REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



SIR : I have the honor to present for publication a series of reports on various 

 diseases of cattle, giving the results of investigations undertaken, first as a duty imposed 

 by the organic law originating this Department, and subsequently continued in pursuance 

 of the direct authority of Congress, and with the aid of an appropriation in furtherance 

 of the work. 



About the middle of June, 1868, a disease broke out at Cairo, Illinois, at a point 

 where large numbers of Texas cattle had been landed. It was the disease sometimes 

 called &quot; Spanish fever,&quot; but generally known as &quot; Texas cattle disease.&quot; This epizootic, 

 long known and dreaded by owners of herds in Missouri and Kansas, and to some extent 

 in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia, became unusually serious in the track of Texas 

 cattle beyond the Mississippi, in 1867 and 1868. While it was practically unknown in 

 more eastern States, general interest in its manifestations was not aroused ; but, when a 

 new channel for the Texas cattle trade was opened, and the river steamboats landed their 

 living freight in the heart of the West, the ravages of the strange disease extended rapidly, 

 carrying infection along the pathway of transportation to the seaboard, filling the public 

 mind with alarm for the safety of farm stock, and even exciting apprehensions that the 

 public health might become involved in the future progress of the disease. 



From Cairo the disease spread rapidly, breaking out among the native cattle exposed 

 to the migrating stock, at all points of railroad transshipment. My attention was called 

 to the serious nature of this disease when visiting the fair of the State Agricultural Society 

 at Springfield, Illinois, and I immediately secured the services of Professor Gamgee, of 

 London, England, who was at the time in this country, to make full investigation, under 

 the following instructions : 



In view of the alarming and continued ravages of the cattle disease in Illinois, known popularly as the 

 &quot; Spanish fever,&quot; and assumed to l&amp;gt;e communicated by cattle recently from Texas, I hereby authorize you to makr 

 investigations into its cause and character, and to ascertain and report, if possible, a practicable remedy or means of 

 prevention. 



In accordance with this letter, the professor visited the infected districts in Illinois 

 and vicinity, and extended his observations to the cattle depot at Abilene, in Kansas. 



In the spring of 1869, in company with Mr. H. W. Ravenel, of South Carolina, an 

 accomplished botanist, he visited that part of Texas on and near the Gulf coast, and 

 examined into the conditions of food and management of the native cattle of Texas at 

 those points at which transportation begins. The observations made are embodied in 

 the accompanying reports of Messrs . Gamgee and Ravenel. 



Four chromo-lithographs, illustrating the effects of splenic fever on the internal organs, 

 are presented in connection with the report upon that disease. 



