275 



are wet. It does the work effectually. Of course the remedy must be 

 repeated as occasion requires. 



THE HEEL FLY. 



Burleson County, Texas. — Some time since I received a letter from you, 

 requesting- a specimen of the heel fly, so troublesome to Texas cattle, 

 and what I know of its habits. The request came too late for me to 

 furnish the specimen this year, as they disappear early in April. I will 

 comply next spring. The fly is similar in appearance to what is known 

 as the nit fly, so troublesome to horses in the fall. It is somewhat 

 larger, however, and of a lighter color, and makes scarcely a perceptible 

 buzz when flying.- It attaches itself to the flank, leg, or belly of cattle 

 when depositing its eggs, fifteen or twenty of which are firmly attached 

 to a hair in a straight fine. During their season, it is almost impossible 

 to plow with oxen during- the middle of the day. 



Oat cattle, on being attacked, raise their tails perpendicularly and run 

 to a thicket, water-hole, or canebrake, where they remain nearly the 

 whole day. When so tormented, cattle will often bound ofl' bluffs or 

 run into bog-holes and swamps. As the cattle are never fed, and always 

 poor Id the spring, these pests cause an annual loss of many hundreds 

 every year in this county. 



I know nothing of the larvaj state or transformations of this fly, nor 

 are any remedies used that 1 know of. It is found from the Brazos to 

 the Eio Grande. I have never heard of its being in any other State. 

 It first appears with the rising grass, in February or March, and disap- 

 pears in April. 



HOG CHOLERA. 



Boyle County, Ky. — Hog- cholera is becoming quite prevalent. All 

 remedies fail. Several farmers have lost their entire stock. I have lost 

 50 per cent. ; of those attacked only three recovered. No known cause for 

 the disease. Generally farmers lose about one-third of their stock. The 

 disease having expended its virulence runs out in the pigs. 



JERSEY STOCK IN IOWA. 



Clinton County, Iowa. — I have been introducing the Jersey stock into 

 this place. Bought a bull and two heifer calves three years since. The 

 heifers came in last April and May at two years old; they were as large 

 as the common stock here. Kept them the same as my other stock, and 

 find them hardy and more easily kept than the common stock. In less 

 than ten months they have made 400 pounds of batter, that brought me 

 $125 ; sold one of the calves at nine months old for $100, and have 

 another that I can sell for $120, (both of the calves were bulls — heifers 

 would be worth more;) took $100 in premiums at the county fair, one of 

 Avhich took the first premium as the best dairy cow on exhibition. One 

 of them made nine pounds and thirteen ounces of butter, and the other 

 eight pounds aud fourteen ounces in one week in June ; fed entirelj" on 

 gTass. One of them had a second calf just eleven months after the birth 

 of the first. 



DISEASE AMONG- CATTLE. 



Owsley County, Ky. — Several head of cattle died in the month of May 

 of what is called drv murrain. The best farmers think these cattle 



