DISEASE AMONG SWINE AND OTHER DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 21 



pearing nnder close watchfulness and timely remedies. I have had considerable 

 experience with the disease, and have succeeded in exterminating it as follows : 



First, I sheared my sheep very close, and peeled off all scabs or sores, and at the 

 time of shearing I spotted every diseased ])lace with a strong wash of corrosive subli- 

 mate and water. I then dipped them three times in a strong decoction of tobacco, 

 using one-half pound of stem-tobacco to each sheep. The dip was heated to 120"^ F., 

 and the sheep held in it at least two minutes. The dipping should be performed at 

 intervals of fourteen days. 



After several years of exi)erimeiiting, I found this a sure remedy. Many otlier pre- 

 scriptions were used, but without success. The sheejt should be put on fresh pasture 

 after dipping, and not allowed to run on the oUl one for one year thereafter. Scab is 

 the only disease to which sheep are subject on tiiis coast. Foot-rot and other diseases 

 so prevalent in other localities are entirely unknown in Oregon. There is no prevail- 

 ing diseases among other animals. 



Mr. J. y. Smalls, Scotland Neck, K C, says : 



We have but very few diseases among farm-animals in this section of the State, with 

 the exception, perhaps, of the disease known as cholera among hogs. This disease as- 

 sumes ditierent forms or symptoms. Some are attacked with vomiting, and linger 

 about one week ; others lose their appetite, become sleepy, and their eyes become in- 

 flamed and exude an otfensive matter. Cases of the latter class have been known to 

 die within six hours after the attack was first observed. Many remedies have been 

 tried, among others salt and ashes, tar, saltpeter, and bluestone. While some of these 

 remedies have proved of value on one farm, on an adjoining one they have been found 

 of no service whatever. The disease is not so prevalent as in former years, though it 

 is, perhaps, more fatal. One farmer has lost sixty-three head out of a lot of sixty-five. 



The disease among fowls is also called cholera. The first symptoms are drooping, loss 

 of appetite, &c. They die within a few days. A lady friend has used calomel and 

 opium with success. She administers it in small doses three times a day. 



Mr. Donald Murchison, Toulon, Stark County, Illinois, says: 



For several years past the hog-cholera has annually been destroying immense num- 

 bers of hogs throughout various sections of this country. The probability is that 

 $2.50,000 would not cover the losses in this county alone, since the disease first made 

 its appearance. I am a farmer, and have been extensively engaged in hog-raising, and 

 therefore have given the disease a great deal of careful thought and study, and I be- 

 lieve I have now found a sure remedy, if given in the first Stages of the disease. The 

 recipe is as follows : 



Make a strong tea of smart-weed. After the weeds are separated from the solution, 

 add one-eighth of a pound of arsenic and one-fourth of a pound of concentrated lye, 

 and from one-fourth to one-half spoonful of flaxseed to the hog (according to the 

 size of the animal). It is best to have the solution boiled over again after the 

 flaxseed is added, or else have the flaxseed cooked in a smaller vessel and thor- 

 oughly mixed with the tea after the weeds are separated from it. Then mix a sufli- 

 cient quantity of oats in the tea to soak it all up, and feed to the infected hogs night 

 and morning as much of it as they will eat. Give them no other food for a week or 

 ten days, or until they begin to show unmistakable signs of returning health, when 

 this feed may be gradually lessened and corn given in its place, gradually at first, and 

 increased as the other is diminished. 



The flaxseed is not necessary unless the bowels are constipated, which is generally 

 the case in advanced stages of the disease. Some farmers use salts when the bowels 

 become constipated ; but it is about the worst thing that can be given, as it is a blood- 

 cooler and a blood-weakener. Although it may give temporary relief it prostrates the 

 system, and in a few days the hog will be in a much worse condition than it was at 

 first. The flaxseed is a good laxative, and at the same time is very nourishing and 

 strengthening to the system. The lye seems to be a good tonic as well as a good rem- 

 edy for cough in hogs. The arsenic also acts as a tonic ; besides it kills the worms 

 with which all hogs (with very few exceptions) are troubled. The smart-weed is prob- 

 ably about the best remedy for inflammation that we have. It is warming and 

 strengthening to the system, and gives tone to and equalizes the circulation of the 

 blood, just what seems to be needed, as the disease is a congestion of the lungs. 



Mr. A. B. McKee, Vincennes, Knox County, Indiana, says : 



There are but two diseases, so far as I know, that prevail as epidemics in this section 

 of country, viz., hog and chicken cholera. The hog-cliolera has become one of the 

 most serious diseases with which the farmer has to contend. He may think he has a 

 fine killing for the winter, but the cholera enters and in a few weeks he finds himself 



