440 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. | 
was carried there by the droves. Indeed, i have found but one opinion 
among those best informed on this matter, and that is, that the disease 
was never known in this section till introduced by animals driven 
from Western States; and in some sections of this State, a part of Ala- 
mance county for instance, the disease never existed till the present 
year. 
Judging from all these facts, therefore, we cannot escape the conclu- 
sions that this disease is a contagious fever. 
In this connection there is one more question that is generally raised 
by those discussing the nature of this fever, and that is, does the disease 
always originate from pre-existing contagious germs, or is it often or 
generally developed de novo as a result of improper hygienic surround- 
ings? In the consideration of this question I shall confine myself to 
the facts brought out by the investigation in this State, simply premising 
that most of these facts are as true of the Middle States and proba- 
bly of most of the Southern States asof North Carolina. The first point 
that attracts attention is the fact that this State was free from the 
disease till about 1859, certainly till it was introduced by droves from 
other States, whatever the date may be; hogs had been kept in this 
State from the time of its first settlement undoubtedly under similar 
hygienic conditions, and yet the disease had not appeared up to that 
time, when it was brought by imported animals, just as England was 
free from contagious pleuro-pneumonia up to 1842, when it was imported 
with animals from the Continent. It is claimed that in the west the dis- 
ease is produced by overcrowding and filth, but I doubt if these animals 
“are crowded any more now than forty years ago; indeed, I was sur- 
prised at the results of my investigations on this point, for,-in all the 
time I have been visiting infected localities, I have not found a case of 
overcrowding, and not more than two or three where there was any- 
thing like filthy surroundings. In the western part of the State most of 
the hogs are kept in the large mountain forests, or are at least allowed the 
run of the highways and commons; in the east they either run in the 
highways and old fields or have ample pastures. If it originates from 
restricted range and unheathful climatic conditions, it is certainly in the 
east that we should expect to hear of its originating and proving most 
disastrous; but it was known in the mountains as early as in the other 
parts of the State. And if we examine the list of counties which I have 
given above, we shall find it as fatal in the elevated and heathful west. 
with its immense mountain ranges, as in the malarious east. I append 
some conspicuous examples of this: 
Loss in eastern counties. | Loss in western counties. 
Per cent. | Per cent. 
Camdeniternosneasoien sos ecoteceaes 3 McDowell. occ. <2 32% cee tascceneeee 
RETO Se oie es Soe ee enna ae cee 94. | Buncombe 226. c.o2-=.2-6 neces sees 254 
RODESON Sse dewet eer ais tases eles Ae Matchelle ieee e ene Lidend cone seen 15 
PRY GeOSUS cst ees eacsiemeeeetwsse acess 104, | Cherokee 222. 8h... secs e core cemeeee 104 
We find here, then, just as large losses in the west as in the east, and 
just as small ones in tlie east as in the west; in other words, the 
disease rages irrespective of these climatic and hygienic extremes; and 
this becomes still plainer when we add that in Swannanoa township 
of Buncombe county the loss reached 60 per cent. 
Of course, at the present time, as with all contagious diseases which 
have existed for several years in a country, there are some outbreaks 
which it is impossible to trace to their source; and it seems probable 
that the contagion may be preserved over winter in manure, straw, litter, 
or in the remains of unburied animals which died the preceding year. 
There are some outbreaks that cannot well be explained otherwise, and, 
mdeed, there is no reason to doubt that this may be the case; contagious ~ 
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