94 THE LUNG PLAGUE OF CATTLE. 



In company with Mr. Lindsay, I visited the principal stock yards for Pittsburg, 

 which are the central stock yards upon the line of the Pennsylvania railroad at East 

 Liberty. All the cattle in the yards appeared perfectly healthy. 



Geo. Dunkeld, weigh-inaster at these yards, gave the following statistics as to the 

 number of cattle that are handled here : For the six months ending June 30, 1881, 

 the receipts of through cattle, 146,500 head ; of local cattle, 38,654 head. In this 

 time 9,229 calves were received and sold here. Mr. Dunkeld has held this position 

 for ten years, and has seen every steer that has crossed the scales, as he has to count 

 the number of animals weighed, and in no case has he seen cattle affected with dis- 

 ease. 



Caleb Martin, superintendent of central stock yards, said that the cattle that came 

 here were perfectly healthy. The causes of death were from mismanagement in trans- 

 porting, from crowding too many into a car. Some die from drinking a large quan- 

 tity of water, excessive thirst being caused by feeding salt. This feeding of salt, so 

 that the cattle will drink a large amount of water and increase their weight, is a 

 very dishonest and brutal practice which is carried on by some unprincipled men. 

 John Beal, of the firm of J. F. Sadler & Co., said he had never seen any cattle affected 

 with lung-plague at these yards ; neither had he known of any west of Pittsburg. 

 Years ago he had had losses from Texas fever, but the first frost put an end to that 

 disease. 



S. Brown, of the firm of J. C. & S. Brown, Louisville, Ky., large dealers in "slop 

 cattle," so called, said that soon after the war he lost cattle from Texas fever, and 

 aside from that there was no disease among the cattle he handled, and he knew of 

 none in Kentucky. 



C. H. Peabody, retail cattle dealer, says he has never suffered from loss of cattle 

 by disease. The only report of cattle dying that he has heard of were from Texas 

 fever and from abuse in shipping. 



Mr. Rush, editor of the Pittsburgh Stockman, and cattle dealer, says he has no re- 

 ports of any cattle disease in this section; the cattle coming to and passing through 

 these yards are invariably healthy. 



Mr., Lindsay gives the folio wing figures in regard to the number of dead cattle taken 

 from tbe stock yards to the rendering works : In 1877, 60 head ; in 1876, 79 ; in 1875, 

 125. When one considers the thousands of cattle that come to these yards in the 

 course of a year this number of deaths can easily be accounted for by mismanage- 

 ment and abuse. 



A smaller stock yard is located at Alleghany City, to which part of the stock for 

 city use is sent. No through consignments come to these yards. About 25 car-loads 

 arrive here per week, sometimes reaching as high as 50 car-loads. The cattle come 

 from the western States of Ohio, Missouri, and Kentucky, and from the western coun- 

 ties of Pennsylvania. The cattle at these yards were free from lung plague. 



The fall-master, Dr. Edward Czarneicki, V. S., has the contract for removing the 

 dead animals of the city. He states that as a rule he gets two or three dead cows per 

 week. I visited with Dr. Czarneicki his rendering works, where was a dead cow 

 brought from a city dairy. Upon examination the lungs were found free from any 

 lesions. 



Dr. Czarneicki said that he never met with any cases of lung plague either in his 

 practice or among the dead cows that were rendered at his works. 



Dr. R. Jennings, V. S., had never known of the disease among cattle in this vicinity. 



The slaughter-houses of Pittsburgh are scattered in all directions around the city, 

 and are 52 in number. I visited a number of them, but was unable to examine many 

 lungs as they had been thrown away. The carcasses were free from any erosions upon 

 the parietal pleura. Win. A. Hoffman, 408 East Ohio street, Allegheny City, who is 

 said to be the largest butcher in the city, kills, on an average, 35 cattle per week. 

 The lungs of cattle killed there I found without lesions. From conversation with 

 butchers in the market they stated that the lungs of western cattle were always 

 sound. 



I visited the stable of Daniel Boyle, cow dealer, Frankstown avenue, who states 

 that he sells between 300 and 400 fresh cows a year. He buys them in the stock yards, 

 where they come from the Western States, and from the northern and western coun- 

 ties of Pennsylvania. Six cows then in his stable were healthy. Mr. Boyle says he 

 is called upon when cows are sick in the neighborhood, but has never known of any 

 contagious disease among the herds. The sickness he has to treat mainly is what he 

 calls milk-fever. Of the cows kept in his stable he has lost but one, and that one 

 broke her neck from being improperly tied. 



IRON CITY. 



Also visited the Iron City cow market, where upon two days in the week fresh 

 cows are offered for sale, and disease must necessarily be contracted if one infected ani- 

 mal were brought. The seventeen cows there were healthy. Part of them had come 



