DISEASES OF SWINE AND OTHER ANI-MALS. 149 



lio.c's, which wouUl, if it had not been for the one or two unhealthy ones, 

 have escaped infection. 



The water shonkl be clean, pure, running water, and should be "v\'ithin 

 reach of the hogs at all times. Stagnant water, covered with green 

 scum and loaded with organic impurities, is unfit for hogs to drink, yet 

 many farmers furnish only such to their swine. Foul air, by ^"itiating 

 the blood, is one of the common predisposing causes of disease. I have 

 already spoken of the influence of heated air on the health of swine, and 

 the evil effects of sudden changes, but I did not mention the depressing 

 influence of the foul air itself upon the animals. Swine breathing air 

 loaded with carbonic acid and ammoiiiacal gas for half of each day can- 

 not remain healthy any more than man can, and the same natural residts 

 will follow — impure blood, disease of lungs, and other viscera. A pen 

 erected on the plan set forth in diagram will remove this cause of dis- 

 ease. The dry clay is the best and cheapest disinfectant yet discovered, 

 and will absorb the poisonous gases and render the air pure. Even 

 though a large number of hogs are confined in a limited space, by open- 

 ing the large dooi^s on the south side on a clear day the sun's rays will 

 dry the clay and renew its absorbing j)owers. 



Scrofula is another common predisposing cause, and one of the x)rincipal 

 causes of the large mortality in diseases of swine. The two chief causes 

 of the scrofulous diathesis are breeding young sows and in-breeding. In 

 order to avoid these causes sows should not be allowed to become preg- 

 nant until one year old. By that time she has matured and is fitted to bear 

 young. Before that time she is growing and is immature. !Not only the 

 mother may be injured by early breeding, but the progeny will inherit 

 disease. In-breecling has been largely practiced in the Western States, 

 and whenever jiracticed it is easy to x)ick out the young resulting from 

 this management. They were the first of the pigs attacked, and the 

 post-mortem examinations disclosed tubercular disease in every case. 

 Before the close of the investigation I became so thoroughly convinced 

 on this subject, that, whenever I detected tubercular disease in lungs or 

 mesentery, I sought out parentage of the pig. In several droves where 

 a portion of the diseased swine were the otispring of in-bred sows and 

 part cross-breed, the tubercular disease was found in the former and not 

 in the latter. In-breeding is often practiced through the effort to obtain 

 a perfectly pure breed of any particular species. With but few excep- 

 tions, and those among the imijorted stock, the pedigree does not extend 

 back more than one or two generations, and often unwittingly the same 

 blood is infused into a drove of sows, although the male may have come 

 from a distance. To avoid this gTave error, I would advise crossing 

 breeds, selecting carefully the male from some special breed, as Poland- 

 China, and crossing with an opposite breed in shape and habits, as the 

 Essex. The finest drove I saw this year was the result of such a cross. 

 ]Mr. Pendroy, of Monroe, Jasper county, bred two years to Essex boar 

 and two to Poland-China, making a special eflbrt to obtain as different 

 blood as possible from that in his own herd. The herd of nearly three 

 hundred head were in fine health, except some brood-sows which had 

 been suckled down and were poor. These sows contracted the disease, 

 but it was promptly checked by proper measures, and did not spread to 

 any extent in his drove. 



And this illustrates another very frequent cause of the contagious 

 diseases obtaining a foothold in a- herd of animals. The brood-sows be- 

 come worn down with oversuckling and want of suitable food duriug 

 l)ig-bearing and nursing, and with systems thus disordered are very lia- 

 able to contract any disease in the vicinity. See that brood-sows have 



