CONTAGIOUS DISEASES OF DOMESTICATED ANIMALS. 387 



sides that, the number of hogs and pigs in existence from the first ot 

 January to the first of April is a comparatively small one, because most 

 of the hogs have been shipped and butchered, and the young pigs have 

 not been born. But the measures of extermination or stamping out must 

 be thorough. Anything undecided, doubting, hesitating, or wavering 

 and tavoring, will be of no avail, but will only tend to prolong the ex- 

 istence of the i>lague and increase the cost. Still, as long as we have 

 no stringent legislation that applies to the whole country and will be 

 obeyed and be enforced everywhere, no results can be expected. 



As to local measures of prevention, in every case they must consist in 

 a thorough destruction of the infectious principle, or, what is practically 

 the same, in promi^tly removing the animals to be protected out of the 

 reach or influence of the bacilli and their germs. Whether the latter are 

 destroyed by physical agencies or by chemical means, so-caUed disin- 

 fectants, is immaterial. What I have said in my first report in regard 

 to keeping not more than two or three animals together in movable pens 

 constitutes probably the best means of protection, as far as single herds 

 are concerned. But 1 admit that such a separation is sometimes im- 

 practicable, or may be considered as too expensive or too troublesome 

 by the owner, and it may also happen that an infection has taken plaee 

 before the necessary preparations have been made. In such a case a 

 strict and, if necessary, repeated separation of the healthy animals from 

 the diseased ones, not only as to pens and yards, but also a-s to attend- 

 ance, and a thorough cleaning and disinfection of the infected premises, 

 constitute the least that may be expected to afford any protection. That 

 the food and water given to the healthy animals must be clean and un- 

 contaminated with the infectious principle, and that dead animals must 

 be buried or be cremated at once, may not be, necessary to mention 

 again. As a disinfectant, I would recommend carbolic acid as one of the 

 cheapest and most convenient, notwithstanding that some others may 

 be more effective. 



A few cases will illustrate what is necessary and what may be ex- 

 pected of simple and local means of prevention, but it must be kept in 

 mind that in the summer and in the fall, when everything favors a rapid 

 development, propagation, and dissemination of the disease germs, much 

 more circumspection and thoroughness is required than in the winter, 

 when a low temperature and a limited evaporation of moisture retard 

 the propagation and dissemination of the bacilli and their germs, or in 

 the spring, when heavy rains may wash the latter away. In winter and 

 spring strict separation and good care are usually sufficient to prevent 

 a serious spreading of the disease; in the summer and fall the most 

 scrupulous care will be required in guarding against an introduction of 

 the infectious principle and in destroj'ing it wherever it may happen to 

 exist, provided it is contained in, or adheres to, something on or in which 

 it can be destroyed, either with or without its vehicle. 



Mr. H. Fisher lives one and a half miles north of Prairieville, and 

 half a mile north of H. Miller. He makes swine breeding his principal 

 business, and his accommodations for his hogs are nearly perfect. His 

 swine-yard is divided into several divisions, and each division again 

 into several separate apartments, composed each of a spacious yard and 

 a good and well- ventilated pen with a wooden roof. Each separate 

 yard, finally, contains a good trough for water and a wooden platform 

 for food. Consequently, his herd, when occupying the swine-yard, is 

 practically divided into many small herds, perfectly independent' of 

 eacli other. The food (corn) is thrown on the platforms, and the water 

 for drinking is pumped from a well by a windmill, and conducted 



