DISEASE AMONG SWIKE AND OTHER DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 137 



seated on the Inngs there was an almost constant cough. When dead the lungs of 

 some were found to be almost rotten, and smelled so bad that it was difticnlt to 

 handle the carcass. In the absence of the above symptoms the animals seemed to 

 live longest ; that is, longer than when the lesion was on the bowels. The bowels 

 ulcerate, and the ulcerated matter passes ott' with the fecal discharge. Constipation 

 prevails in all cases. Those that are relieved earliest of this ditliculty are the most 

 apt to recover. 



I tried all the remedies known, and they were very numerous, without much appar- 

 ent good. The best treatment I found was to change frequently the locality of feed- 

 ing, and to give them a good supply of salt and ashes, mixed with bran. This I fed 

 whether the hogs were sick or well. I put the sick ones to themselves on a grass-lot, 

 and fed lightly with slops, putting sufficient sulphate of magnesia into the slop to 

 produce an operation on the bowels. I continued feeding lightly until there were 

 signs of returning appetite, when I commenced gradually with corn. 



I am of the opinion that over-feeding in the start is the cause of these diseases in 

 swine. 



As to my own experience I will say that I raise from 50 to 100 head of hogs annually 

 on my farm. It has been my j^ractice to change their locality quite often during the 

 course of the season, and to give them all the slops and soap-suds from the kitchen 

 and wash-house. I also give them ashes and cinders from both coal and wood, adding 

 salt, and occasionally a little sulphur, which I think has a tendency to destroy the lice 

 which infest them during dry weather. I do not house them unless the weather is 

 very inclement. They seem to thrive best when they have plenty of leaves to bed in. 

 Next to this is corn-fodder, wheat and oat straw not being so good. With this treat- 

 ment my hogs have remained healthy, w^hile those of my neighbors have been attacked 

 and died of the various diseases to which they are incident. 



Cholera also prevails in this locality among domestic fowls. Some farmers have lost 

 very heavily. Many remedies have been used, but without apparent benefit. 



Mr. W. A. Hel:?!, Sugar Grove, Butler County, Kentucky, say.s : 



The principal disease to which horses are subject here is a contagious distemper, 

 which is most prevalent in the spring of the year, but frequently returns in the fall. 

 The disease prevails throughout this State, and perhaps others. The fii'st symptom 

 is a slight cough, which continues until it renders the animal unfit for use. Loss of 

 flesh, stupidity, and apparent laziness are characteristic. If the animal does well, after 

 coughing for some days, it will eject large lumps of matter from the nostrils; but if 

 the disease assumes a fatal form the throat becomes swollen, until breathing is almost 

 stopped. It is not often fatal, but it frequently att'ects the breathing of the animal to 

 such a degree as to injure its sale and use. 



The prevailing disease among hogs in this section is what we call cholera. Whether 

 it is the real cholera or not I do not know. The first symptom is a refusal of food. 

 The lungs, lights, and liver all seem to be affected, and breathing is rendered very 

 diflScult. The disease has been very fatal in many of the Middle States, as it has here. 

 The animals rarely, if ever, recover. When a cure does seem to be effected tiie hair 

 always remains rough and of an unhealthy color. 



Mr. George H. Judson, San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas, says : 



The facility with which horses and cattle are raised here, without any care other 

 than marking and branding, has bred -a carelessness among farmers and stock-raisers 

 that is truly deplorable. Trusting to nature entirely to provide food for their stock, 

 when a cold winter follows a droughty summer, thotisands of cattle and many horses 

 die of starvation. The introduction of railroads has brought a new class among us, 

 and they are bringing a better grade of cattle with them. Lands are being fenced 

 and stocked, and some care is beginning to be observed in the treatment of farm-ani- 

 mals. Whether disease will follow is yet to be determined. 



I have been a raiser of sheep for several years past. The only disease seriously 

 affecting them here is apoplexy. Our oldest and fattest animals are generally the 

 ones to snffer. From a small flock of .540 I this year lost 110 head, nearly all of which 

 were wethers and excessively fat. There are no previous symptoms. To an inex- 

 perienced shepherd the sheep appears remarkably well, and apparently very happy, 

 often frisky, when he suddenly makes a leap into the air, falls, and in less than three 

 minutes' time is dead. This disease ojdy occurs in excessively hot weather when water 

 gets low, or when they have to bedriven some distance to water. I have heard of no 

 remedy of any value. Some starve their ^sbeep by keeping them in their pens until 

 eight or nine o'clock in the morning, and then folding them early in the evening. This 

 may do, but I doubt it. 



Last fall we had a new disease among chickens. Something like a pimple or wart 

 appeared on the heads of the young chicks, and after a fev.' days. the chick would lose 



