20 DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



estaltlislu'd liiiiiscir on .Taniaicii Poiid to be cU-ar of every one. When 

 lie stopped inoeulating" the disease reappeared. Mr. Benjamin Babbit, 

 of Lafayette avenue, was the first to inocnhite after the introduction 

 of this practice in Ii^urope, and many dairymen adopted it. The board 

 of health ()pi)0sed the practice, as many of tlije cows lost portions of the 

 tail, and reports were made of blood and matter findino- their way into the 

 milk-pail. The disease has never ceased, and I have visited many dairies, 

 in all of which at one time or another, and in most of which during the 

 present year, the disease has prevailed. In five dairies I examined, within 

 one hundred yards of each other, I found one or two sick cows in each. 

 The Hartford Insurance Company, which has recently suspended opera- 

 tions, lost heavily on the insurance of cows from the prevalence of this 

 disease, and that company objected also to the practice of inoculation. 



From Mr. Bedell's statement, there is no doubt of the existeiu;e of the 

 contagious pleuropneumonia in New Jersey when he first bought his 

 cattle. Mr. Eobert Jennings, veterinary surgeon, had his attention 

 drawn to the disease on its appearance in Camden and Gloucester coun- 

 ties, Kew Jersey, in the year ISoi). In ISGO it crossed the Delaware 

 river into Philadelphia, spreading very rapidly in all directions, parti(;- 

 ularly in the southern section of the county known as " The :Neck" — 

 many of the dairymen losing from one-third to one-half of their herds. 

 The sale of sick cattle continued, as it always does, unless prevented by 

 rigid laws. In 18G1 the malady appeared in Delaware, and in Burling- 

 ton county, New Jersey, and the disease could be distinctly traced to the 

 Philadelphia market. 



The records of outbreaks are by no means satisfactory, but a gentle- 

 man well known in Maryland, Mr. Martin Goldsborough, informs me that 

 the malady has been very destructive on many farms of that State for the 

 past three years. Individuals have lost their entire herds, in some cases 

 numbering twenty-four, thirty, and as high as forty-seven head. Last year 

 an eft'ort was made to direct the attention of the legislature of Maryland to 

 the subject, with a view to the adoption of successful measures, but with- 

 out effect. Mr. Goldsborough's statement is to the effect that the disease 

 in Maryland is due to the purchase of cattle in the Philadelphia, umrket. 

 There is no doubt of the great prevalence of the malady for some years 

 in Pennsylvania. I have seen it on two ffirms in Delaware couuty, and 

 it has been on several others recently. Bucks county has suffered nuich 

 for two years. A correspondent informs me that in March, 1807, a drove ot 

 cows was taken into that county, and one of them was observed to be sick. 

 These aniunds were distributed among the farmers, and soon the plague 

 appeared in all directions. An effort was made then to secure the aid of 

 the State legislature, M'ithout effect, and to this day the disease is in 

 Bucks (;ounty. The last case I have to report is at Newtown, Bucks 

 county, where the disease was introduced by cows bought in the Phil- 

 adelphia market. 

 That the malady has attained such proportions as to demand constant 



