THE SPLENIC FEVER. 127 



selected as the most isolated, and it is situated within four hundred miles of the Texan 

 frontier and one hundred and sixty-three miles west from the State line 



It is east of the sixth meridian, which is the line established by the laws of Kansas 

 as the limit over which Texan cattle shall not pass ; but, by common consent, the advan 

 tages offered by this spot have been hitherto secured to the Texan trade. The yards were 

 completed by the 5th of September, 1867, and from that time to the close of the season 

 one thousand car loads of cattle were shipped east from Abilene. The trade, therefore, 

 began late, the season was wet, and the Texas fever gave no concern. This year, how 

 ever, large herds were collected early in the spring in Texas, and the first car load of 

 cattle left Abilene on the 10th of June. 



The people of the new town and its neighborhood had accumulated more live stock 

 than they had last year, and, without taking the precaution which could readily have 

 been adopted, permitted their cattle to go over the ground traversed by Texan stock, and 

 &quot;black-water&quot; appeared among them. 



It is evident that, as the property of a very large and important town may be founded 

 on this very traffic, precautionary measures should be adopted for the isolation of the local 

 stock. There can be no difficulty in this; and, with the experience of 1867 before us, 

 the system of driving late for the fall markets is calculated to preserve the most promising 

 of all outlets for southern farmers and drovers. There are objections, perhaps, to this 

 plan ; but, since it is impossible for the trade to go on in a reckless and ill-regulated 

 manner, it is for the interest of all that the least objectionable plan, and yet the one most 

 certain to prevent the ravages by disease, should be adopted. 



We are not in a position to recommend any system of quarantine ; but all who intend 

 to further the interests of this trade should remember that during the summer season 

 they cannot, without damaging their business, intermingle southern with northwestern 

 stock. The line of demarcation must be distinct; and whereas in some places the local 

 stock must be fenced in, in others the Texan steers will have to submit to some crowding, 

 and conditions which are not the most favorable for so large a trade. 



GENERAL REMARKS ON THE PRECEDING REPORTS. 



The diseases of cattle which form the subjects of the three reports herewith published 

 are typical of three distinct classes of disorders which tend to the impoverishment of the 

 farmer and the country at large. 



The first and simplest in its origin and character is an enzootic or indigenous affection, 

 localized in corn-growing States and districts, where, under the influence of abundant 

 moisture and inattention to conditions which prevent the propagation of parasitic plants 

 on the farmer s crops, a fungus is formed which destroys the nutritive value of cornstalks 

 and grain. These become indigestible, induce impaction of the third stomach and consti 

 pation, which speedily terminate in death. The malady is not propagated beyond the 

 farm or stable where the diseased fodder is supplied to stock. 



The third is the American cattle plague of 1868, which, from an ignorance of its 

 origin and nature, created serious loss, and, what is probably as bad, a panic that cannot 

 readily be forgotten, on both sides of the Atlantic. Its study has revealed characters 



