Oi\ THE ILL EFFECTS OF SMUTTY COM ON CATTLE, 



BY JOHN GAMGEE, M. D. 



A CAUSE OF DRY MURRAIN. 



The opportunity presented itself, last fall, for an inquiry as to the 

 manner in which smuts which attack plants may aftect animals. The 

 close of 1868 was, throughout America, very wet; a large amount of 

 corn became smutty, that is to say, was attacked to a serious extent by 

 ustilago ma id is, and reports reached me from the west and south*that 

 cattle were dying in large numbers from a mysterious malady, the origin 

 of which was unknown. From Mills County, Iowa, I was informed, late 

 in November, that about the 12th of the mouth there was a fall of snow 

 six inches deep, and the cattle, which usually roam at large on the 

 prairies, were taken in by all the better farmers who had their corn 

 gathered, and turned into the stalk fields. In about eight days the 

 cattle began to die, aiul all presenting the same symptoms. My inform- 

 ant, Mr. James Hull, of Plattsmouth, Nebraska, lost four out of nine- 

 teen head, in fourteen days. This gentleman, alarmed at the number of 

 deaths, turned his cattle out of the stalk field and gave them all the 

 salt they would eat, mixed with copperas and sulphur. As soon as the 

 bowels were moved the symptoms disappeared. Mr. Hull also gave the 

 cattle asafoetida by " driving it into the cob of the corn.'' 



Personal inquiries among gentlemen from ditferent parts of the Cnited 

 States, in Washington, enabled me to trace the malady to AVestern Vir- 

 ginia, Illinois, and the Carolinas. It is much to be regretted that 

 accurate information as to the extent of losses, and the localities 

 affected, cannot be secured. 



There are other circumstances under which cattle die from eating 

 corn. The stalks, very late in the season, are apt to get very hard and 

 indigestible, aiul Avithout a free admixture of grass, which the early 

 frosts kill, and the other food, they i)roduce severe iiuligestion and 

 death. This is an observation that has freely been made in Anun-ica. 

 Moreover, cattle die sometimes if freely fed on corn that has been badly 

 stored, and is musty. The same results follow the use of other deteri- 

 orated foods, and a brief reference to records on this subject may be 

 foun<l interesting and iiistructive. 



The facts i)ublished with regard to the prevalence of a nnilady from 

 eating sn^utcy corn, among cattl^'. in America, are very few. If, how- 

 ever, the rea^ cause of numy cases of so-called dry murrain had 



