394 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



sin, swine plague, notwitlistauding a very small beginning — it was intro- 

 duced by one diseased pig from Iowa — in November last caused very 

 severe losses there. 



FACTS AND OBSERVATIONS ILLUSTKATlNa THE MEANS BY WHICH 

 SWINE PLAGUE IS SPREAD. 



« 



1. 3Ir. Kennedy's herd, Rozetta, Henderson County, Illinois. — I made my 

 first visit to Mr. Kennedy's place on October 14, and found a few cases of 

 swine plague. His hogs bad been all right till within a few days. The 

 disease had been introduced by three animals recently bought out of an 

 infected herd. 



2. Mr. ForicarWs herd, near Sageioivn. — I was at Mr. Forward's place 

 on October 20. He has no near neighbors. His farm is a very large one, 

 somewhat isolated, and situated at the head of several ravines. Con- 

 sequently several small streamlets, so abundant in Henderson County, 

 have their source on the farm, and only one has its source above, and 

 runs through it. The piece of ground used by Mr. Forward as a hog 

 pasture is flanked on three sides by timber, and his herd of swine, thus 

 somewhat protected by the lay of the land against an invasion of swine 

 plague, remained exempted from that disease until last year. Three- 

 quarters of a mile from Mr. Forward, situated at the head of a ravine, 

 which, however, does not extend through the farm, is a rendering-tank, 

 where dead hogs are rendered u^) into grease or lard-oil. At the tank 

 the carcasses are cut up, pieces are frequently lying about, and those 

 parts which do not contain any grease or which are^not worth tanking, 

 such as the lungs, intestines, &c., parts which usually constitute thd 

 principal seat of the morbid process, are thrown into the ravine, and 

 are washed away by the water if the season is rather wet, or remain 

 where they are thrown till it rains. Further down this ravine unites 

 with another one, and these two united form a small creek, which 

 empties into the Mississippi Eivcr. Every herd of swine that had access 

 to that creek became affected, and nearly every animal died. According 

 to Mr. Forward's statement, his herd of swine, about two hundred head, 

 remained exempted from swine plague till last winter (1878-'79). One 

 morning he found in his hog-lot the head of a dead hog, deposited there, 

 he thinks, by a dog, which picked it up at the rendering-tank. "When lie 

 found it his hogs were already feeding on it. Exactly six days later 

 some of his hogs exhibited symptoms of swine plague, soon a great many 

 became affected, and finally nearly every hog and pig of his herd died. 



3. Mr. Robert Eodson, a storekeeper in Oquawka, made the following 

 statement : 



I have a farm on the banlis of Henderson River, and last year kept quite a herd of 

 hogs. One morning I found lodged at my hog-lot, which joins the river, a dead hog, 

 ■which had come down stream, and had probably been thrown in some distance above. 

 My hogs discovered it earlier than I, and were feeding on the carcass when I came. 

 Ten days later they commenced to die. My loss amounted to fully $1,500, 



4. Mr. W. H. Lord, who lives in Warren. County, on the county line 

 between Warren and Henderson, stated to me on October 24 that he 

 had had no disease among his hogs since 1862 except two years ago, 

 when swine plague was communicated to his herd by a drove of hogs, 

 which came from an infected herd, and was permitted, in his absence, 

 to stay over night in his hog-lot. That his swine (his herd is not a large 

 one, and averages only about fifty or sixty head) remained exempt from 

 swine-plague every year except two years ago, notwithstanding the 

 disease prevailed in his neighborhood annually, is accounted for by Mr. 



