444 
Pennsylvania, I learned of three cows which had been sold “healthy” (?) out 
of an infected herd. Such a practice explains the progress of the disease even 
further south than Maryland. 
I recently visited the dairies of Kendall’s Green and Georgetown, near Wash- 
ington, and found that last year the cattle had been nearly entirely exterminated 
by the disease—so much so that to the present day the poor people who keep one 
or two cows are afraid to buy and in constant fear lest the malady should return. 
Three years since the lung plague appeared in Alexandria county, Virginia. 
It has been steadily on the increase ever since, and continues to the present day. 
I have been informed that the malady has travelled as far west as Kentucky 
and Ohio, but of this I have not been enabled in the brief time since I com- 
menced the inquiry to obtain satisfactory evidence. I have taken some pains 
to ascertain if the disease had reappeared in Massachusetts, and personal inqui- 
ries in various parts of the State show that it is quite free from the disease, 
thanks to the energy of its people and the enlightened action of its legislature. 
The conclusions that are warranted by the facts I have gleaned are as fol- 
lows: 
First. That the lung plague in cattle exists in Long island, where it has 
prevailed for many years; that it is not uncommon in New Jersey; has at 
various times appeared in New York State; continues to be very prevalent in 
several counties, especially Delaware and Bucks counties, Pennsylvania ; has 
injured the farmers of Maryland, the dairymen around Washington, and has 
penetrated into Virginia. 
Second. That the disease travels wherever sick cattle have a chance of being 
introduced, and that the great cattle-rearing States of the west, which may not 
at present be entirely frée from the disease, have been protected by the fact that 
they sell rather than buy and import horned stock. 
Third. There are no proper restrictions on the sale of infected stock, and in 
another year or two, unless some definite and immediate action be taken, the 
disease is likely to find its way in so many parts of the country that its eradi- 
cation will be almost a matter of impossibilty. 
Of all the cattle diseases pleuro-pneumonia is in the long run the most 
destructive, because the most insidious and the least likely to rouse a people to 
united action for its effectual suppression. To ignore its presence is, however, 
to insure that the cattle mortality of America, like that of England, will be at 
least doubled in a few years’ time. Rational means, energetic action, and earn- 
est co-operation between the different States and the central government may, 
with a moderate expenditure now, save many millions annually in the not dis- 
tant future. 
VII. WHAT ARE THE RATIONAL MEANS THAT SHOULD BE ADOPTED? 
First. Reliable and complete data should be obtained from all parts where 
the disease is known or supposed to exist. 
Second. The several States directly interested should take action in accord- 
ance with the example set them by Massachusetts. 
Third. If possible, Congress should pass such laws and institute such inqui- 
ries as may tend to the discovery and prevention of the disease wherever State 
authorities cannot or will not cope with it. 
From the inquiries instituted by me in Long Island, New Jersey, Pennsyl- 
vania, Maryland, and Virginia, I am convinced that a great deal can be accom- 
plished by diffusing information and stimulating farmers to pay attention to the 
subject. Unfortunately all will not act for the interest of their neighbors and 
their country, and it is therefore essential to exercise some coercion for the 
universal good. 
In Massachusetts, as in England, there was at first some objection to the 
