARSHALL, 



Bacteriologist. 

 Laboratory of Bacteriology and Farm Hygiene, November 11, 1898. 



