294 CONTAGIOUS DISEASES OF DOMESTICATED ANIMALS. 



she is suffering from ;it:iite pleuro-pneumonia. Ou still another farm, owned hy Mr. 

 Garret C. Gearhart, six animals have been attacked and four have died. All the 

 other aniuiaLs have been inoculated. 



Yon will observe that every fresh cow brought ou to these places, if uot soon inocu- 

 lated, suffered with pleuro-pueumouia, and that while inoculation prevented the ani- 

 mals on the farms from death, the disease has been reproduced in every fresh lot iu 

 the genuine form, killing most of those attacked. 



Cause of abortion in cows. — Mr. Eobert T. Burbank, proprietor of 

 Wbite Mountain Stock Farm, Sbelburne, N. H., writes as follows, under 

 date of March 24 last : 



In 1879 fourteen of my herd of thirty-five thoroughbred cows aborted. During the 

 next year I kept strict watch over them, guarding them from storms in summer and 

 keeping them dry and warm in winter, iu order that I might discover the cause of 

 the trouble. Notwithstanding my care and watchfulness, five of the animals aborted 

 the following year. I then frequently, with the greatest care, examined my hay 

 fields. In two of these fields had sx>ruug up, from seed I had purchased for high-grade 

 Western timothy, a rank growth of wild rye, and also weeds about two feet high, 

 resembling what is sometimes called " wild strawberry." The seeds of these weeds 

 appeared much like the seeds of timothy. I gathered some of the weeds and sent 

 them to the seed merohatit of whom I purchased m^- hay seed, stating that I was sat- 

 isfied that I had discovered in this wild rye aud its seeds the cause of abortion iu my 

 cows, aud requesting him to have the seeds examined aud report the result to me. 

 He treated the matter with such indifference that I have since ceased to purchase of 

 him. 



The hay cut where the wild rye and those weeds grew iu the following year (1881) 

 I put iu my young-cattle barn, and did not allow my cows to eat any of it. I have 

 since raised nearly all mj- own hay seed, and last year only one of my cows aborted. 

 This year all have escaped. I already have seventeen beautiful, healthy calves. 

 Their dams are also perfectly healthy and in good condition. Several years since I 

 expressed the opinion that there must be something in the hay similar to ergot that 

 caused this mischief. I have from time to time reported these facts to breeders who 

 have called upon or written me in relation to abortion in their herds, and several 

 have used care in regard to hay seeds with good results. 



I notice that the veterinarians employed by the Government to investigate the out- 

 break of alleged foot-and-mouth disease in the West state that the malady is not the 

 contagious disease it was supposed to be, but was caused by ergot iu tbe hay. Now, 

 if ergot in the hay will " contract the blood-vessels and retard circulation,'" as re- 

 ported by these surgeons, have we not discovered the cause of abortion in cows that 

 eat such hay ? In my case I feel quite sure that I have discovered a cure, viz., feed 

 with hay free from ergot. I do not think hay seed from the West should be sold 

 here until after it is thoroughly inspected. 



Tuberculosis.— Br. J. A. Rice, of Liberty Mills, Orange County, 

 Virginia, in January last reported the following cases to the Depart- 

 ment : 



Last summer a young steer in our herd that had been improving so rapidly as to be 

 the subject of remark was oue day found apparently suffering with rheumatism. He 

 continued to decline uutil sold. I afterwards learned that ou being slaughtered his 

 inngs were found very much diseased. In Octol)er two of our dairy cows (one of 

 them very fat) were taken with symptoms very similar to those of the steer — sepa- 

 rating themselves frotn the herd, stiff in the shoulders and neck, loss of appetite, cos- 

 iTiveness, rapid shrinking in their milk, no cough, and no symptoms by which we could 

 diagnose the disease. The decline has continued without any special symptoms ex- 

 cept those mentioned, aside from a great shrinkage in flesh. 



