THE FARMER'S iMAGAZINE. 



117 



the details of the system which prevailed with regard to 

 the cattle trade, together with the particulars relating to 

 the shipment of aninaals to Kngland. This part of our 

 mission was the more pressing as the recent Order in 

 Council, prohibiting the importation into the United 

 Kingdom of " cattle or of horns, hoofs, or hides, from 

 those territories of Russia, Prussia, or Mecklenburgh- 

 Schwerin, which lie in the Gulf of Finland, or between 

 the Gulf and the city of Liibcck" might be found to re- 

 quire an immediate extension to other countries, or pos- 

 sibly we might ascertain that a relaxation of it could be 

 made without the incurrence of a gre;iter risk of the 

 disease being introduced. We therefore commence our 

 inquiries in 



Belgium. 



Our investigations here fully confirmed the statement 

 m;ide by Lord Howard de Walden, her Majesty's Am- 

 bassador at Brussels, in his despatch to Lord Clarendon, 

 dated March 20th, 1857, that this country was perfectly 

 free from the rinderpest. We found that eczema 

 epizootica prevailed to some extent, but not in a serious 

 form, and that pleuro-pneumonia also existed in several 

 parts of the kingdom. Rinderpest had not shown itself 

 to an extent to create much solicitude since the Seven 

 Year's War, during which time it destroyed vast num- 

 bers of cattle. From 1813 to 1815 some cases occurred 

 in the district between Namur and Luxemberg, and 

 which are said to have depended upon the passage of the 

 Austrian army into France, The route taken by the 

 army was south of the Belgian frontier, and near to the 

 places in question ; and it appears that along its whole 

 course the disease was manifested to a greater or less 

 extent on either side of the military road. It is also said 

 that the cattle belonging to the Prussian army being 

 healthy, no disease followed its course through the 

 country, and thus a great part of Belgium escaped the 

 pest ; the measures of sanitary police confining it chiefly 

 to the neighbourhood of Namur, and the districts in 

 which it had manifested itself. 



We refrain from commenting on these facts in this 

 place, as hereafter we shall have to call attention to the 

 freedom of continental states in general from the disease, 

 unless infected cattle, or such as have been exposed to 

 the contagious influence of the malady, are introduced 

 therein. 



At Ghent we visited a cattle fair which was held the 

 day after our arrival, and had thus an opportunity of 

 observing the general state and condition of animals 

 brought from all parts of the kingdom, and wliich 

 proved to be most satisfactory. From the cattle-dealers 

 we learned that no difficulties existed in the way of the 

 passage of cattle to or fro over the frontier, so long as 

 they are healthy, but that restrictions would be rigidly 

 enforced on the breaking out of a contagious disease. 

 Lord Howard de Walden writes that " no law exists 

 under which diseased cattle can be excluded at the 

 frontier ; a project of law, with a view to such sanitary 

 precaution, was presented to the Chambers two years 

 ago, but was rejected ; and therefore the only resource 

 lies in the activity of the burgomasters in frontier locali- 

 ties, by enforcing the general regulations in regard to 

 animals while within the range of their jurisdiction." 



Pleuro-pneumonia has prevailed rather in a sporadic 

 than an epizootic form for the last two years, and an 

 equal number of cases are said to have occurred in places 

 where the feeding and general management of the ani- 

 mals are unexceptionable, as in tbo«.e where the opposite 

 state of things oljtains, but that, under the latter-named 

 circumstances, the disease has assumed a more fatal cha- 

 racter. All animals which are supposed to be affected 

 by this disease have to be reported by the proprietors, 

 and if, on examination by the Governmental veterinary 



surgeon, they are found to be the subjects of it, then an 

 order is given for them to be killed. The skin, horns, 

 and other integumenfal parts are used, but the flesh is 

 buried as a rule, in accordance with the regulation of the 

 Government, who pay a proportionate amount of the 

 value of the animal, and generally to the extent of one- 

 third. 



It appears, however, that this regulation is sometimes 

 evaded, and that the carcases of such animals occasion- 

 ally find their way into the meat market, but no in- 

 stance of injury done to persons eating such flesh is 

 known to have occurred. Many animals also are not 

 officially reported, as the proprietor either sells them for 

 slaughtering or has them killed unknown to the autho- 

 rities. Should this, however, become known, the ani- 

 mal is seized, and disposed of as the Government sees 

 fit, and a fine is also inflicted on the offender. Upon 

 the whole, the laws of the sanitary police are so strictly 

 enforced, that in the event of the rinderpest extending 

 into Belgium, it seems scarcely possible for animals 

 which had even been exposed to its infection to be ex- 

 ported from the country. 



At Antwerp, we ascertained that the chief exports of 

 animals to England from thence are calves, and that the 

 major part of the cows and oxen which are fatted for the 

 market are sent into France, where at this time a better 

 price is obtained for them than in England. The calves 

 are purchased of the farmers in different parts of Bel- 

 gium by commissioned agents, who collect them toge- 

 ther for shipment from Antwerp, but some of the oxen 

 come direct from Holland, The proportionate amount 

 of oxen to calves which are exported is shown by a re- 

 turn furnished by MM. Vandenbergh for the year 1856. 

 The MM. Vandenbergh are the largest shippers of cattle 

 to England ; and although a few animals are sent over 

 by other companies, they are in about the same propor- 

 tion. The return shows that 2,020 calves were forwarde<? 

 here in the year, but only 10 oxen. 



Holland, 



As this country sends our principal supply of foreign 

 cattle and sheep, it became the more important to ascer- 

 tain their freedom, or otherwise, from contagious dis- 

 eases. With the exception of pleuro-pneumonia and 

 eczema, no other affection prevails among the cattle. 

 Rinderpest has had no existence for upwards of forty 

 years, and is unknown even to the veterinary profession, 

 except by name. The parts of the country most affected 

 with pleuro-pneumonia at this time are North Holland 

 and Friesland. 



By a statistical return from forty-three villages in 

 North Holland and Friesland, it is shown that only eight 

 of them have been comparatively free from pleuro- 

 pneumonia, and in these out very few cattle are kept. 

 In the villages where the disease has prevailed, about a 

 fifth part only of the cattle-owners have escaped upon the 

 whole, but in many every proprietor has had his hefd 

 affected. In the first quarter of the present year the 

 official returns show a total loss of 3,655 head of cattle, 

 of which 1,502 died, and 2,153 were killed by order of 

 the authorities, which gives an average loss of about 281 

 per week. 



We are not surprised at the great extent of these 

 losses, judging from what we saw of the secondary causes 

 of epizootics in operation in the vicinity of Rotterdam. 

 The cattle are often crowded into houses so thickly, 

 that to pass between them is almost an impossibility. 

 The form and size of the building also will frequently 

 allow of a passage only to be made by a person along its 

 centre, where the heads of the animals nearly meet over 

 their feeding troughs, while the height of it is generally 

 insufficient to stand upright in. No windows exist in 

 many of these sheds, nor any other inlet for light and 



