272 REPORT OF THE BUREAU OF ANIMAL INDUSTRY. 



and were not any healthier than they have been since they were kept in inclosures 

 and on tanie grasses. 



BELMONT. We had a few cases supposed to be hog cholera the present season. 

 The disease was introduced by hogs purchased from other counties for breeding 

 purposes. We probably lost one hundred head by this disease. This is the first 

 year of its introduction in the county. Hogs were generally healthy previous to its 

 introduction. We have no contagious diseases among horses, except distemper, 

 which frequently occurs, and occasionally an animal is lost from the effects of it. 

 But the greatest mortality is caused by colic. Cattle are generally healthy. The 

 greatest loss occurs at the age of one year or less, generally at the age of six months. 

 Symptoms: Loss of appetite, legs grow cold and become stiff, causing death in a few 

 hours. Generally attacks those in good flesh. I have opened some of them and 

 found the contents of the stomach and intestines to be caked hard. At first symp- 

 toms of disease, if not progressed too far, I gave copperas, followed by bicarbonate 

 of soda, which gave relief in most cases. 



BUTLER. There has been no epidemic among farm animals in' this county, ex- 

 cept cholera among hogs, and this disease has not been so prevalent this year, as 

 very few animals have died as compared with 1886. It is more than thirty years 

 since this disease first appeared. It comes and goes like drought some years it is 

 wide-spread and destructive, while in others but few cases occur. I believe that if 

 pigs were fed for the first six months on oats and bran mainly, and when fattening 

 were fed on corn, pumpkins, or roots, the danger and loss would be greatly reduced. 

 A correspondent writes: " Cholera, it seems, is the name of all diseases that hogs 

 are liable to, yet this so-called cholera does not always affect the hogs alike. Some- 

 times they are costive; at other times they are the opposite. They run off at the 

 bowels and thus lose flesh rapidly, and die in a few days; 75 per cent, of all that 

 have cholera die. All advertised sure cures fail. In almost all cases the lungs be- 

 come affected; some bleed at the nose. ' If they take the disease while fed on old 

 corn they are costive. Feeding them on green corn will often affect a larger per- 

 centage of cures than anything I have tried. When a herd gets the disease the sick 

 ones should be separated; this will of ten prevent the spread of the disease. From 

 my own experience I have found that hogs allowed to drink water from a running 

 stream of water will distribute the disease for several miles. I find that it is car- 

 ried further by this means than any other. One of my neighbors' herds had the 

 disease for several seasons. They were allowed to drink and wallow in the streams, 

 and for several miles along said streams farmers that allowed their hogs to drink 

 from it lost most of their animals. I made a request of them to keep then- hogs 

 from drinking out of this stream, and all that kept them from doing so, and gave 

 them pure, clean well-water to drink, prevented an outbreak of the contagion. I 

 commenced feeding hogs extensively the fall of 1846. I fed from 200 to 500 head 

 yearly up to 1862, and up to that date I did not lose over 2 hogs per 100 head. The 

 first year we had the disease in our county was in 1863. That year I lost 100 head 

 of hogs out of a herd of 300 head. Almost the entire herd was affected. From that 

 date up to the present time our county has suffered more or less each year. After 

 testing almost all the advertised cures and preventives I find nothing better than to 

 keep them from drinking impure and contaminated water." 



CARROLL. We have no hog cholera in this county as far as we can learn. If 

 there is any it is kept a secret from us. 



CUYAHOGA. I never heard of hog cholera in this county until the past season. 

 It was introduced last season by hogs brought in on the cars to stock the cheese 

 factories in the eastern part of the county. Hogs were generally healthy previous 

 to tin's time. 



DEFIANCE. The first appearance of hog cholera to my recollection was about the 

 year 1877. At that time, and for several years subsequently, it prevailed pretty 

 generally throughout the county. Many hogs have since been lost, but owing to 

 better care and the keeping of a smaller number on each farm the disease has be- 

 come less destructive. The few cases are generally where hogs are neglected or are 

 kept in large numbers. One instance, where 42 were fed in a lot, 7 showed symp- 

 toms of cholera. They were removed a distance of about 3 miles to a new pasture 

 lot and fed light feeds for two weeks. When the feed was increased, as they ate 

 clean, in four weeks they were marked and were healthy. The remainder were 

 also changed to new pasture, and after that none were taken sick, Horses have 

 been affected to some extent with pink-eye and distemper. 



DELAWARE. All the inquiries I have been able to make have resulted in a failure 

 to find a single case of hog cholera within the limits of this county. I am riot able 

 to say how or when the first case of hog cholera came into the county. The health 

 of all Jdnds of animals is good. The loss by disease is very light, except, possibly, 

 among sheep, which is generally the result Of neglect. 



