364 



are not known. It is described as a disease due to parasitic bacteria 

 (or germs), which exist in certain localities, particularly in low or rich 

 grass lands. These organisms when introduced into the bodies of 

 young cattle grow principally in the connective tissue (between the 

 skin and the flesh) and in the muscles, causing dark, bloody, gaseous 

 tumors. Other characteristic symptoms of the disease are fever and 

 lameness. The duration of the disease varies from a few hours to a 

 few days, making medicinal treatment difficult even if curative reme- 

 dies were known. The disease may, however, be prevented by inocu- 

 lation with the modified virus of blackleg, according to the method 

 discovered by Arloing, Thomas, and Coruevin, and extensively prac- 

 ticed in Europe. 



It is advised to have the animal inoculated twice, allowing about a 

 week to elapse between the operations. During an outbreak of the 

 disease only the animals showing signs of the disease should be inocu- 

 lated. On farms where blackleg occurs more or less regularly all 

 young animals should be inoculated at five or six months of age. 



The bulletin also makes suggestions as to treatment where the dis- 

 ease breaks out unexpectedly in new places. Experiments in trans- 

 mitting the malady to cattle, sheep, and rabbits by direct inoculation of 

 the germs, are described in detail. The differences between blackleg 

 and charbon (anthrax) are stated and illustrated by figures of the 

 germs of both diseases. The bulletin also contains a tabular sum- 

 mary of tests made by the station in 1889 in which eighty-two head of 

 cattle were inoculated. Only one of these animals died and that one 

 was suffering from blackleg when inoculated. 



New York State Station, Bulletin No. 23 (New Series), September, 1890 (pp.29). 



Comparative test of cows, P. Collier, Ph. D. (pp. 297-323). — 

 This contains tabulated data on a trial with four cows made to " test 

 their relative merits as milk and butter producers under like condi- 

 tions;" a short trial with two cows to compare the effects of feeding 

 dry feed, and the same moistened; and the milk record of two cows 

 during two weeks on a ration consisting of corn stover, sugar beets, 

 and grain. The trials were not conclusive, and v/ere of such a nature 

 as to allow of no deductions of general interest. 



Loss IN KEEPING MANURE, P. COLLIER, PH. D. (pp. 323-325). — To 



observe the loss which takes place in the amount of fertilizing ingred- 

 ients by weathering, one half cord of fresh manure from a cow stable 

 and one half cord of " old compost, of which muck was the leading in- 

 gredient," were each weighed, sampled for analysis, and piled sepa- 

 rately in close, conical heaps, January 4, 1889. "The season of 1889 in 

 this locality was exceptionally cloudy and wet. * * Both piles were 

 reweighed April 13, returned to the same place, and carefully piled as 



