304 EEPOET OF THE BUEEAU OF ANIMAL INDUSTEY. 



LA FAYETTE. The exact date of the advent of the disease known as hog cholera 

 into this county is not known. I think it was about 1878-'79 ; but at that date hogs 

 had begun to be more delicate than formerly, and lung fever had made its appear- 

 ance among shoats. This was generally attributed to letting the hogs sleep at the 

 straw pile, where they would pile up on top of one another and get very warm. They 

 frequently had to go long distances to the corn-crib and stand in the cold, piercing 

 winds and snow to eat frozen corn. No wonder they contracted lung fever. I have 

 noticed one peculiarity about the so-called hog cholera. In its frequent outbreaks 

 it invariably begins with some one's hogs who has lots of corn, and from this I in- 

 fer that corn is not the best feed, at least for young pigs and brood stock. Our hogs 

 are like kegs of lard on legs. Vitality and health are in the muscular, nervous, and 

 blood parts of the animal. We breed from young stock that is unfit to perform 

 the duties of reproduction, till our hogs have no constitution, and when an epi- 

 demic comes along they die like poisoned flies. Corn breeds worms, worms produce 

 various diseases, diseases become epidemic, and spread in many ways. There are 

 some strangely curious things occurring with this hog cholera. I have had some suc- 

 cess with treating it. I believe I have some views on the subject that are not gener- 

 ally known, or perhaps I had better say experience. I have been thinking that I 

 would write them out for some paper if I could only get time. I believe them to be 

 useful not only in hog diseases, but in all diseases of a contagious nature among the 

 human as well as the brute creation, and as we are threatened with cholera it would 

 seem to be of more importance. No well-informed person doubts the fact of these 

 contagious diseases being caused by living organisms in the system, and to kill them 

 or render them sterile and expel them from the system should be the object of 

 treatment. I have followed this view with considerable success, yet I think that a 

 proper person with proper appliances could test the matter more fully and perhaps 

 make great improvements on my system. At any rate I think it worth a trial, and 

 further so because it is so simple and harmless, and can be applied by any one and 

 at a trifling cost. 



LINCOLN. Hog cholera has never appeared in this county. 



MANITOWOC. Hog cholera is not known to ever have existed in this county. 



OUTAGAMIE. Glanders has prevailed to some extent among horses, and 7 ani- 

 mals affected with the disease were killed during the year. 



PIERCE. No cases of the disease known as hog cholera have come to my knowl- 

 edge. Because of dry weather during the summer and fall pastured stock is in 

 somewhat poor condition. Many farmers are short of winter feed. 



PORTAGE. Hog cholera has never been known in this county as far as I can 

 learn. I have made inquiry from different locations, and from as good farmers as 

 live in the county, and they all agree as to this statement. I would further state 

 that I have never heard of any contagious disease prevailing among horses, cattle, 

 sheep, or hogs, except some fifteen years since, when the epizootic affected the 

 horses in this county. 



PRICE. I have yet to learn of a single case of cholera among hogs in this county. 

 All swine are healthy. 



RACINE. There have never been any cases of hog cholera in this county to my 

 knowledge, or any contagious diseases among cattle. 



EICHLAND. Cholera first appeared among hogs in this county in the fall of 1884. 

 It was quite fatal that season. Up to that time these animals were healthy. They 

 are now free from disease. How the disease was introduced no one can tell. Horses, 

 cattle, and sheep are healthy. 



ST. CROIX. Hog cholera has never prevailed in this county. There has been no 

 general disease among any class of our farm animals during the current year. 



SAUK. The so-called hog cholera occurred in two places in this county during 

 the year 1885; said to have been brought in by pigs imported from Illinois for breed- 

 ing purposes; but it did not spread far, and was scared out by farmers disposing of 

 their entire stock in the infected neighborhoods. During 1886 it approached our 

 eastern border from Columbia County, and during that summer it crossed into 

 Sauk County, and mowed a swath the entire length of the county north and south, 

 and extended about 6 miles into the county, the inf ected area being about 6 to 18 

 miles. The damage I can not estimate, but about every hog died or was disposed 

 of. I do not think 10 per cent, of the usual number was wintered over, and most of 

 those were sold in the spring. This hogless area has not been replenished yet owing 

 to the scare and the scarcity of feed occasioned by the drought, and as a result hog 

 cholera has been virtually stamped out, no cases appearing, as I can ascertain, 

 during 1887. 



TREMPEALEAU. I think there has never been a case of hog cholera in this county. 

 I have a mixture of copperas, salt, charcoal, and ashes constantly where my hogs 

 can get all they want of it. Feeding mostly corn and keeping in filthy quarters 

 is believed a prime cause of the disease. 



