148 DISEASE AMONG SWINE AND OTHER DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 



luucli of ilie socalleil lio^-eliolera, ami tliat Icngtli of time will, I think, embrace the 

 ])eriod of its prevalence here, as prior to that time I heard nothinj; of it. I have had 

 a residence here of fifty-three years. I have known the disease to rage here among 

 swine nnder all circumstances and conditions in which swine are kept. I have known 

 it to destroy droves of hogs of the common kind, others of no breed at all — such as run 

 in the swamps and never saw corn. I have known the same breed and equality of hogs 

 destroyed that run in the woods around the farm with free access to running water 

 and corn sufficient to live on. I have known theiu to die in cleanly pens, where they 

 were well cared for, as rapidly as in filthy stys. I have known them to die of tlie 

 disease in woods lots, where tliey were fed regularly and abundantly twice a day on 

 corn. I have known them swept off by the scores in a grass pasture, while others in 

 an adjoining clover field escaped ; while at other times the clover pasture afforded no 

 better protection than other places. Nor have those who pay the greatest attention 

 to fine breeds of hogs and their cleanliness and comfort fared any better than those 

 ■who pay no attention to either. 



"When the disease lirst made its appearance among my hogs, I was in the habit of 

 lilacing the diseased animal on its back and pouring a tablespoouful of powdered cop- 

 peras down its throat. Every animal thus ti'eated at that time got well. The same 

 treatment the past season was without any beneficial results. I know of but one ani- 

 mal that recovered during the past summer, and it was treated to a copious adminis- 

 tration of pine-tar poured down its throat. 



The hog-cholera presents itself under so many different phases that it would be diffi- 

 cult indeed to describe it. Each farmer in this vicinity would no doubt give a different 

 description of it as it pievails among his own stock. Sometimes the animal will vomit 

 and purge j sometimes one of these symptoms will be prominent and the other entirely 

 lacking ; sometimesneither will be observed, but the animal will apparently be affected 

 with sore-throat. At other times sores will appear all over the body, occasionally caus- 

 ing the loss of the animal's eyes or ears, and not unfrequently both. Sometimes the 

 most prominent symptom will be thumping, as a horse affected with the thumps. 



I am satisfied that a knowledge of the cause or causes of the disease has not been 

 discovered, and I can but hope that the investigations making by your department 

 will result in findiug either a preventive or a cure for this frightful and fatal disease. 



Mr. J. .S. O. Beooks, Etna, Smith County, Texas, says : 



No disease particularly worthy of note exists here except among hogs, which is 

 always called cholera. I can add nothing to the statements of the learned contribu- 

 tor of Rhode Island, as published in Agricultural Report for 1H61, as it relates to a 

 description of the disease, its progress and various phases. Cleanliness, pure air and 

 water, which this writer deems so important, do not appear to reduce the death-rate 

 of our hogs in the woods. 



Hundreds of remedies have enjoyed a high reputation for a time, only to be cast 

 aside after repeated failure. The most discerning agree that nothing seems to cure. 

 Some get well without any attention whatever. 



Whether the disease is atmospheric and contagious cannot be decided — some faots 

 j)oint one way and just as many in another direction. It crawls slowly but surely into 

 every nook and corner, and sometimes with very singular manifestations. The loss in 

 1876 was 66 per cent. 



Mr. ^y. II. Denny, Crockett, Houston County, Texas, says: 



The domestic animals of our county, with the exception of hogs, are generally very 

 healthy. Those that die, as a general thing, do so of old age, poverty, or accidental 

 injuries. All hogs that die here are said to die of cholera. It matters not what the 

 symptoms are, the duration of the disease, or anything else, whenever a hog gets sick 

 one or more of the several remedies which are being daily published in the papers for 

 hog-cholera are administered. It may be that the hog has quinsy, pneumonia, or en- 

 teric inflammation — it is immaterial which — he is certain to get copperas, blue-stone, 

 sulphur, salt, soft soap, turpentine, carbolic acid, ashes, charcoal, calomel, tannin, &c. 

 Many of the remedies used must necessarily be liurtful, and some positively destruct- 

 tive of life. Most of our farmers have no knowledge of the pathology of the disease 

 of hogs or other farm-animals and are therefore not competent to give a correct diag- 

 nosis of disease; consequently the treatment of sick animals is wholly empirical, 

 routine, and frequently destructive of life. 



Mr. Laeayette IIoss, Tulij), Dallas County, Arkansas, says: 



My hogs were nearly all sick and about half of them died last fall. The symptoms 

 were very different, but the results were about the same. Some would cough and lin- 



