DISEASE AMONG SWINE AND OTHER DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 129 

 Mr. J. A. Gundy, Lewisbiirg, Uuion County, Peunsylvania, says : 



There has been but little stock affected by. any disease in this county that I hare 

 heard of. The usual disease known as chicken-cholera prevails, for which every person 

 has his own remedy, but nothing that has proved positively satisfactory. I have found 

 white-oak bark the best remedy. It acts as an astringent, and should be given by 

 soaking thin feed in the liquor. 



I have often had my hogs attacked with a disease which affected them in the back 

 and legs to an extent that they could not walk. I always found them ready to eat 

 chicken excrement, which I gave them daily in (quantities of say a half spadeful. The 

 results were always satisfactory. 



Mr. E. J. IIiATT, Cliestcr Hill, Morgan County, Ohio, says : 



Onr time has mostly been occupied in breeding sheep. We have made examinations 

 of flocks in Vermont, New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and to a limited extent 

 in Missouri and Massachusetts, and also in our own State. We have found that climate, 

 soil, and lay of laud have a great influence in regard to the health of different breeds 

 of sheep. Our experience has been largely with the merino breed, but not entirely so. 

 We consider this section as healthy and well-adapted to the successful growing and 

 improvement of the merino as any section we have visited. In this and adjoining coun- 

 ties the diseases of sheep that most i)revail are more destructive to youug animals — 

 lambs and tegs — from lambing until the first shearing. There is a disease prevailing 

 here in wet seasons which is very generally called " paper skin " or " pale disease." It 

 is probable that a number of distinct and sepai-ate diseases, or causes, are here called 

 one disease, and given the above name. Grub in the head, tape-worm, lung-worm, 

 stricana or strichnia, and some others are frequently spoken of by the wool-grower as 

 one disease — "paper-skin." The lack of a sutflcient quantity and proper quality of 

 feed is a great cause or assistant to diseases. 



Grub in the head is not a new disease, but it is a very difficult one to prevent or 

 cure, and it is more or less destructive on all kinds of soils and to sheep of all ages. 

 There are two sufficient reasons why the disease is difficult to prevent : First, because 

 the insect or fly that causes the disease eats but little or nothing during its life; and, 

 second, because it deposits in the nostril of the sheep a living grub or larva. The 

 disease is difficult to cure on account of its location. Turpentine and tobacco-liquid 

 are sometimes administered with a syringe or by pouring in at the nose, but with not 

 very good effect. The fly attacks the sheep more generally from the middle of June 

 to September. Great injury is done to large numbers of sheep annually that are not 

 destroyed. It is difficult to determine the per cent, that die, but the actual fatality 

 is not greater than in some other diseases. 



Perhaps more deaths occnr from tape-worm than from any other disease, especially 

 during wet seasons, when grass is abundant. It sometimes affects lambs at three 

 months old, but does more damage to tegs just after weaning and previous to the 

 appearance of good grass in the spring. Those affected become weak, pale, and do not 

 grow; eat reasonably well, but irregularly ; drink abundantly and frequently; in the 

 first stages of the disease seem to lack power more than flesh. It has less effect on 

 grown sheep. Those affected would appear to become wilted or shrunken ; the skin 

 becomes very pale and thin ; the wool does not separate from the skin as in other dis- 

 eases. In the last stages the animal lacks blood. Occasionally they die within two 

 or three months, but more generally they live for a longer period. I have doctored 

 for this disease with very good results, having cured nearly all cases that were thor- 

 oughly tested. I use pumpkin-seeds, and administer by either feeding in other feed 

 or by making tea. I also feed pumpkins, including the seeds. Information as to the 

 cause of the tape-worm, and a preventive or cure, is greatly needed by the sheep- 

 growers of the country. 

 ' We have no knowledge of the cause of the lung-worm — a name given for the want 

 of a better perhaps. It affects young sheep in a greater degree and to a greater extent 

 than matured animals. The worm is a small white one, and is found in considerable 

 numbers in the lungs, or in the tubes connecting the wind-pipe with the lungs. The 

 disease is less frequent than either of those named above, but the fatality is greater 

 in comparison with the number affected. The symptoms are weakness, failure to eat, 

 loss of flesh, and a cough. This disease is but little understood by the wool-grower. 



Stricana or strichnia is perhaps a very incorrect name for the disease I wish to 

 describe. It is caused by a very small worm, so minute, indeed, that it caunot be seen 

 without the aid of a magnifying glass. It is believed to cause the sheep to pick or 

 bite the wool from its sides, flank, and other parts, until the fleece becomes more or 

 less ragged and wasted. The skin becomes rongh and shows symj)toms of disease. It 

 is not contagious, but attacks sheep of all ages. It is more damaging in flocks that 

 have been closely bred "in and in" for many years; indeed, this is the case with most 

 diseases. As both a preventive and cure, wood and cob ashes with salt are used with 



S. Ex. 35 9 



