130 



runniuff out. Mr. Boles informed me that lie saved his last fire attacked by adminis- 

 teriug three ounces spirits of turpentine and two ounces sweet oil in one dose and 

 obliging the animal to eat warm bran mixed with flax-seed. He informs me that one 

 colt passed over two quarts of w.orms. 



George AY. Mumfoid, of Gloucester County, Virginia, writes as follows : 

 "A friend having placed in my bands the volume containing your report 

 as Commissioner of Agriculture for the year 1868, I have read it with 

 attention and pleasure ; and though quite a novice in farming, with only 

 the experience of a few years, yet having .suffered heavily by the loss 

 of horses and mules, I thought it might be beneficial to others to com- 

 municate to you the nature and cause of the disease which produced 

 their death, the symptoms attending it, and the appearance of the bodies 

 as exhibited by post mortem examination. I lost four mules and two 

 horses in a short time, all, as I believe, from the same cause. 



"I will preface my statemeut with the remark that these animals were 

 regularly and plentifully fed with good corn and fodder, but while cut- 

 ting my oats, and for some time afterward, we had a succession of very 

 heavy rains, which caused some of the shocks to heat and mould, and, 

 in a greater or less degree, to rot before they could be housed or stacked, 

 and consequently I did not deem them of sufficient value to haul them 

 from the field. Subsequently, when not working my teams, they were 

 turned into the oat field to graze. I perceived at intervals that they 

 were eating the oats, and sui)i)osing they would only pick out such i^or- 

 tions as were sound, they were not interfered with, and the shocks thus 

 left in the field were either eaten or trampled under foot. In a short 

 time these animals began to fall off in flesh, and evidently were unable 

 to perform work requiring much strength. I became doublj' attentiye 

 to their food, regularly saw them fed and watered, salted, jiroperly cur- 

 ried, and rubbed, and furnished ■v\ith good bedding; still they gradually 

 declined in flesh. This progressed for about a month, then when I 

 entered the stable early in the morning I found one mule down in his 

 stall, and unable to rise. By running rails under the body both before 

 and behind, with the assistance of my laborers, I raised the animal 

 bodily and placed him upon his legs, when he seemed to regain his power 

 of motion, and could walk and trot apparently as ay ell as ever. After a 

 few days he was found down in the stall again ; he could raise himself on 

 his fore-legs and sit up like a dog, but had no power over the hinder parts, 

 from the loins down. The same assistance would have to be aftbrded, 

 when again he would seem to recover from the paralysis of his posterior 

 extremities. He did not lose his appetite, but indicated, occasionally, 

 uneasiness in the loins, and the quantity of urine passed was small, and 

 somewhat discolored. I applied many remedies that were suggested by 

 friends, by my own mind, and sometimes by the advice of my family 

 physician, but nothing seemed to afford relief. 



" There was no veterinary practitioner in the neighborhood. Finding 

 it impossible to continue to lift the animal almost daily in the stable, 

 I turned him into a lot, where he was regularly fed and watered, and con- 

 tinued to graze for a week or so, but when down he could not rise with- 

 out assistance. In this way he lingered until he died. No post mortem 

 examination was made. In a short time one of my best horses was 

 taken with the same symptoms, weakness in the loins and paralysis of 

 the hinder extremities, requiring the same assistance, but when placed 

 upon his legs having the ability to trot, and even to gallop as usual, but 

 finally he died in the same manner. Then, in quick succession, another 

 mule and another horse, and so on, until I lost the number stated 

 above. I drenched them with whisky, and spirits of turpentine, with 



