THE SPLENIC FEVER. 117 



necessarily limited information that could have boen at its disposal when that order was 

 issued, and in view of the losses by contagious diseases which have become chronic in the 

 British Isles, it was in all probability the only course that could have been adopted. But 

 it may be well to state, for future guidance, that it is not possible for bales of hay shipped 

 to Europe to carry the splenic fever. For years to come the open prairie lands on which 

 we have witnessed the dissemination of the disease cannot yield hay for the markets of 

 America; that hay is produced in the Eastern and the Western States, in localities where 

 Texan cattle never have been and probably never will be grazed; and, moreover, in the 

 fields mown for hay cattle are not pastured. 



The larger tracts of country on which southern droves feed are likely to remain un 

 settled for years to come, and neither scythe nor sickle has ever reached them. England 

 is as likely to get rinderpest as splenic fever from America ; and the only way in which it 

 might see the latter would be by transporting herds of Gulf-coast cattle across the Atlantic, 

 to feed on British pasture lands, side by side with British stock. 



SEASONS. 



The influence of seasons on the development of splenic fever is most marked. A few 

 nipping frosts check its ravages anywhere and everywhere. In Missouri and Kansas it 

 has broken out as late as October and December. Thus, in the report of the Department 

 of Agriculture for 1867, it was stated from Christian County, Missouri, that, in 1866, 

 &quot;Spanish fever was introduced into the western part of this county by droves of Texas 

 cattle, passing in October.&quot; From Woodson County, Kansas, it was reported that the 

 &quot;Spanish fever broke out in December, and raged until the 1st of January, ivhen the cold 

 weather set in and checked it.&quot; The droves of Texan cattle, which communicate the 

 disease during the summer, leave Texas by the close of winter; so that the Texan winter 

 in no way interferes with the development of that state of system which renders Texan 

 herds so dangerous. 



In a case reported, too vaguely to be of real value, in the report of the Department 

 of Agriculture for 1867, we are informed that, in Douglas County, Kansas, &quot; the Spanish 

 fever, or something similar, made its appearance about the 1st of February, among a few 

 cattle that were driven from the South.&quot; In all probability this was not splenic fever; and 

 the reporter adds: &quot;I think the severity of the winter caused the greatest loss; about one- 

 third of all the cattle brought from the south have died.&quot; It is certain that, in States 

 north of Missouri and Kansas, splenic fever prevails in the months of June, July, August, 

 and September. Straggling cases may occur in May and in October; but the great losses 

 are observed during the four months just named. 



Does this depend on the influence of heat and drought, or on the accidental circum 

 stances that Texan cattle have been mainly distributed over the country during these 

 months? The second is the main reason; but it is impossible for me to reconcile many 

 observations which I have made with the idea that heat does not favor the development of 

 the disorder. It is not sufficient to name it, but it is asserted by practical men that Texan 

 cattle can be handled most safely when the summers are wet and cool. The wet may wash 

 the grasses, but the cold seems to favor a constitutional resistance to the attacks of the dis 

 ease. A record of the cases which demonstrate that Texan cattle can be freely placed with 

 western stock in winter would fill a volume. At Broadlands, Hickory Grove, near Cham- 



