236 REPORT OP THE BUREAU OE ANIMAL INDUSTRY. 



FLOYD. Hog cholera rnacle its appearance in this county about the year 1857, 

 and the fatality was great that year. It has raged with intermission since to the 

 present time, and this past year has been extremely disastrous. From the best in- 

 formation I can get fully 70 per cent, of the hog crop, both great and small, have 

 died of the disease the past year. It is now raging in some localities, but not so 

 virulently and with such disastrous results as it did during July and August. I 

 suppose the disease first came to this county through atmospheric influences. 

 Peach-tree leaves or bark boiled in water and fed in slop is said to alleviate, and in 

 many cases, cure the disease. Coal-oil has also been used beneficially fed in slop 

 and applied externally on the head and back. I believe this remedy was better 

 before the oil was deprived of its explosive agencies, I believe that the oil refined 

 without any preventives against explosions would be an efficacious remedy. Hogs 

 should not be permitted to run on red clover during cholera times. There is some- 

 thing in red clover that aggravates the disease; what it is I am unable to say. 

 Grasses do not have this effect. This county formerly exported a great many hogs, 

 especially before the war, when Richmond, Va. , was the market. But it has fallen 

 off until, instead of being exporters of this product, we are now importers, and 

 this incoming year we will have to buy abroad, if we get a supply for our own con- 

 sumption. It is safe to say that there is not half enough for home demand. But 

 the deficiency has to some extent, and will yet be, supplied by beef; but with both 

 included there will be a deficiency in this county of at least 25 per cent. The 

 market value of hogs this year is $5, gross. 



FULTON. The cholera first made its appearance among hogs in this county in 

 1858; don't know from whence it came or how it originated. Have had but little 

 of it this season. Have had some pink-eye among horses and cattle; no deaths. 

 Many cattle were blinded, generally in one eye. 



GALLATIN. No hog disease of any consequence hag prevailed in this county 

 during the past eight years, the date of my residence here. Only once do I remem- 

 ber any cases at all, and that was in 1882, These were few and isolated, and were 

 occasioned by the introduction of new hogs into the county, 



GARRARD. Within my recollection all classes of farm animals have undergone 

 a great change in size, form, and disposition, and the hog, perhaps, by handling and 

 domestication, has undergone a greater change than any other domestic animal. 

 In his wild state he is covered with a thick coat of long bristling hair, lined next to 

 the skin with a short, fine, furry coat of hair which keeps him warm, and affords 

 protection against the sudden cold changes of winter. The demand for the hog 

 product as a meat supply induced farmers to feed their hogs heavily, using the 

 richest food to promote a quick growth, in order to bring them to a marketable con- 

 dition as early as possible. This course of treatment has brought about a great 

 change in the character and nature of the hog. Instead of finding him clothed 

 with a thick coat of hair, with furry lining next to the skin, we now find him gen- 

 erally with a thin coat of hair and almost destitute of a furry lining. Instead of run- 

 ning in the woods and feeding upon mast and roots, he is now feasted upon clover 

 and blue-grass and slops; instead of being handled in small droves they are thrown 

 together in large herds. These changes have invited disease by weakening the gen- 

 eral condition, rendering the animal less liable to stand the sudden changes of winter 

 and more liable to the contraction of disease. I haye handled hogs quite extensively. 

 By providing dry, warm shelter, and avoiding the crowding of too many together, 

 I have kept them free from cholera. When hogs are affected with any disease they 

 are more apt to communicate it than other stock, as by lying together any cuta- 

 neous or lung disease is at once transmitted. Hog cholera has been known in our 

 county for more than thirty years, 



GRAYSON. -The first appearance of hog cholera in this county was observed about 

 the year 1854. Some years its ravages are fearful. It has raged very bad here this 

 past season, and is killing hogs in different parts of the county at the present 

 writing. It has been observed that where farmers attend regularly once or twice 

 a week to giving their hogs wood ashes, mixed with salt, that nogs thus treated are 

 rarely eve attacked. Where hogs are regularly fed with all kinds of slops from 

 the kitchen they are also free from all kinds of disease. Murrain is more prevalent 

 here as a cattle disease than any other, 



GRANT. Hog cholera first made its appearance in this county in 1845. There is 

 no reliable account as to how or from whence it came. Its first serious ravages 

 were in 1853. In 1862 vast damage was done, A very material abatement of the 

 disease has been observable during the last four years. This year I do not think 

 more than 75 or 100 head showed any symptoms of the disease, 



HANCOCK. Nothing definite known concerning the introduction of hog cholera 

 into this county. Though very prevalent last winter and spring, there is compara- 

 tively none now, and the county is freer of the disease than for years past. So far 



