106 DISEASE AilONG SWINE AND OTHER DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 



Chickens, turkejs, aud Guinea-fowls are affected and die in the same way. They 

 mojie about and eat but very little ; their bowels are very loose, and the discharges 

 often watery and very offensive. Thej' live from seven to eif^ht days after the attack 

 sets in. So far I have been able to find no remedy. I think at least nine-tenths of 

 those attacked ilie. 



Mr. Samuel Lea, Leasburg, Cra-wford County, Missouri, says : 



In October, 1876, my swine commenced to get sick, and twelve of them died. They 

 were not all affected alike. All of them, however, commenced by appearing dull and 

 sluggish, refusing food, and moping around. Some had a cough and difficulty in 

 breathing, accompanied by a very feverish condition generally. Still others bad a 

 diarrhea, and their evacuations were very black and offensive to the smell. But one 

 of those attacked got well. I found her hungry, and' gave her about thirty grains of 

 calomel in wet corn-Tueal, which she ate. I have no idea as to how the sickness origi- 

 nates. My hogs were thoroughbred Berkshires, and did not come in contact with other 

 animals, aud their feed and water were good. No water on my place flows on to it 

 from other lands. I fed wheat middlings, and they had the run of a clover pasture, 

 orchard, and unbroken woodland. It is now over twelve mouths since I lost a pig. I 

 have given the same feed and treatment as last year, and have several of the same 

 animals I had then. 



Mr. WiLLiAiM A. Bull, Froliiia, Perry County, Missouri, says: 



We have a disease prevailing among our hogs which I will try to describe. In July 

 last it made its appearance about six miles northeast of me ; it is within one mile of 

 me now. The hogs are still dying with the malady. The duration of attack is about 

 two weeks for grown hogs, but for small pigs about two days. The average fatality 

 is ninth-teuths. When first attacked the hogs get lame, apparentlj' as in cases of 

 rheumatism, have a dry, hacking cough, are costive, aud have excessive thirst. Some 

 have small sores on their legs and ears; some are partially and some totally blind. In 

 the last stages of the disease they are purged severely. Among the remedies used I 

 will mention calomel, turpentine, sulphur, copperas, tar, poke-root, and many others, 

 but all without success. I have not had an opportunity of examining any of the 

 hogs after death. They have been differently situated when attacked — in stubble, 

 clover, and woods pastures, and some iu pens. 



IVIi". Martin J. Sackett, Houseville, Lewis County, iSTew York, says : 



This is a dairy county, and there is no prevalent disease except among cows. We 

 have lost heavily from garget in the udder of cows. Poke-root sometimes helps it, 

 but not often. Lumps very frequently come also in the teats of cows — a sort of stop- 

 page — which has been a source of great loss to us. We know of no remedy. 



We have suffered also from abortion among cows to the extent, iu some instances, 

 of one-half the herd. It has not been so prevalent, however, the past three years as 

 it was previous to that time. 



Dr. John M. McGehee, Milton, Santa Eosa County, Florida, says : 



1 know of no diseases affecting horses in this section which do not prevail in 

 other localities generally, and I will only mention some remedies which are new, so far 

 as I know, and some circumstances connected with those diseases not generally noticed. 

 The greatest fatality seems to result from colic, and a new remedy, which has been 

 used in this section of the South when all other remedies have failed, has been to per- 

 forate the walls of the abdominal cavity at a point just half way between the promi- 

 nence made by the hip-bone aud the ribs. This remedy, however, has been recom- 

 mended by some modern works on farriery. While on this subject I will here mention 

 that before the war, on some large cotton plantations, I noticed that nearly all of the 

 mules and horses which died of colic died on Monday, a very few on Tuesday, and a 

 still less number on other days of the week. These facts I think poiut clearly to a 

 cause and a remedy. The animals being worked all the week in warm weather, their 

 exercise brings about a certain degree of digestion and appetite. For lack of exercise 

 on Sunday their digestion is weakened, and in most instances colic is the result on 

 Monday. It is plain that the remedy for this is to reduce the feed on Saturday night 

 and Sunday. 



The next most fatal and common disease affecting horses in this section is that known 

 here as " blind-staggers." It is first discovered by some foolish or unaccountable act 

 of the animal, and as it advances the intelligence and control of the muscular functions 

 become more clearly affected, until the animal seems to be frenzied. Death generally 

 ensues from within twenty-four to sixty hours. Examination of the brain shows 



