THE AGHICULTURAL PESTS OF INDIA. 8 1 



In India the most important diseases of horned stock 

 are rinderpest, foot-and-mouth disease, hoven, quarter-ill, 

 pleuro - pneumonia, lihooknee or purging, cystic disease, 

 throat swelling, and anthrax. 



Einderpest is the designation given, in the Indian 

 Cattle Plagues Report, to the highly -infectious disease 

 which Dr. Gilchrist, in 1848, described under the term 

 ' Burra Azar,' or great sickness. The Burra Azar occurs 

 in an epizootic form over all India, Burma, and Ceylon, 

 but has various native names. It is highly infectious, 

 and recovery is rare. ' The yearly loss is very serious, 

 and to be counted by hundreds of thousands.' The 

 natives ' confess their powerlessness to treat this disease;' 

 and the India Commissioners can only recommend a 

 quarantine isolation of the sick cattle, burying those that 

 die, and disinfecting of localities. Einderpest, cholera, 

 and small-pox ' are hot- weather diseases ; they do occur 

 simultaneously, but not invariably, necessarily, or even 

 very frequently.' ' Inoculation from this distemper 

 resulted in the development of a varioloid disease.' 



Foot-and-mouth disease does not cause great mortality. 

 The deaths are caused by inability to eat owing to disease 

 of the mouth, or to severe ulceration of the feet owing to 

 the development of maggots. The mouth is recommended 

 to be washed with a solution of alum (10 grs. to 1 oz.), 

 and the feet to be treated with camphor and oil or 

 carbonic acid and oil. It is the Aphtha epizootica. 



Hoven is an exceedingly common form of fatal disease 

 among Indian cattle. It consists of suffocation from over- 

 distention of the rumen, or with food or flatus. Tapping 

 is not known to the people, and they mostly think the 

 disease incurable. A large aggregate amount of stock 

 yearly falls victims to this preventible and curable disease. 



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