DISEASE AMONG SWINE AND OTHER DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 113 



iiuqiiestionably a disease caused by wet feet, and a cure without removal from the 

 locality that caused it is an impossibility. The proper preventive would be the drain- 

 age of all moist soils, and keep the animal from coming in contact with those already 

 diseased. For a cure the removal to dry soil is indispensable, then the paring of the 

 feet and the application of strong caustics, such as blue vitriol, nitric acid, or butter of 

 antimony. This, with close, careful attention for a few mouths, will usually effect a 

 cure. 



As regards " paper-skin," no cure has as yet been discovered (at least I have no 

 knowledge of any). From my own observation I think it could be easily prevented. 

 It is my opinion that the disease is occasioned by deficient nutrition, as it has always 

 occurred in cold, wet seasons, when pastures are constantly wet and either have some 

 of the elements of nutrition washed out of the grasses, or it may be the lack of heat 

 and sunshine fails to develop those qualities. This, in connection with the unfavor- 

 able effects of the weather upon the constitution of the animal, is abundant cause for 

 the low and feeble condition that always precedes this disease, or rather this is the 

 disease itself. A supply of grain in such seasons, sufficient to keep up the normal con- 

 dition of the animal, would, in my .judgment, be a sufficient preventive. 



In regard to " chicken-cholera," I would say for this locality that any disease that 

 is fatal to the fowls is so called. I do not know what cholera really is as applied to 

 fowls, and know no remedy. But I do know that the avoidance of close breeding and 

 good care and cleanliness, with healthy food and enough of it, is a sure preventive. 



Mr. J. To WELL, Ivtiiikiii Coimty, ]Mi.ssi.ssippi, s;iys : 



A disease called charbon killed half the horses and mules and many cattle in Rankin 

 County, Mississippi, and vicinity, in 1867. The same disease is reported to have pre- 

 vailed fatally for the past two years in some parts of Louisiana. This disease partakes 

 somewhat of the symptoms of erysipelas in the human family, being characterized by 

 local inflammation, pain and swelling in some portion of the animal's body, most fre- 

 quently in the neck, breast, flank, or sides, and is very readily communicated from 

 diseased animals to healthy ones by house-flies, which carry the virus from one to 

 another. But my purpose is not to give a treatise on the disease, but simply to point 

 to a remedy that proved speedily efficacious in nearly every case in which it was em- 

 ployed. Fish-brine is the remedy, and it was used as a local wash to the inflamed 

 parts. Much friction was used and the surface kept wet with the brine until the ani- 

 mal was cured. It is necessary to keep the animal in the shade (stabled) and protected 

 from horse-flies while under treatment. Epsom on Glauber salts were employed inter- 

 nally, given in sassafras-tea wlieu the case was obstinate. Three-fourths of the cases 

 treated yielded readily to the tish-brine wash alone. 



Mrs. Mary E. Donley, Kuoxville, Marion County, Iowa, says: 



Hog-cholera has been raging all over our county for several years, and so fatal has 

 it proved that it is regarded as incurable. Many remedies have been proposed and 

 tried with no good eft'ect. The symptoms are, the animal is seized with a hacking 

 cough similar to that of bronchitis, refuses to eat, and turns of a purplish color. I have 

 seen some on our farm where the ears would become badly swollen, and blood would 

 ooze out of them before death. Diarrhea generally ensues. We have thought that in 

 several instances a change of locality abated the disease. Death generally occurs in 

 two or three days; however, in many instances, they are dead before you know any- 

 thing ails them. I suppose ninety -nine out of every hundred die, or ought to, as they 

 never do any good afterward. 



Diseases among cattle are not much dreaded, that known as black-leg being perhaps 

 an excei)tion. I do not know any symptoms ; generally find the animal in a helpless 

 condition. If taken in time the disease can be cured by an application of turpentine 

 on the back, over the hips, and on the swollen parts. Must be bathed in with a very 

 hot iron. In fatal cases the animal lives about three days. 



Sheep here have become so badly diseased with scab and foot-rot as to make sheep- 

 raising very unprofitable. We find that thorough dipping in tobacco-tea is a certain 

 cure for scab. I have also heard that if blue vitrol is mixed with water and the sheep 

 compelled to walk through it once a day for a few days it will likewise eftect a cure. 



The raising of poultry is not considered near so profitable as in former years, because 

 of the ravages of cholera. The fowl mopes around or remains on the roost until it 

 dies, which is a very short time. After death the liver is found swollen to about twice 

 its natural size. The heart is also found enlarged. I am sure I have checked the dis- 

 ease several times by using the following recix)e: One tablespoonful of finely-ground 

 black pepper, same quantity of alum, and one teaspooful of soda, mixed in one gallon 

 of sour milk, and placed where the fowls can drink as often as they choose. 

 S. Ex. 35 8 



