DISEASE AMONG SWINE AND OTHER DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 105 



prevail to au alarmiug extent. In these States a most cruel and injiulicious system is 

 practiced in the rearing of the animals. Raised without shelter either from the burn- 

 ing sun of summer or the cold storuis of winter, it should not be wondered at that 

 they contract disease and die by tlie huudreds aud the thousands. Young shoats should 

 not be fed entirely on corn, as this feed produces an abnormal growth wliich results in 

 a weakened vitality, aud generally ends in cholera or some other disease iucident to 

 these animals. In the Eastern States aud other localities where the hog is raised under 

 a better aud more careful system, cholera aud other diseases are not known. I believe 

 if a better system were adopted that cholera and many other diseases to which the 

 hog is now liable would be aluiost entirely banished. We have sustained heavy losses 

 in this county, and must continue to do so until a change is made for the better in the 

 treatment of swine. So long as hogs are contiued in dirty, tilthy, muddy pens, and fed 

 on nothing but dry, hard corn, we must expect them to sicken and die. The cholera, 

 so called, is also typhoidal in character, and this opens up a wide field for investiga- 

 tion. 



A disease prevails among the poultry of our county which has been very destruct- 

 ive. Some farmers have lost their entire flocks. No remedy has been discovered. 

 Preventives are used with some success. The poultry-house should be large and well 

 ventilated and whitewashed frequently. The droppings should be removed every few 

 days, aud uear the door, exposed to the rain, should be placed a good quantity of lime. 

 They are fond of this and will eat it every day. 



Mr. Jacob Grundy, Lewisburg, Uuion County, Pennsylvania, says : 



Hog-cholera prevailed to a limited extent here last year, but I have heard of none 

 the past season. Fowls are affected almost every year with various diseases, such as 

 roup and cholera, but I think the latter should more properly be called dysentery. 

 The losses are never very heavy. I have found wood-ashes aud charcoal a good pre- 

 ventive for cholera among hogs. There is no prevailing disease among either horses, 

 cattle, or sheep. 



Mr. B. Le Sueur, Kuoxville, Crawford County, Georgia, says : 



We estimate that nearly or quite one-half our pigs die. In portions of this county 

 some farmers have lost one-half, some three-fourths, aud a few their entire stock of 

 hogs, and many of them were in good condition for slaughtering. The truth is, many 

 of our people think it too small a business to doctor a hog ; and the remark is often 

 heard : " There is no use in doctoring." They seem disheartened from the start. Others 

 change the remedy so often that the medicine kills the animals. As in the West, every 

 disease that is fatal to swine exists here. Many hogs have died without either purg- 

 ing or constipation, and yet the disease was called cholera. One farmer tells me that 

 the livers aud kidneys of his hogs were found almost rotten ; that the skin was cov- 

 ered with spots as red as blood, and yet they died of cholera. Any information that 

 your department can furnish to stay these fatal diseases among hogs will be highly 

 appreciated by the people here. 



Mr. David Bruimbaugh, Hagerstowu, Washington County, Mary- 

 land, says : 



The greatest fatality that prevails among the farm-animals of this county is among 

 hogs. The disease is what is generally termed cholera. No remedy has as yet been 

 found. The animals aifected continue to droop from one to two weeks before death 

 ensues. If the department should succeed in finding a remedy for this wide-spread 

 and fatal disease the whole country will be greatly benefited. Congress could not do 

 a wiser thing than to make a liberal appropriation for its investigation. I had no idea 

 of the extent of the losses in this county until I commenced inquiries in order to 

 answer your letter intelligently. The disease is often confined to the " pen-hogs," 

 during the fattening season. 



]\Ir. C. C. Thomas, Point Pleasant, New Madrid County, Missouri^ 

 says: 



So far as my observation goes, the most prevailing disease among hogs is just the 

 opposite to what I understand cholera to be. Their bowels are badly bound up, and 

 in what few I have opened, I found the excrement in hard, dry lumps, and the en- 

 trails badly inflamed, with bloody water both in and on the outside of them. Nearly 

 every one so aflected that I turned on green clover got well, but when they are at- 

 tacked in this way while on green clover about one-fourth of them will die. I have 

 had a few that had sores on their faces, but a few applications of carbolic acid, with 

 a little in their food, generally cured them; at least they got well. 



