DISEASES OF SWINE 513 



between the larynx and bronchi, producing loud distressed 

 breathing and coughing. In the stomach there may be a slight 

 inflammation of the lining membrane, and if the beards lodge in 

 the membrane and do not soften and pass away, the inflammation 

 is severe. 



Treatment. When the mouth becomes inflamed, the treat- 

 ment is the same as in simple stomatitis. Plugs of beards when 

 lodged in this part of the digestive tract can be removed. If lodged 

 in the air passages or stomach, they cannot be removed, and the 

 animal dies from suffocation or an inflammation of the parts. 

 (Ind. B. 100.) 



COCKLE-BURRS. 



Numerous articles have appeared in the swine breeders' jour- 

 nals and agricultural papers indicating that young cockle-burrs 

 were poisonous to hogs and calves. While the cockle-burr is young 

 and only three or four inches high it is very fleshy and tender, 

 and relished by stock. The claims of poisoning of stock attracted 

 sufficient attention that the Indiana Experiment Station made a 

 chemical examination and a feeding test to determine the poison- 

 ous properties, but in both the results were negative. The young 

 plants, stripped of the burrs, were fed to calves, pigs, rabbits and 

 guinea pigs. These were allowed all they would eat. In no case 

 was any untoward effect noticed. We have been called upon to 

 post-mortem some animals claimed to have died from such poison- 

 ing, and in all cases death w r as due to the burrs. A few burrs would 

 be swallowed with the young plants, and their horny prickles 

 would irritate the stomach wall and cause inflammation, which 

 finally terminated in death. In three cases the burrs lodged in the 

 throat and could not be expelled. (Ind. B. 100.) 



PARASITIC DISEASES. 



THE HOG LOUSE. 



The hog louse is the only insect which causes much trouble 

 in raising hogs, and when it once becomes established in a drove 

 it is not easily exterminated. Fortunately the lice are so large that 

 they can be seen easily, and their presence may therefore be known 

 before they become very abundant. They are liable to appear at 

 any season of the year, and they thrive on hogs of any age or con- 

 dition. They are found in and behind the ears, back of the shoul- 

 ders, and in the creases on the lower part of the ham more fre- 

 quently than elsewhere; if those places are free from them there 

 is little danger that they exist on other parts of the animal. Coal 

 oil is sure death to every louse it touches, but does not always kill 

 the eggs, and must be used with caution to prevent its blistering 

 the skin of the hog. When a large drove is to be treated, the work 

 can be done very quickly by using a spray pump having an at- 

 tachment for mixing the oil and water, and the pump should be 

 set so that it will u.<=e about five parts of water to one part of oil. 

 When such a mixture is thrown over the hogs in a fine spray, only 

 a little of the oil is used to cover the whole animal and if the spray- 



