314 



Missouri Agricultural Report. 



Fig. 7. Showing method of drawing blood from a •'hyperimmune" hog for preparation of 

 "Hog Cholera Serum." 



Veterinary Department , Missouri Experiment Station. 



periment Stations, can carry on further researches looking toward 

 the improvement of methods and cheapening of the cost. 



The State, through these agencies, can well afford to produce 

 the serum free of cost as a means of conserving resources which 

 are now lost to the State to the amount of millions of dollars. 



The production of a reliable serum is a necessity for use in 

 official work in suppressing this disease, and cannot, with safety, be 

 entrusted to private concerns or to men who have not had proper 

 training in laboratory and surgical technic, and a special training 

 in this particular work ; as well as a good knowledge of the path- 

 ology of hog cholera and other swine diseases. The work we have 

 done has not been without mistakes and accidents, notwithstanding 

 the large experience we have had. In a few instances the supply 

 animals were evidently not sufficiently hyperimmunized to render 

 the serum protective; in another instance, owing to the pressing 

 demands from the farmers for the serum, and our haste to meet 

 these demands as promptly as possible, some of the supply ani- 

 mals were probably drawn upon too heavily, and the serum weak- 

 ened. In other cases a few of the supply animals that were about 



