TREATMENT OF CHOLERA 205 



of a mild form, it resulted in the death of a large number of animals 

 before it finally run its course in the early spring. 



At the time there was no further spread of the disease, as this 

 farm was somewhat isolated from its neighbors, and the owner 

 was not one of an overly sociable nature, and accordingly had little 

 communication with his neighbors. 



The dead carcasses were disposed of by burying in a shallow 

 trench which was dug just outside the feed lot on the bank of the 

 hill. As the ground was frozen at the time, and grave digging was 

 a rather laborious job, a number of the carcasses were simply 

 buried in the snow and left to be otherwise disposed of in the 

 spring. 



As a result, when the snow melted in the spring it carried with 

 it down to the creek in the valley below large amounts of infectious 

 material. This entered the stream and was carried rapidly along 

 its course to the farms below. In the course of a month after the 

 spring thaw began there was the starting of an outbreak on these 

 farms, and with the coming of warm weather the virus seemed 

 to gain new vigor, as the type of disease now produced was of the 

 decidedly acute type, and the losses ran high. 



All these examples go to show the many ways by which a run- 

 ning stream may become a source of spreading the disease. It 

 does not require much reasoning to see that any advantages which 

 such a stream may offer as a convenient source of water-supply are 

 more than overbalanced by the great dangers to which it exposes 

 your animals, and especially hogs. 



The shallow running stream is by no means the only dangerous 

 source of water-supply. In digging a well for supply of water for 

 stock it is only too commonly the practice to locate it in some hol- 

 low or low spot, where water can be found with the least possible 

 amount of effort. As a result, we have all throughout the stock- 

 raising district a large number of these shallow wells which receive 

 the drainage from barn-lots, feed yards and outhouses, as well as a 

 large amount of surface water, which is always contaminated. In 

 addition to these sources of contamination very frequently these 

 shallow wells are none too tightly covered over, and during the 

 winter a large number of rats, rabbits, and other small animals 

 get into the well and are drowned therein. 



