400 THE AMERICAN FARMER. 



DISEASES OF SWINE. 



SWINE are subject to comparatively but few diseases, and these are most of them of a 

 malignant, epidemic, or contagious form of a serious nature. Many of the ailments 

 of swine are brought on by a lack of sanitary conditions, such as filthy, ill-ventilated 

 pens, overcrowding, improper food, exposure to storms, and cold weather, the use of 

 unhealthy and badly-mated breeding stock, etc. To prevent diseases in swine, as with other 

 domestic animals, is much more easily accomplished than curing, as by good care and 

 management many diseases may be prevented that cannot be cured. Other hogs should 

 never be admitted among the herd, until, by keeping them apart for some time, it is 

 ascertained that they are entirely free from any contagious disease. 



As soon as an animal is found to be ailing, it should be at once isolated from the others, 

 unless it be a case of some very malignant disease like the hog cholera, when we would advise 

 that the animal be killed at once and deeply buried, while every place where contagion may 

 possibly lurk should be thoroughly disinfected. This, if accomplished in season, may save 

 the breeder great loss, in checking the spread of the disease. Medicines can best be given 

 hogs mixed with their food ; but if the patient is so feeble that he will not eat, or drink, it 

 will be necessary to pour it down his throat, if given at all. In warm weather, when a pig 

 is so sick that he refuses to eat, it may sometimes be well to turn the animal into a field where 

 there is plenty of water and shade, and permit him to shift for himself for a few days. In 

 such cases the animal will sometimes burrow a deep hole in the ground, into which he will 

 get and lie from twelve to twenty-four hours, when he will come out apparently all right. 



In cold weather a sick pig should have a warm, clean bed in his pen, with plenty of 

 pure air and fresh water, and all the gruel slightly salted that he will eat. When a pig is taken 

 sick, it will be well to investigate and see if it is not the result of wrong management. The 

 pens should be cleaned out, and all the decaying filthy material scraped from the floor, under 

 and around the feeding trough. Scald the troughs in boiling water, letting them remain in 

 the hot water until they are perfectly cleaned; then sprinkle carbolic acid about the pen, or 

 chloride of lime to disinfect it, the former being the best. Dry earth is also an excellent 

 disinfectant, as well as absorbent of both liquid and solid manure, for use in pens where pigs 

 are kept. The walls of the pen should also be whitewashed, while crude petroleum may be 

 used for washing the wood- work, such as troughs, floors, etc. 



Cleanliness is the great preventative of disease, and under proper sanitary management 

 there will be few diseases, except those taken on exposure to contagion, and even in the latter 

 case, there will be less liability of contracting such contagion when animals are well cared 

 for, with all the essential conditions of health observed. Give the hogs clean, well-ventilated 

 pens, a large yard or lot in which to exercise, a sufficient supply of sweet and pure water, and 

 access to fresh earth at all times, always avoiding over crowding, and they will seldom, if ever, 

 be troubled with disease of any kind. Whenever veterinary aid seems necessary, a 

 competent veterinarian should be employed; but ignorant quacks should be avoided: they 

 kill more animals by their nostrums than they cure. 



Apoplexy. Sometimes called &quot; staggers &quot; or &quot; congestion of the brain,&quot; is not unusual 

 in very fat hogs. It is generally attended with a constipated condition of the bowels, a hard, 

 rapid pulse, and a red, inflamed condition of the eyes. The animal will appear stupid, and 

 .as the disease progresses will sometimes become wholly or partially blind, going in a circle or 

 striking against objects, falling at last unconscious, when the limbs stiffen, froth issues from 

 the mouth and the breathing is deep and hard. Sometimes the attack is sudden, and the 

 animal falls without other symptoms being previously noticeable. Cold water is an excellent 

 application lor the head at such times, it being permitted to fall on the head from a 



