KEPORT OF THE BTJBEAU OF ANIMAL INDUSTRY. 211 



resident. As to the health of hogs previous "to the introduction of the disease, I 

 have been a resident of the county for sixteen years, and it was here before that 

 time. Most all kinds of stock are well cared for in this county. 



DE WITT. It is very hard to determine what year hog cholera made its appear- 

 ance in this county. I came to the county in 1859, and, as my recollection serves 

 me, it was here before I came. How or by what means it was introduced I have 

 no means of knowing. It is a queer disease. For several years at a time there 

 will be none of it; then all at once, without any apparent cause, and with no pre- 

 monition, it will make its appearance simultaneously in different parts of the 

 county. Droves on one farm will be affected, while on adjacent lands there are no 

 evidences of it. Under this state of facts it is hard to determine how it is intro- 

 duced. We used to think that stagnant water and mud caused it, but our theory 

 was overthrown by its appearing during only one season among hogs that had clea^ 

 running water in gravelly streams. We then concluded we could give no reason for 

 its appearance, and still entertain the same views. We have lost a considerable' 

 number of horses; but our losses among these animals would not be so great ordi- 

 narily, but about two years ago a new disease was introduced here called maladie du 

 coit. It answers in horses to syphilis in the human. Many mares were diseased. 

 Some have been killed, others are lingering along, and some have apparently got 

 well. There is a rigid quarantine against breeding or selling any of the animals 

 that have been affected, in order to prevent the disease spreading. No remedy has 

 as yet been discovered for the malady. 



DOUGLAS. There has been a small amount ( f hog and poultry cholera in this 

 county this season. There was more in 1886, and they were very destructive in 

 1885. The silly talk indulged in by theoretical writers about dry, rolling clover pas- 

 tures, pure spring or running water, timber shade, less corn, etc., is exploded by 

 the experience of practical men whose livelihood depends on the success of the 

 business. It undoubtedly exists all the time in a low form, is both contagious and 

 epidemic. Whenever it appears in a new locality it will be found to be caused un- 

 doubtedly by contact with hogs from a cholera-infected region. However, I under- 

 stand about all the States are infected now. No remedy of any known benefit, 

 except to the vendor. 



EDGAR. Hog cholera first made its appearance here about thirty years ago, in 

 1857-'58. Hogs were healthy prior to that time. Those that take good care of their 

 hogs never lose any by disease. 



EDWARDS. Hog cholera was first known in this county in the year 1855, the 

 winter following the drouth of 1854. We raised no corn that year, and the animals 

 had to live on mast, which we think produced the disease. Hogs were healthy be- 

 fore that time, as far as I have been able to learn. 



EFFINGHAM. Until within the last three months this county has been very ex- 

 empt from the so-called hog cholera, and the opinion among the most of farmers is 

 that hogs are unhealthy from neglect, from exposure to extremes of heat and cold, bad 

 quarters, poor water (sometimes none at all that could be called fit for anything but 

 a hog to drink). There never was so fine or so large a crop of hogs as there was the 

 fore part of this last summer. There was no corn, and hogs were thrown on the 

 market irrespective of condition, health, or price, and to-day finds this county almost 

 destitute of hogs. There are some complaints of sick hogs, but none in this imnie- 

 diate vicinity. None of my assistants reported unhealthy stock of any kind. lean 

 not call to mind one case of diseased hogs where they received proper attention. 

 Hogs ha.ve been driven by hundreds from this locality to counties where corn is 

 more plenty. They have been compelled to swim the creeks when full of ice- water, 

 to sleep in old, decomposed straw-stacks, with only one-fourth feed. On arriving at 

 destination they are turned to a crib of corn, so arranged that they help themselves. 

 When the weather is warm the mud is usually one foot deep. Of course they over- 

 eat. Such cases have been observed the past fall, and out of a herd of fifty or 

 sixty there would not be one left to testify to the bad treatment at the end of the 

 first two weeks. 



FULTON. I came to Fulton County in 1854, but was only a boy at the time. Don't 

 remember hearing of any hog cholera then, but from my own inquiries and those 

 of my assistants, as near as we can gather information, it first appeared in this 

 county about 1855-'56. Hogs seemed to be healthy before its appearance. No one 

 seems to know or can give, any satisfactory explanation of the date of its appear- 

 ance. Strangles, a severe kind of distemper, has killed a good many valuable horses 

 the past year. Cattle are occasonally fatally affected with milk fever, black-leg, and 

 bloody murrain. Sheep are subject to scab. 



HAMILTON. The so-called hog cholera first made its appearance in our county 

 in 1859, and has been prevalent in different parts of the county to a more or less 

 extent since that time. On its first appearance the disease did not have the same 



