BUEEAU OF ANIMAL INDUSTRY. • -531 



armo; thera from tlie North; they -were purchased hy them after having hcen brought 

 through to San Antonio. All of the aforementioned cattle have done well on the 

 range, and have had no symptoms of fever or disease of any kind whatsoever. 



BKXAR COUNTY. 



Mr. ITenrii Terrell, San' Antonio. — Referring to your circular of April 18, which ap- 

 pears in the Associated Press dispatches of day before yesterday, I bog respectfully 

 to submit lor your information the result of my personal experience of live years of 

 importrttioii aud dealing in cattle in Texas. 



I have purchased yearly in Ohio,and Michigan, blooded cattle, registered herd-book 

 stock, and had the same shipped to my rajich near this city, and have given especial 

 attention to the so-called "Texas" cattle fever. 



lu shipping my line stock I have had stalls made in the car, had a careful man in 

 chargo, provided barrels of water and an abundance of feed to last through the 

 journey. The stock has not been allowed to be taken from the cars from place of 

 shipment until their arrival in this city. On their arrival here they have been as 

 carefully attended to as possible, no labor or expense being spared to sa-^e them. With 

 all this care I have been able to reduce the loss to less than any other person in the 

 business of whose experience I know. My loss has averaged about 20 per cent. 



All stock imported have an acclimating fever, horses as well as cattle, but the per- 

 centage of loss in shipping horses from the North is only aboiit 5 per cent. 



Post mortems made on the dead animals (cattle) of my importation show great 

 diversity in the character of the disease. With some the manifold is thoroughly im- 

 pacted with nearly dry, undigested food. Others show all the indications of death by 

 j)neumonia, with a slight adherence of the lungs to the pleura. With others the only 

 evidence of disease is in the spleen and kidneys. One animal, after apparently recov- 

 ering from the disease, died of gangrene — dry rot, as it were — retaining its appetite 

 after its ears had fallen off, and when its feet were almost ready to fall ofl". One, 

 where the jjosi mortem showed both lungs and spleen afi"ected, seemed to have lost all 

 its blood — arteries and veins free of blood and less than half a pint of coagulated blood 

 in the heart. 



These animals were kept in the same stable and sheds with native stock and with 

 animals saved from previous importations, drank at the same watering place, and 

 took their exercise in the same lot. No native or previously acclimated animal has 

 over contracted disease from such contact with the affected. 



I have no personal interest in the driving of native Texas cattle to Northern markets, 

 bat I beg respectfully to say that your list of counties given should have included, in 

 my opinion, Zavala, Frio, Medina, Atascosa, Karnes, Wilson, Bexar, Kendall, Blanco, 

 Burnet, Travis, Hays, Comal, Guadalupe, Gonzales, De Witt, Lavaca, Fayette, Cald- 

 well, and Bastrop. The occasion of all the trouble, in my opinion, arises from ship- 

 ping cattle raised on the lowlands of the coast, having very soft hoofs, to snch points 

 as Wichita Falls, aud then starting them on a dry, hard trail over flint, gravel, and 

 limestone rocks. Such animals become feverish in their feet aud legs, and their move- 

 ment over the trail leaves the germs or poison of a fever on the grass from which the 

 Northern herds are poisoned. I do not believe that our acclimating fever arises from 

 the same cause. 



Cattle raised on the dry, hard soil and limestone ridges in the additional counties 

 named should not be qiiarantiued against. This stock is as sound and healthy here 

 and can bo driven North in asgood condition, as any other cattle can be. They should 

 not be classified with the stock raised on the low marsh lands near the coast. And 

 even those, if driven slowly from their breeding-ground, instead of shipping to Red 

 River by rail, can be taken to the Northern ranges without danger of communicating 

 disease, as the long drive before crossing Red River would tend to put them on a 

 healthier footing. 



Messrs. J. 0. ^- T. Deivees, San Antonio. — Our ranch is situated in Wilson, Karnes, 

 and AtasiM)s.a Counties. Wo purchased 3 bulls in the year 1876 ; shipped them from 

 Kentucky aiid tnrued them in with ourTexas cattle. None of them died from fever ; 

 tbey lived and did well for several years. 



We have handled a great many cattle from different parts of Texas and other States. 

 We have brought cattle from Louisiana, Mississippi, Mexico, and from the coast of 

 Texas to the eastern line, and from several counties northwest, and mixed them with 

 our cattle on our ranch, and have never known of any disease to trouble them. We 

 have never had such a disease as Texas or splenic fever. We have never lost any 

 cattle except from black-leg or starvation. Our opinion is that the Texas fever is un- 

 known in our native Texas cattle, and we do not believe they are capable of impart- 

 ing a disease they do not have. 



Mr. E. E. Barnard, San Antonio. — I am not well acquainted with all or any con- 

 siderable portion of the counties named in your circular. I am well acquainted, how- 

 ever, with all Southwest Texas, including with many others, Bandera, Bexar, Frio, 



