218 DISEASES OF SWINE AND OTHER ANIMALS. 



of diseased liogs. For this reason the best -way is to select sucli remedies as the ani- 

 mals arc a,pt to use willingly. The medicine should be given in a form suitable to 

 their small appetite, and'^in a way that they may get an approximately full dose of it, 

 accojxling to their age. 



IOWA. 



Mr. George T. Gibbs, College Springs, Page county, says : 



As I have been broken np l)y the so-called hog-cholera, I have come to the conclu- 

 sion to give you my theory ill regard to the disease. I believe the whole difficulty 

 lies in the manner of breeding which has been practiced for the last fifteen or twenty 

 years. We hold to the maxim that like produces like, and pay high prices for short- 

 horns to improve our cattle and large sums for fine hogs to improve our swine, and 

 then give the lie to our theory by our practice. The practice by most hog-raisers, and 

 especially by those that have been supplying the country with fine stock, has been to 

 breed their sows at the age of from six to eight months, then fatten them and breed 

 from the pigs at the same age. I claim thatthis has been kept up until the constitu- 

 tion of the hog has been ruined, and any little thing will bring on disease, which 

 sometimes becomes epidemic and appears to be contagious. If you breed from animals 

 whose bodies are immature and constitutions already weakened, if like produces like, 

 you are getting an animal weakened from infancy. The old way of breeding was to 

 allow stock hogs to make a little bone and muscle as well as fat, to mature their bodies 

 before allowing them to breed, and when you once got a good breeder to keep her as 

 long as she would bear pigs. In those days we never heard of hog-cholera, and we 

 could raise eight, ten, and twelve pigs from one sow. My father kept one sow for 

 several years, which raised ten pigs every litter. He sold the pigs all over the county 

 for breeders. They were not hazel-splitters either. I have helped to butcher some of 

 this breed that dressed 250 pounds at six to eight months old, and some that were kept 

 until four years of age weighed 800 pounds. Now hog-raisers get two or three pigs 

 from a sow, sometimes only one. A great many object to fine stock on this account; 

 but we can raise eight or ten pigs at a litter from thoroughbred Poland-China, Berk- 

 shire, or Chester "NATiites, if we treat them properly. 



I expect to be laughed at by the wise and scientific, but I have watched this mat- 

 ter closely for the last five years, and I am satisfied I have found the true solution of 

 the difficulty. 



SOUTH CAROLINA. 



Dr. C. J. Fatist, Grabam's, S. C, writes nnder recent date as follows : 



I see much written in regard to hog-cholera, as it is termed in the Northwest and in 

 our own Southern country. So far as my own observation goes I am inclined to think 

 that Dr. J. M. Johnson, of Locksburg, Ark., is correct in regard to its symptoms, cause, 

 treatment, and pathology. Last winter I lost ten or twelve head myself out of a herd 

 of twenty-four. They were all in fine order. 



We also had an epidemic of staggers among horses and mules in our neighborhood, 

 which proved fatal to a gi'eat many anunals. The disease generally lasts from six to 

 forty-eight hours. An animal attacked with it rarely recovers. I lost seven head of 

 horses myself last winter, which cost me $1,200, and many of my neighbors lost a 

 greater or less number. The disease known as staggers, however, was not the cause of 

 the death of all of them. The animal, when first a,ttacked, seems to be stifi' in his fore 

 legs, is very dull in riding, and when touched with the whip springs oif very suddenly 

 for the moment ; but this is soon over. The neiwous sensation seems to be very acute, 

 and when allowed to run on an hour or so the animal does not seem to have i)Ower to lift 

 his feet high enough to keep him from hitting them against the smallest rise on the 

 surface of the earth or any small object in his way. He soon commences to go around 

 in a circle, say 80 or 100 feet in diameter, and when once broken off from this circle he 

 will go over anything in his course, and will even plunge into a dwelling. He becomes 

 dangerous to those around him, and will go on until ho is thrown down by running 

 over some large object, when he soon dies in great agony. Our treatment has been 

 full blood-letting, even to fainting, and copious drenching with a free purgative, com- 

 posed of 300 grains of aloes, 150 grains jalap, and 80 grains of calomel, made into a 

 bolus. This is placed upon a long paddle, two and ouc-half inches in width, and the 

 paddle put dowji the horse's throat as far as it will go. The bolus rolls oif without 

 trouble and the animal swallows it. It soon acts thoroughly on the bowels. If this 

 treatment should have the desired effect the horse should nut be ailowed to eat any- 

 thing for two days, and then -only bran mashes and a little green food. This should be 

 continued for several days, when the horse will begin to slowlj^ and gradually recover. 



