THE LUNG PLAGUE OF CATTLE. 11 



territory should have died out, as it had so often done in the tanning 

 districts of Europe, unless there was here some special cause for its 

 maintenance and diffusion. To this cause it is well here to advert, as 

 it serves to point out the reality of our own dangers in the United 

 States, and the true course of safety. 



The grand cause of the continuance of the lung plague in Ireland is 

 to be found in the habit of constant trading and turning the cattle into 

 large common pasturages at so much per head. To illustrate this we 

 shall quote freely from the report for 1878 of Professor Hugh Ferguson, 

 director of the Irish privy council, veterinary department. In describ- 

 ing the methods in vogue in managing cattle he says: 



Animals exported from Ireland arc very seldom bred by their exporters, and often 

 before exportation pass through several hands, from, those of the breeders to those of 

 their linal purchasers, for exportation to Great Britain. 



The changes of ownership are more frequent with regard to cattle than with regard 

 To sheep and swine. 



With each change of ownership there is generally a change of locality, and the 

 movement entailed thereby, as well as the exposure in public fairs and markers, and 

 on lands or premises used for temporary resting places for animals in transit. s!iljert 

 them more or less to the influence of diseases of a contagious or infections nature. 

 particularly foot-and-mouth distemper, when that malady is prevalent. 



In Ireland weanling and more advanced calves are purchased throughout the coun- 

 try from their rearers, who are not always their breeders, by persons who either deal 

 in or prepare store stock, and when a sufficient number is collected are kept by them 

 frequently on different pastures hired for the grazing season, changing the locality as 

 emergencies require, either from termination of tenancy, inclemency of season, defi- 

 ciency of food, for the sake of convenience, or from other causes. 



Such pastures, many of which are mountainous and occupy large tracts, are in many 

 cases grazed by cattle* which belong to many different persons who pay by the head 

 for the summer's grazing of their animals. The owners of these cattle, who often re- 

 side in a different part of the country, or out of it, or are engaged elsewhere in another 

 branch of the cattle trade, or are traveling about, frequently do not see them or have 

 them visited, until the termination of -the grazing season, when the animals are re- 

 moved to localities more favorable to the time of the year, there, perhaps, to herd 

 with other lots belonging to the same or different owners which have been brought 

 from different parts of the country for the same reasons. 



These animals, in due time, are brought in assorted lots to public fairs and markets,, 

 where they are generally sold for the purpose of being further matured ; and when so 

 matured they are again brought into the market and resold as early stores. 



After another season, and having been sorted and culled, they are sold for the pur- 

 pose of being further grazed, or, if sufficiently matured, for stall-feeding. It is at 

 this period that they are generally purchased as stores for the English markets. 



If not sold for that purpose they are purchased by the Irish finishing feeders, either 

 for grazing or stall-feeding, and when in sufficient condition are sold as fat cattle, 

 either for exportation to Great Britain or for home consumption. 



When sold in Ireland for either purpose, it is generally publicly, and when other 

 animals are collected for sale. 



But there are some Irish graziers and stall-feeders who, instead of sending their fat 

 cattle to a market in Ireland, export them directly to the English markets for sale, 

 consigning them for that purpose to their agents. 



Some extensive landholders in Ireland carry on a very large and lucrative trade by 

 collecting from different fairs or markets or other places, selected young animals of 

 size and promise, keeping them for a sufficient time, then sorting them into even 

 " lots" and disposing of them* at fairs, either for export, as advanced stores, for stall- 

 feeding or other finishing, or to home buyers for the same purpose. 



At a particular season of the year there is a large trade carried on in the exporta- 

 tion from Ireland to Great Britain of springers or animals in calf for dairy purposes. 

 They are generally purchased at fairs in different parts of Ireland, and when a suffi- 

 cient number is collected near the port of shipment they are embarked. 



They travel slowly and generally by road, the persons who deal in them finding 

 that the concussion and undue compression to which they are exposed while in rail- 

 way transit are very injurious and sometimes cause abortion. 



Many of the Dublin dairy proprietors are extensive cattle dealers, particularly for 

 exportation. In the season they trade largely in springers. When the cows in their 

 dairies cease to yield milk they fatten them and sell them for slaughter, or, if they 

 happen to be in calf, for dairy purposes as soon as they can. When young, there i 

 always a ready sale for 11 1 em in the English and Scotch markets, and consequently 

 there are great numbers of them exported. 



