ILL EFFECTS OF SMUTTY CORN ON CATTLE. 79 



been recorded correctly, there would be no difficulty in demonstrating 

 that the condition of the corntields has had much to do in developing 

 this disorder. 



The Department of Agriculture has received information of the death 

 of cattle from eating smut corn, in Hampshire County, Massachu- 

 setts. Also from Whitley County, Indiana, where seven head of cattle, 

 out of tifty, died, " probably from smut in the corn field in which the 

 herd ranged." 



From Story County, Iowa, it is reported that last " ISTovember a dis- 

 ease appeared among herds recently turned into corn-stalk fields. The 

 disease is evidently the dry murrain. A post mortem examination 

 showed the nuicous membrane of the stomach to be highly inflamed, 

 with symptoms of poison. It is evident that the disease is generated 

 in the stalk fields, and probable that it is produced by gorging the 

 stomach when first turned into the stalks, after being confined on the 

 wild frost-bitten prairie grass, and lack of sufficient water." A few 

 cattle died of dry murrain in Audubon County, in the same State, 

 "snpposed by some to be caused by smut in corn-stalks." A few 

 head were lost from the same cause in Calhoun County, and many are 

 reported to have died in Marshall County. We are, however, informed 

 from Sac County that many cattle died in December — cause unknown; 

 some snpposed from eating smut corn, but that has been disproved. 

 It is to be regretted that more is not stated with regard to the reasons 

 which led persons to doubt the eifects of the smutty corn. Even in 

 New-York State little credence was given to the action of smutty corn 

 at first ; but careful inquiry proved that after all it was the cause of 

 the dry murrain of the fall of 1868. From Dakota County, Nebraska, 

 we learn of dry murrain from eating smut corn ; whereas from Shawnee 

 County it is reported, and no doubt correctly, that the same disease has 

 been noticed among cattle " fed on prairie hay, cut after frost." 



In Scotland the clovers are apt to induce a similar condition at times, 

 and the malady is then called "grass disease." It is not a specific affec- 

 tion, and arises from a dryness and indigestibility of one kind of food, 

 animals being debarred by circumstances from a salutary admixture of 

 different kinds of feed. 



The cultivatiim of maize or Indian corn is already ancient in America; 

 and the introduction of this important grain into Spain, and as far back 

 as 1500 into Italy, should have resulted in the knowledge of its effects 

 on man and animals, under the many conditions under which it is found. 

 And, indeed, we are not without some knowledge of the subject, though 

 it is to be regretted that accurate information cannot be gleaned from 

 the writings of many who have referred to it. Both in its eff'e<;ts on 

 men and animals, it Jipi)ears to me that the consnmjttion of Indian corn 

 has to be studied in those ])arts whereat times, and even to the present 

 day, it constitutes the main article of diet, and in those where it is used 

 at all times with other kinds of food. 



