DISEASES OF SWINE AND OTHER ANIMALS. 113 



nam, and Bartholomew. Some of the most intelligent and leading stock 

 men of each county were sought, and all the information obtained which 

 they had upon the subject of the disease, both in regard to its present 

 manifestation and past history. Speculators in live hogs and large 

 feeders were closely interrogated upon every feature of the disease as 

 coming within the range of their exijerience and observation. -Diseased 

 herds were ^'isited, and in each case the farm minutely inspected in all 

 its bearings upon the health of animals ; the methods of breeding, feed- 

 ing, and general management of swine diligently inquired into ; dead 

 animals, where not too far advanced in decomposition, dissected, and 

 living ones, having the disease, were slaughtered for examination, and 

 the i)athological indications carefully noted. The month of September 

 was entirely devoted to this branch of the investigation. 



The object of this method of inquiry was to ascertain whether the 

 disease, as pre^'aiUng thi'oughout these several districts, was uniibrm in 

 its character, diifering only in such modification in type as may be due 

 to local influences ; or whether these were to be found separate and dis- 

 tinct diseases in different localities, due to entirely different causes for 

 their production ; and if uniformity was found to exist in the character 

 of the disease as now prevailing, to learn from practical and intelligent 

 observers in each district whether, in any essential particular, it differs 

 from the disease that has prevailed in other years. 



PEEVAXENCE OP THE DISEASE. 



The several districts visited were all more or less affected by the dis- 

 ease, but to a much less extent than during former years, except, per- 

 haps, in the county of Putnam, where it was i)revailing for the first time 

 as a general and wide-spread epidemic, the loss being estimated at from 

 fifty to sixty thousand dollars. In this county the surface is sufficiently 

 undulating to produce good drainage ; the soil is red clay on limestone. 

 Springs of iiure limestone water are abundant, and woodlawns beauti- 

 fully swarded with blue grass are seen upon almost every farm. Feed- 

 ing swine has been an extensive and profitable branch of farm industry 

 in this county, and the herds are, therefore, quite large for a grass-grow- 

 ing section. During the simimer months hogs in this county run ui)on 

 blue grass and clover, and are fed some corn. We found the corn so 

 fed often unfit for use, because of a very reprehensible x^ractice of haul- 

 ing to the field for convenience in feeding and thromng it in an open 

 rail pen, where, by exposure to heat and moisture, it soon becomes 

 moldy. The mean temperature in this county during the summer was 

 slightly above, and the rain -fall considerably below, the average seasons. 



The counties of Floyd, Harrison, and Waslungton jjossess much the 

 same kind of soil, and are abundantly supplied with running springs of 

 limestone water ; but blue gTass and clover are not so extensively or 

 generally grown. In these three counties hog-raising is not a branch of 

 farm industry sufficiently remunerative to induce the farmers to gener- 

 ally engage in it, and the herds are, therefore, usually small and the 

 animals very unpeii'ectly cared for. 



The observations made in the counties of Greene, Owen, Monroe, Mor- 

 gan, and Bartholomew were on a line with the White iliver Valley. 

 Tliis and the Wabash Valley constitute pre-einineutly the hog-growing 

 sections of Indiana. It is iii this part of tlie State that the disease has 

 in^evailed to the greatest extent. Ilog-raising being the leading busi- 

 ness industry, tha herds are ordinarily (|uite large. 



No observation's were made in the AVabash country. In the White 



