CONTAGIOUS LUNG FEVER OF CATTLE. 219 



YTRGIKrA. 

 Mr. Charles M. Keyser, Cedar Point, Page county, says : 



Having had some experience vsitli tlie flisease commonly called hog-cholera, I -will 

 tiy and relate the result of my inA^cstigationa made recently. The disease was close 

 to mo and there ^vere some cases in my immediate vicinity. Ahont Octuher 10th last 

 I penned my hogs to fatten in their nsnal health, as I thought. Abont the 1st of De- 

 cember I formd that they began to refuse some of their food, so I butchered them, and, 

 upon examination, I found their lungs and livers in a very bad condition. The lungs 

 vrere very much darkened and decayed, and the pores or small tubes were filled with 

 worms about the size of a hair ; they varied from one to three inches in length, and 

 seemed to completely choke the hog. In color they resembled that of the kidney- 

 worm, though they were not so large. I had no microscope and could not make a 

 close examination.' The liver was full of boils, and seemed to be in a perfectly torpid 

 condition. The bowels seemed to be in a healthy condition. 



My former experience concerning the disease 'is that the lungs and liver are the 

 points most affected. The symptoms of the disease were manifested in a dull and 

 drooping condition of the animal, coughing, and a heaving of the flanks— a beating 

 and working like a bellows. In some instances the animals would turn quite a com- 

 plete somersault and fall over dead. In other cases they would die quite easy. 



I do not think there is any cure for the disease after it gets a fair hold on the anhnal. 

 It seems that hogs that nin at large— roam through the woods and fields— are more 

 liable to the disease than those that are kept in clean, comfortable pens and are well 

 cared for. The use of tar in the troughs and wood-ashes (hickoiy preferable) spread 

 on the ground where they are fed, in a dry time or in a dry place, is a very good pre- 

 ventive, if not a cure, in some cases. They will eat some and inhale a little, which has 

 a cood effect on the animal. 



PLEUEO-PI^IBIONIA OE LUISTG PEVEE OP CATTLE. 



The following letter, addressed by the Commissioner of Agriculture 

 to Hon. A. S. Paddock, chairman of the Senate Committee on Agricul- 

 ture, on the 14th day of February last, gives all the facts in regard to 

 the prevalence of pleuro-pneumonia among cattle in this country, so far 

 as they were then known to this dejjartment : 



Sm : I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of 

 recent date, asking for such information as may be in my possession re- 

 lating to the subject of pleuro-pneumonia among cattle. The subject is 

 one that is attracting great attention in this countiy at present; hence 

 information is rapidly accumulating iu this department, the more impor- 

 tant portion of which I herewith transmit for the information of your 

 committee. I shall first give a brief statement of the action of the de- 

 partment iu the matter, and then submit such letters, telegrams, and 

 other information of an important character bearing upon the subject as 

 have recently come into my possession. 



In August, 1877, within one month after my accession to the position 

 of Commissioner of Agriculture, I instituted a prebminarj' examination 

 of diseases of domesticated animals. Por years I have been cognizant 

 of the loss of immense numbers of swine and other farm animals by dis- 

 ease, supposed to be of an infectious and contagious character ; and, with 

 the very limited means at my disposal, I opened a correspondence ^ith 

 leading farmers and stock-growers in almost every county in the United 

 Statesfor the piu-pose of eliciting definite iuformation in regard to these 

 maladies, and the probable annual losses occasioned thereby. The re- 

 sult of this correspondence was the accumulation of a vast amount of 

 important information on the subject under consideration, which, by 

 request of the Senate, was communicated to that body on the 27th day 



