THE SPLENIC FEVER, 125 



blood diseases, fatal parasitic maladies, and periodic outbreaks of mysterious affections, 

 which annihilate herds and even depopulate districts, occasionally prevail. 



The extirpation of noxious plants, the purification of streams, the equalization of 

 the balance between animal and plant life on a given extent of soil, are agricultural 

 problems which cannot, in Texas, be solved for generations to come. Thorough drainage, 

 breaking up pasture lands, fencing off low wood lands which are crammed with a disease- 

 producing vegetation, are measures neglected even in Great Britain, and will tax the indus 

 try and capital of many of the sons and grandsons of the present race of farmers, north, 

 east, and west, in the United States; how much longer, then, must the exuberant soil of 

 Texas wait for the hands and the brains engaged in making two blades of grass grow where 

 there was once but one? Fertile, and reeking with the decay of excess as it is, we can 

 not anticipate the time when it will be so densely peopled as to secure attention to definite 

 sanitary laws which, if not impracticable under the circumstances, might be applied for 

 the prevention of splenic fever in Texas, Florida, or wherever else it may be discovered to 

 exist as an enzootic. 



The question next presents itself whether the trade in live cattle between the South 

 and the North is to be permitted. Its annihilation would effectually prevent such out 

 breaks, as I have had occasion to study; but such an expedient, though it might commend 

 itself to some short-sighted farmers in Illinois and Indiana, would not be tolerated. It is 

 true that, notwithstanding all the difficulties experienced in the past, wherever attempts 

 have been made in the South to slaughter, and consign their animal produce to northern 

 and other markets, the time will arrive, in all probability, for some such outlet to be 

 secured. But, with beef at twenty, twenty-five, or thirty cents per pound in Philadelphia, 

 New York, and Boston, with the packing interests of Chicago, and the demands of Europe, 

 especially in times of war, it is idle to contemplate the fencing in of steers, which may be 

 purchased by thousands and tens of thousands at eight or ten dollars a head in Texas. 

 The prairie lands of States favored by geographical position, and nearest the great cen 

 ters of consumption for all animal produce, cannot be utilized for some time to come with 

 out the advantage of supplying food for stock bred at a little cost elsewhere. 



To suit a northern trade the Texan will doubtless attend to crossing his cattle with 

 short-horned blood; and this, while it will encourage the purchase of such animals by the 

 farmers of Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana, will in no way tend to modify splenic fever. 

 Fortunately for all, it is possible to establish rules which, if intelligently attended to, will 

 effectually protect any susceptible animal from destruction by contact with members of its 

 own race from the Gulf States. All these rules must aim at a complete isolation for a 

 sufficient period of time. 



With our present state of knowledge it is imperative that we should deal with all 

 cattle from the Gulf States in the same way. But numerous observations warrant us in 

 believing that a careful study of the geographical distributions of the splenic fever in the 

 South would indicate that there are broad tracts of land in Texas where the stock is free 

 from all contamination, and may, in all probability, be freely mixed with cattle in any 

 part of the States. It would not be safe to indicate the regions supposed to be healthy, 

 as they may be more or less intersected by plague-stricken spots; but it is safe to assert 

 that the most decided and best ascertained manifestations of disease, and capability of 



