612 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 10 



amount of flesh, and the loss in cookino', and con- 

 sequently the difference in prir-e before and after. 

 In Slimming up his results. [Vir. Donovan says: 

 ''It appears that the ttesii ol' a woodcock some- 

 times costs 16s. per pound. Ent the fiesh of the 

 quail is still more expensive. This bird fattened 

 is frequency sold at 3s., nnd when allowance is 

 m-ide for tiie loss in conkino; and the bones, the j 

 meat may be estimated at two ounces, which 

 brings the cost of the cooked flesh to £l 4s. per 

 pound, (or about six dollars.) Those to whom 

 such morsels are necessary, are not to be envied." 

 The price of venison cooked does not vary much, 

 from one dollar a pound; dear buying surleits we 

 should think. 



From these experiments of iVIessrs. Wallace 

 and Donovan, it is clear that where economy is 

 consulted the greater part of the meat cooked will 

 be boiled; as the loss is decidedly less than by 

 roasting, and experience has shown it to be nearly 

 ,or quite as digestible and nutritious when cooked in 

 this way as in any other. In whatever way flesh 

 is cooked, it should be done; but this does not 

 mean that it should be roasted, or fried, or baked, 

 to scraps. Cooked properly, it is more easily di- 

 gested, and far more nutritious, and the loss is gen- 

 erally less, than when devoured raw as with the 

 Abyssinian, or roasted to a crisp as is the custom 

 in 'Furkey. Every thing that relates to domestic 

 economy should attract the notice of the farmer; 

 and where flesh is as much an article of food and 

 of comfort as with us. the daily saving that may 

 be effected by boiling in preference to roasting 

 should not be overlooked. The rich may be al- 

 lowed to consult their appetite at the expense of 

 tlieir health if they choose; that man is fortunate 

 who is able to gratify the first without endanger- 

 ing the last. 



tVorn ttie Genesee Fanner. 

 CONTAGIOUS TYPHUS AMOKG CATTLE. 



Such is the name given by Professor Dela- 

 fond, of the veterinary school at Alfort, to a dis- 

 ease among cattle, the history of which, from its 

 first well authenticated appearance about a hun- 

 ,dred years since, he has been engaged in investi- 

 gating, and which at each periodic return appears 

 to have been as fatal to cattle as the black death, 

 email pox, plague, and cholera, have proved to 

 the human race. 



Tlie best accounts of the epizootic typhus, 

 jnakes it originate in Hungary, in 1711, whence 

 it spread into Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Pied- 

 mont, Holland, France, and England ; taking 

 about seven years in its circuit, and setting at de- 

 fiance every effort made to check its advance. In 

 Piedmont 80,000 cattle died in a few months; in 

 Holland more than 200,000 beasts perished; and 

 in other countries it visited, it was equally fatal, 

 the total number destroyed during the seven years 

 :being estimated at more than 600,000. 



Twenty years afterwards the saaie disease ap- 

 peared in Bohemia, among the cattle collected liir 

 the use of the French army occupied in the siege 

 of Prague. It again overran Europe, taking 

 nearly the same course as before, and was con- 

 veyed from Holland to England. All the skill of 

 the most cebrated physicians of Europe was put 

 In requisition to arrest its ravages, but without the 

 least effect; and when after ten years it ceased 



of itself, it was estimated that not less than three 

 millions had been swept away. 



During the next twenty years Europe was free 

 from this epidemic, but in 1771 it reappeared 

 in Holland and committed the most dreadful rava- 

 ws. In one year in the Province of Friedland, 

 96,000 cattle died; in South Holland, 115,665: in 

 North Holland, 225,831; and it spread into Flan- 

 ders and France, but the whole number of cattle 

 that died in these countries was never correctly 

 estimated. Scarcely cattle enough, however, were 

 left to till the soil, and on the borders of the Medi- 

 terranean, which had escaped the last visitation, 

 mote than 150,000 cattle died. 



During the wars of the French Republic, in 

 1793, 4 and 5, and of which Italy was the princi- 

 pal theatre, the typhus again broke out, and follow- 

 ing the course of the armies, destroyed in a few 

 years 3.500,000 cattle. In 1790 it appeared among 

 the cattle collected lor the French army of the 

 Rhine, and spread with li'ightlul rapidity over the 

 departments of that part of France and part of Hol- 

 land destroying not less than 200,000 cattle. At this 

 time a detailed calculation, made from authentica- 

 ted statements, was made by Dr. Faust, and it 

 appeared by these returns, that the number that 

 had perished in Belgium and France alone, since 

 its appearance in 1711, was not less than ten mil- 

 lions. 



In 1814-15 the combined armies arrived in 

 France, with these hordes of Hungarian bullocks, 

 and contagious typhus soon broke out and spread 

 with fital rapidity. The return of peace, howe- 

 ver, checked its progress, and it soon disappeared; 

 since which time it has scarcely been heard of as 

 an epidemic, in any country. 



The researches of the professor have estab- 

 lished the following facts: 1st. That from 1711 to 

 1814 contagious typhus has appeared about once 

 in twenty-three years. 2d. That on each ap- 

 pearance it seems to have arrived in the train of 

 Hungarian cattle. 3d. That it is strictly conta- 

 gious, and spreads in this way alone. 



Wherever war long continues to rage, typhus 

 fever breaks out among cattle. These two des- 

 troyers of men and cattle appear in some manner 

 inseparable. A comparison of the times specified 

 above as the period of its ravages, with the his- 

 tory of the same time, will fully establish these 

 facts. The causes of this connexion between the 

 march of armies, and the propagation of the tv- 

 phus have been detailed with great force in a re- 

 port by M. Rodet. Crowded together in large 

 masses — breathing an impure and vitiated air — 

 forced to make long and iiitiguing marches — at 

 onetime sleeping in the cold open air, and then 

 ctammed into stables or enclosures — forced by 

 thirst, to drink at times of the most impure and 

 stagnant water — their food scarce, or of bad qual- 

 ity, it is scarcely possible they should escape ty- 

 phus; or that when once the disease has origina- 

 ted, it should become fatally contagious. 



In the origin and spread of this disease, the far- 

 mer will find a strong argument for the necessity 

 of regular feeding, pure water, free ventilation, 

 and plenty of room for his flocks, and herds, if he 

 would avoid the origin or spread of disease among 

 them. American liirmers are unacquainted with 

 many of the diseases that exist in the older coun- 

 tries of Europe; but there can be no doubt that 

 fatal diseases among sheep and ewine in this 



