EEPOET OF THE BUEEAU OF ANIMAL INDUSTEY. 217 



bitter acorns of the red oak produce costiveness, and the wormy condition of the 

 mast produces worms in the intestines of the hogs, which, no doubt, caused this 

 great difference in the losses for those years. Hogs dying from thumps is caused 

 by sleeping in the dust; costiveness is produced or brought on by various causes, 

 from running on mast, impure or insufficient supply of water, etc. Every disease 

 is called cholera. Some astonishing cures may be made with ashes, tar, sulphur, 

 borax, copperas, blue dye, etc., in the meantime. If they have a sufficiency of pure 

 running water, good range in summer, grass and stubble, are kept free from dust 

 and fed corn arid cob meal, oats and corn mixed and ground into meal, a limited 

 amount of oil meal, bran a part of the time as a swill, and the slops from the kitchen 

 in winter, hog cholera will be a thing of the past. Up to the breaking out of 

 cholera it was generally considered that anything was good enough for a hog, and 

 I am sorry to say many of our farmers, by their treatment of their hogs, are laboring 

 under the above delusion yet. Hog cholera appeared in our county late in 1850, 

 and confined itself to a very small area in and about Jeffersonville. It broke out 

 in a very malignant form in some localities in 1862, and increased in territory until 

 it visited almost every locality in the county in 1866. Gradually but surely it spread 

 from the locality first mentioned, but up to this time I have never had a case of it 

 on this farm, and I have had as high as 125 hogs feeding at a time in the same lot. 

 The disease is said to have originated in this State in the Aurora and Lawrence- 

 burg distilleries. If the Department wishes and considers the history of hog cholera 

 of sufficient importance (and there is no subject of more interest and importance 

 to farmers of Indiana) it might send two or three men in the field to write up all the 

 points attainable, having in view a history from the first outbreak up to the present 

 time, and giving the views of prominent feeders and hog raisers on this important 

 subject. Another correspondent writes: " I settled herein 1854, and know some- 

 thing about hogs. I find that for the first five years of my residence here, when 

 stock ran unconfined, that general good health among hogs prevailed. As soon as 

 improvement began, with inclosures generally small and unprotected, hogs began 

 to die with what was supposed to be cholera. Isolation-did not modify the disease, 

 neither did distance exempt a man's herd. I know nothing of its origin, save that 

 general inattention in the way of small lots or pens, mud up to their bellies not a 

 good spot in them, not a clean bite of feed or drop of good, sweet water to drink, 

 and the worst of all, no good, clean, dry place to sleep. I give as my theory, that the 

 above is the sole cause of the origin of hog cholera. There must of necessity be 

 cause for the beginning of any and all diseases, regardless of its nature contagious, 

 infectious, or otherwise and so I believe hog cholera was generated here by unfavor- 

 able conditions, and is both contagious and infectious; and now, since the disease 

 regards not the best of attention, visiting herds almost regardless of conditions, yet 

 I insist that it can be controlled. First, by good care, providing for comfort in 

 every way; and, second, by keeping them away from the spores and parasites. 



DECATUR. Hog cholera was unknown in this county while the woods breed or 

 elm peeler constituted the entire stQck of hogs. About the year 1850 the Berkshire, 

 Poland China, and Chester White breeds were introduced. Hog cholera soon ap- 

 peared and has existed with more or less virulence ever since, but notwithstanding 

 the havoc and loss from cholera among the improved breeds we would not think of 

 returning to the original stock. It required two years to get the woods stock ready 

 for market. The improved hog is fat from a pig and ready for market at any age. 

 The symptoms and nature of hog cholera are so well understood it is not necessary 

 for me to describe them. Various nostrums have been prescribed, but have proved 

 ineffectual and heavy losses annually occur. Charcoal, ashes, and copperas are pre- 

 ventives. There have been no unusual losses among horses, cattle, or sheep. 



ELKHART. Hog cholera in bad form existed with us as far back as 1856-'57. 

 Previous to that time we had the old breed generally known as the elm peelers, or 

 " third row" hog. There was no disease among them, except what was known as 

 measles and kidney worm. In the first disease the skin bore red specks. It did 

 not often prove fatal. In the second case the animal would circle round, could not 

 go forward in a straight direction; would take a bite of feed and then turn round. 

 This disease proved fatal in about every case. Cholera existed in the southwestern 

 part of our county up to 1879. Since then we have had no disease of any kind in 

 that locality until the present fall and winter. The disease covered an area of one 

 by two miles. It seemed to take on different forms. My aid writes: "I had 9 

 sick ones out of 10. Their bowels were very much constipated; lost 1: gave them 

 scalded bran and fresh milk. In fact, they would eat nothing else; others would 

 vomit and have diarrhea. In a small district in the eastern part of pur county 

 they lost 15 or 20. Hogs in that locality do best in clean and well-ventilated pens. 

 Will say that your reporter has been on this farm his life-time and since the time 

 when there were more Indians by far in the county than white men, and I never 

 lost a hog by the disease of cholera, and we have raised many hogs for the market. 



