496 



Diseases of hogs. — Mr. Walter Barnes, of Larissa, Cherokee County. 

 Texas, writes to the Department as follows : 



In MuY aud June of 1870, the black jack, red oak, and hickory trees were infested 

 ■with the large, black, striped caterpillar, which, on coming to maturitj"^, fell to the 

 ground, to burrow and to change to the chrysalis. Hogs ate them with avidity, and 

 nearly all the sows lost their pigs before yeaning time. In the fall there was a large 

 bitter mast, aud many hogs had the kiduey worm ; I know of none that died. They 

 would be weak in the loins, frequently so weak as to drag the hind legs on the ground, 

 for five to ten days, then gradually get stronger, and after a month or two get well, 

 but with sunken loin and shrunken hams. I have noX^ several in the latter condition, 

 which I would not kill last winter, although they were fat and never got thin. I 

 killed one hog, of which one kidnej^ was entirely gone, the other only a skin full of liv- 

 ing worms, with not a particle of the kidney tissue. I am feeding over two hundred 

 head in all. Occasionally have a case of cholera. 



[The caterpillar mentioned is probably an oak-feeding insect, Anisota 

 [dryocampa) senaforia, the larva of which answers this description. It 

 changes into a yellowish-brown moth. I^ ha-ve never before heard of 

 their injuring hogs ; if so, it is a new fact. — T. G.] 



Sheep husbandry in New Mexico. — During the summer of 1870, 

 Colonel P. R. Skinner transported from Connecticut to his residence, at 

 Cimarron Seco, Colfax County, New Mexico, 50 Cotswold bucks, im- 

 ported from the flock of Robert Games in England. These he placed 

 in a sheep run, with 3,000 native merino ewes, in a locality of favorable 

 conditions, both of pasture and climate, for the growth of the sheep. 

 At the lambing season, about the 1st of May, his ewes were in as good 

 ilesh as was desirable at the time, and the lambs of superior size and 

 quality. Many of them weighed from 12 to 14 pounds when dropped, 

 and increased to 20 and 25 pounds at the age of seven or eight days. 

 He thinks the grade bucks will make a more eligible cross than the pure 

 blood, from the fact that the latter j)roduces a lamb rather too large for 

 the capacity of the New Mexican ewes. In order to guard against 

 danger from this source, he was obliged to exercise very great care. The 

 Mexican ewes averaged but 1^ pounds per fleece, while the Cotswold 

 bucks averaged 11 pounds. He estimates that the half-bloods, next 

 year, will average 5 i^ounds. He does not find it necessary to j^rovide 

 any food for his stock, except the grass which is abundant both in 

 summer and winter. 



Surfeit of clover. — West Charlotte, Vermont. — In looking over the 

 report of diseases in cattle in the monthly report, I am reminded of a 

 sick cow on this farm in March last. She would be taken about 9 or 10 

 o'clock in the morning with dizziness — keep going backward in a circle, 

 and if she turned to the right in her backward march would often lick 

 her right shoulder, or if to the left she took a turn a similar action was 

 observed. These spells lasted about two hours each day ; she was very 

 fat when first taken, and in half an hour would look like a mere skeleton, 

 and before night no one could discover that anything had ailed her. It 

 was discovered that the cause was feeding bright-green clover hay, which 

 was discontinued in her case, and the fits ceased ; but ever after, if a 

 little clover hay was given her, she would have a fit just in proportion 

 to the amount of hay given. She was bled once, w^hich is all that was 

 done for her, and now is apparently as well as any of the eows. Her 

 milk, during her season of dizzy fits, had a greenish hue. When she 

 was first taken her calf was a week or ten days old. 



Railroads. — Poor's Manual for 1871-'72 reports number of miles of 

 railroad in operation in the United States in 1850, 9,021 ; in 1860, 30,635 ; 

 in 1870, 53,399. Constructed in the decade ended in 1850, 5,508 miles ; 

 in that ended in 1860, 21,614 miles ; in that ended in 1870, 22,764 miles. 



