TI!!: LUNT, rLAfJl'K OF CATTLK. 41 



;.(Ml death, in South Africa Mr. Lindley reports that it was not. 

 uncommon tor a whole herd of KM) or L'OO to be at lacked so severely that 

 every our polished. The average recoveries lie believed were not over 

 one per cent. 



In COrroboratiOD of Mr. Lindle.v's testimony \ve submit the following 

 Idler, called forth by a published article, of Professor Law's: 



CENTRAL CITY. /,<//<///< ('mint;/, ihtknta, March 11,1879. 



PKAK Sn: : 1 \v:is much interested liy your article in tin- New Vork Trihnuo on 

 pleuro-pneamonia in cattle, and trust that the authorities will at once act up to your 

 atlvicc; tor I know from experience, dearly bought, t hat if t hey do not. and the disease 

 Mains a foothold in the large gnUBUlg OMltem of the Tinted States, nothing can pre- 

 vent the gra/iers and the pnhlic in general snlleriiig as much as the, inhabitants of 

 Australia, South Africa, &c , the climatic influences being not more favorable hero 

 than there I have lived some years in Natal, a British colony in South Africa, and it, 

 was for some years before my arrival a good pastoral country, and well stocked with 

 cattle when the disease was first known. Where, it was introduced from I forget, but 

 most probably came with freight oxen from the Cape Colony. Now for the last fifteen 

 years, to my knowledge, the country has never been clear of it, and it is continually 

 breaking out. generally brought by the passage of freight oxen through the country 

 (the only means of transport). 



At tirst the cattle were slaughtered, but eventually, the disease spreading too rapidly, 

 inoculation was introduced, and though much stock died from the inoculation, still the 

 remnant would be tolerably safe from the disease a second time; and " salted" cattle, 

 i. e. those that had passed through the disease, were valuable for freighters, and so 

 fetched a fair price. Cattle were selling during my residence from $25 to $75, the price 

 now on account of the limited supply from death. 



/ have known 75 par cent, of herds die, and I regret mislaying a letter I received from 

 there a few months ago telling me of losses ray friends have suffered from it. Lately, 

 since inoculation, the percentage is much lessened, but the disease is always lurking 

 about, and introduced to a greater or less extent each time of inoculation. 



Some ranchmen inoculate their calves every year, others only when they buy fresh 

 cattle, or the disease breaks out in their herds. No other attempt of cure or mitiga- 

 lion is practiced, excepting perhaps a setou in the dewlap. Most of the freight oxen 

 have lost their tails (oftentimes cut ott' to assist their sale). 



In the Zulu country, adjoining where the war now is, they have been fairly clear, 

 allowing no cuttle to cross from the adjoining countries into Zululand. 



All cattle sold by auction were guaranteed free from lung sickness for three weeks, 

 and if they broke out within that time were at the seller's risk. I remember my 

 partner writing me that he had the lung sickness among the cattle, but that the skins 

 brought a little ready money (cattle at that time being sold on time); it was the only 

 consolation we had for losing 70 head out of 90. Cattle that were lung-sick at the 

 time of inoculation were not susceptible to the influence of the virus. 



I am no savant, nor do I understand pathology, so my letter and ideas are naturally 

 crude, but I am thoroughly alive to the value of the advice contained in your article. 

 I am, sir. vouns, faithfully, 



EVERARD B. CORBET. 



This common-sense letter, from one who has suffered, substantiates 

 Mr. Lindley ? s observations in every particular, not only as to the 

 high death rate, but as to the intractability of the disease on open 

 pasturages, its propagation by ox-teams, and its ruinous effects on the 

 cattle industry. It adds one important item on which we shall com- 

 ment later the propagation, of the disease by inoculation. 



The high mortality in South Africa finds its exact parallel in Ameri- 

 can herds during the heats of summer. At this season the disease 

 becomes unusually violent, the period of incubation is shortened, nearly 

 all cases run a rapid and often fatal course, and it is not uncommon 

 to see a whole herd swept off without exception. One or two instances 

 may be given by way of illustration : 



In 1878 William Post, Old Wistbury, Queens County, Long Island, 

 bought a cow out of a passing herd which had been brought by Levy, 

 a dealer, from Brooklyn. She infected his herd and his brother's so 

 universally that they had to slaughter the whole. (This was before 

 the days of government interference.) 



