22 DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



niid in iiiiotlicr year or two, unless some dolinite and immediate aetion 

 shall be taken, the disease is likely to Uiul its way into so many parts of 

 the country that its eradication will be almost a matter of impossibility. 



Of all the cattle diseases pleuropneumonia is in the lonj? run the most 

 destructive, because the most insidious and the least likely to rouse a 

 people to united action for its eftectual suppression. To ignore its pres- 

 ence is, however, to insure that the cattle mortality of America, like 

 that of England, will be at least doubled within a few years. Rational 

 means, energetic action, and earnest co-operation between the diiferent 

 States and the central government, may, with a moderate expenditure 

 now, save many millions annually in the not distant future. 



For three years past the city of Washington, and, indeed, the whole 

 District of Cohimbia, with adjoining parts of Maryland and Virginia, 

 have been seriously affected with the lung plague. It is gleaned from 

 the contractors who clean the city of the carcases of dead animals, that 

 it is not uncommon to have several dead cows in a day from the Wash- 

 ington dairies; that a dozen a week has not been unusual, during cer- 

 tain seasons, and that the supply is constant. Unfortunately, as in other 

 cities of America and Europe, the prevalence of j^leuro- pneumonia results 

 in a wholesale traffic in such animals. Sick cows are sold to butchers, and 

 if in good condition command thirty to sixty dollars; others that are 

 too lean are taken in the early stage, mixed with other stock, and sent 

 by railroad to Baltimore, to he sold as stock cows to farmers. In fact, 

 the active and unremittent traffic in sick cattle insures that Washington, 

 the neighborhood of Alexandria, in Virginia, and Baltimore, will continue 

 to be great breeding centers of pleuropneumonia. Some idea of the heavy 

 losses in the Washington district may be gleaned from an annexed table, 

 prepared by a Washington dairyman. (See appendix at close of this 

 report.) 



SIGNS OR SYMPTOMS DURING LIFE. 



It is necessary to draw special attention to the fact that in States or 

 on farms where the lung plague has never before existed it is the more 

 readily recognized, in the earlier stages, as in case of other epizocitics, 

 the more complete the history. The fact that cattle have been recently 

 purchased, or that drift cattle have crossed the farm or prairie, the 

 knowledge of tha existence of such a disease in adjoining States or 

 farms, or of sick cattle being sold by auctions or in the markets, are all 

 most im])ortant elements in guiding to a correct conclusion as to the 

 nature of the disease. 



Very frequently an animal is bought, placed among others, dies, and 

 the remaining cattle cough, get out of condition, and some soon sicken. 

 The ])uichased animal may show no signs of illness however; it may be 

 sutfering IVom a latent form of the disease, or it may be in the convales- 

 cent btage, antl gaining tlesh daily. 



