EXTRACTS FROM LETTERS OF CORRESPONDENTS. 



DISEASES OF CATTLE. 



Black-leg. — Mr. S. Woodsum, jr., of Wilkin County, Minnesota, 

 writes as follows concerning black-leg in cattle : 



I desire to give you luy experience with the disease kuowu at. black-leg in cattle. 

 Several years ago I lost quite a number of these animals, mostly calves, but 1 h.ave 

 had a number of cows attacked by the disease. It has invariably been those that 

 were fat that were taken sick. The first indication of sickness is loss of appetite, 

 staring coat and lameness, very sensitive to pressure on the outside of shoulders, and 

 very laborious breathing. A. post-mortem examination revealed the hind parts normal ; 

 the liver very black and tender and breaking into pieces at slight touch; the air pas 

 sages through tbe lungs, the heart, and the heart case congested and filled with black 

 blood. 



The cause of this disease, I am convinced by experience and observation, is over- 

 feeding. For instance, cows that were milked all winter, and were fed eight quarts 

 per day of corn meal, linseed meal, oatmeal, and wheat bran, went through the winter 

 without getting sick ; but cows that came to the barn fat and dry, and were not fed 

 anything but hay until after dropping their calf, when they were put on the same 

 feed as those that had been milked all winter, were taken sick in every instance. 

 Again, cows that came to the barn dry and fat, and received a daily ration of feed of 

 the same quality as the other cows, but a much less quantity than before dropping, 

 and then increased in quantity to the same amount as the others, got through with- 

 out being sick. 



My experience has been about the same with calves as it has been with cows. A 

 calf that had been allowed to run with its dam all summer, being very fat, was turned 

 into a field where grain had been harvested a#d a very luxuriant growth of volunteer 

 grain had si)ruug up, and it was soon taken sick. 



As a preventive we quite often read that salting twice a week will prove beneficial, 

 but this never made any dilfereuce with tbe stoclv in this vicinity, from the fact that 

 I was about the only one that kept sa^ where the animals could get it night and 

 morning, and yet I lost as many, if not more, than any of my neighbors. I have al- 

 ways fed more grain than any one else in this neighborhood. 



When Dr. Hurn, of the Signal Service, was here, some seven or eight years ago, 1 

 described the post-mortem appearance of an animal that had died of black-leg. He 

 advised me to try drenching with strong salt brine, and lam happy to say that 1 ac- 

 cepted his advice, and have not since lost either a cow or a calf. I'ut one-half 

 pint of salt into a quart bottle, fill Avith water, shake well, and give about half as the 

 first dose ; in about an hour give the remainder, and one hour later rei)eat. The fol- 

 lowing day the operation should be again repeated. I have used this reL.edy in the 

 case of sick horses with satisfactory results. 



Mr. L. E. Howe, of Anderson County, Kansas, recently lost eight 

 head of yearling steers by black-leg. AA'^'riting, under date of August 

 8, he says: 



I have lost eight head of yearling steers out of a herd of one hundred and thirty-tivf 

 brought from Shannon County, Missouri, to this county this seascn. The disease is 



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