118 DISEASES OF SV/INE AND OTHER ANIMALS. 



watering place. At the farm of Mr. Qiiimi, near Hartsville, Indiana, 

 where the disease was prevailing-, twelve liead of sick animals were run- 

 ning in an in closure, and when tlie proprietor was asked about tlie sup- 

 ply of water, he saifi, " There was plenty — a good spring." On personal 

 examination the spring vfas found to issue from a hill-side, with but lit- 

 tle incline ; from the place where it issued to tlie point where it disap- 

 peared from exliaustion — a distance of some 40 feet — there was a long 

 bed of thin mud, and no visible appearance of running water at any 

 point. He was ashed on our return when he last inspected the 

 watering place, and answered, " This morning." He was then asked if 

 he thought the sujiply of water at that spring would supply a few horses 

 or cattle with water, if the hogs were taken out, and he rephed promptly 

 in the negative, and when asked by what process of reasoning he came 

 to the conclusion that water of acknowledged unfitness for anything else 

 was quite good enough for hogs, and sick ones at that, he replied, in sub- 

 stance, that hogs would not use water until they rendered it unfit for 

 any other kind of stock ! 



We mention this case in detail because it fairly represents the views 

 of the average farmer upon the subject of water for swine — " any water 

 is good enough for a hog." 



CLEANLINESS. 



The domesticated animal does not approximate the habits of his 

 pioneer ancestor in point of cleanliness. It is the instinctive habit of 

 the animal to bathe in water and waUow in mud to counteract heat and 

 as a protection against flies ; but in a state of nature, when the mud has 

 served its purpose, the animal cleanses himself by friction with ihe 

 nearest tree ; the filthy bed which the domestic animal becomes satisfied 

 to occupy in a state of confinement is never occupied by animals run- 

 ning in the forest, and given opportunity to make and change their 

 sleeping places at will — in short, when allowed to provide for his own 

 existence, he exercises a more intelhgent regard for his wants than is 

 ordinarily exercised for him by his owner, who attempts to supersede in- 

 stinct by reason. 



The fi^equent allusions made to the native hog may provoke the in- 

 quiry. Are we to return to the ill-shapen and ungainly animal of forty 

 years ago "? Certainly not. In this age of high-priced corn, such an an- 

 imal is unworthy of an existence. The only thing to be admired of him 

 is his health and constitution ; the only useful lesson to be derived from 

 allusion to his history is the means by which these were acquired and 

 maintained. Food, faulty in character and wanting in variety ; water, 

 deficient in quantity and purity ; quarters, too limited in space and filthy 

 in condition, are the three leading factors in the production of disease of 

 swine. 



Special attention was given to the examination of the surface land oc- 

 cupied by diseased animals, and while there were exceptional cases, in 

 quite a large majority of instances they were running in fields producing 

 quite a luxuriant growth of weeds which, during that season, were shed- 

 ding their seed, bloom, and leaves. The earth was exceedingly dry and 

 dusty. In traveling through the fields the animals created a dust from 

 the earth and from the weeds also, which, together, were taken into the 

 ah'-passages and lungs vnth the air breathed, constituting an active 

 source of irritation. While pursuing this branch of the inquiry we were 

 infonned by some intelligent observers that they had noticed that ani- 

 mals running in such fields, particularly wheat and rye st^ibble, over- 



