DISEASE AMONG SWINE AND OTHER DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 49 

 Mr. Henry C. Miller, Westport, Decatur Countj', Indiana, says : 



Farmers in tbis locality sustain heavier losses from hog-cbolera, so called, than from 

 all other diseases to which farm animals are subject. When once fully developed, the 

 disease baffles all skill and every remedy. Preventives afford about the only relief 

 yet discovered. Ashes and salt, given once a week, is a good i)reveutive ; so are sul- 

 phur and turpentine, administered in milk or slop. The following is regarded as a 

 remedy of some value : One pound of black antimony, one-half pound of suli)liur, one- 

 half pound of copperas, atul one pound of bhick pei)per. Pour hot water over one- 

 half bushel of shelled corn or wheat, and stir in the ingredients ; then add one peck 

 of wheat bran and a little salt. Stir well and scatter along the paths of the hogs, or 

 on any place convenient to the hogs, where the ground is hard. ;; 



The malady seems to be a lung disease. The hog breathes with a jerk, the breath- 

 ing becoming shorter as death approaches. In cases where they purge, the animal 

 lingers from seven days to two weeks, but with other symptoms they die generally 

 Avithin from two to four days. It is more fatal among shoats and pigs, but often|kill8 

 hundreds of fatted hogs. .' -_«< 



Chicken cholera is very destructive among fowls. Preventives are more effectual 

 than remedies. Lime in their food and water-troughs, and sand and gravel withia 

 their reach, will greatly conduce to their health. 



Prof. A. A. HoLCOMBE, D. V. S., lecturer on " Special Pathology " 

 in the American Veterinary College, New York, says : 



In reply to communication received from you last month I can only give the facts 

 relating to contagious pleura-pneumonia as it exists in the State of New Jersey. It 

 has prevailed to a greater or less extent in some parts of the State for a number of 

 years past. That it is spreading is attested by recent outbreaks in localities where 

 heretofore it has been unknown. In September, 1873, an outbreak of this disease oc- 

 curred on a large dairy farm at North Branch, Somerset County, New Jersey. It was 

 treated by a quack of Somerville (in the 8amecounty),anduearlyevery case died. I saw 

 three of the cases, and they were undoubtedly genuine cases of the contagious pleura- 

 pneumonia. In June of the next year (1874) I attended an oiitbreak on an adjoining farm. 

 About forty cows were affected. I treated thirty-three, five of which died. I made 

 j>osf-H(or?eH! examination of three and found all the lesions and jposi-mortem appearances 

 belonging to the above disease. The treatment given the cases was simply general and 

 special stimulants. The small mortality in this outbreak can hardly be attributed to 

 the treatment, but rather to the exhaustion of the infecting virus. Isolation was 

 strongly urged, but could not be effected owing to the failure of the community to 

 appreciate its contagiousness. The cause of the outbreak is unknown to me outside of 

 the testimony of the owners of the affected cattle. In both instances they had bought 

 strange cattle, one or more of which were coughing and apparently not thriving. Un- 

 doubtedly this was the manner of introducing the disease, yet it needs confirmation. 

 During the summer just passed a very serious and fatal outbreak has prevailed in the 

 adjoining county of Hunterdon, in the neighborhood of Clinton and Lebanon. Of its 

 cause I know nothing. The disease is a terrible scourge to some localities of that 

 State. An inA-^estigation of its cause and the best means of stamping it out is no doubt 

 a subject worthy the attention of the Department of Agriculture. 



Mr. Jo. Aebott, Hillsborough, Hill County, Texas, says : 



1. I will say that my observation, which is supported by information I get from sev- 

 eral well-informed gentlemen, is, that horses and cattle which run at large on our 

 prairies are entirely free from disease of any kind. 



2. That horses which are kept up for use are sometimes troubled with bots or colic. 

 These cannot properly be said to be diseases; but instances of these complaints are 

 rare. For the first, a drench made by dissolving about one-third of an ounce of blue- 

 stone in water sweetened is regarded as a specific. For the latter, one-half pound of 

 bi-carbonate of soda, dissolved in water, is frequently used with good effects. In vio- 

 lent cases this is repeated once or twice. 



As to milch cows and oxen, I can say I have known neither to be troubled with any 

 kind of disease, and I have owned a nnmber of each kind for several years past. 



Hogs are frequently affected with cholera, which, at times, assumes the form of an 

 epidemic among them. In seasons of this kind the loss is often 50 per cent. ; but I 

 will say that I have known of no cholera among hogs during the past twelve months. 

 I am not informed of a remedy for this disease, although several experiments have been 

 made. 



Fowls, especially chickens and turkeys, are frequently visited with cholera. I have 

 never known a fowl to be cured after the disease was fully developed, though many 

 trials have been made. My observation is, that if fowls are fed on onions, mixed with, 

 other food, or if you can induce them to feed on the onion while growing, as they some- 

 times do, they will never have the disease. I believe the onion to be a sure preventive. 



S. Ex. 35 4 



