236 DISEASES OF SWINE 



of the afternoon, and, as a shower was just coming up, they drove 

 in under the roof of a wagon shed to seek shelter until after the 

 storm had passed. 



As these men were seeing a great deal of cholera every day, 

 they were looked upon as being able to diagnose the disease very 

 readily when present. The farmer took one of them over into 

 his feed lot to look at his herd of hogs and see if they were showing 

 any evidences of cholera. After a close inspection of the herd the 

 traveler decided that they were in perfect health. 



Several of these hogs had the run of the barn lot in which the 

 shed was located which sheltered the team and wagon during the 

 shower. They were, on this account, in a position to come in 

 contact with any infected manure, mud, or litter which might be 

 washed off of the wagon wheels. Two weeks after the visit of the 

 dead wagon to this farm the hogs began to die, and after that the 

 wagon made regular calls there every day to collect the fruits 

 resulting from the seeds of infection sown there a few days 

 before. 



This case again illustrates two important dangers which must 

 be avoided if you wish to prevent the entrance of cholera onto your 

 farm. In the first place, these scavengers should not be allowed 

 to go about the country scattering infection everywhere they go, 

 and especially you should never allow one of these dead wagons 

 to come inside your gate unless you already have cholera on the 

 premises. 



Second, it shows the danger of taking any stranger into your 

 feed lots, and especially is this danger a most pronounced one if 

 the man comes from other hog lots which are the seat of cholera 

 outbreaks. Cholera-infected pens contain the virus of the disease 

 in the manure, the mud, the litter, and, in fact, on almost every- 

 thing with which the shoes may come in contact, and more or less 

 of this infectious material is bound to cling to the shoes and be 

 carried from this farm to the next place that the trader visits. It 

 only takes a very small amount of this virus-containing mud to 

 scatter the disease in another feed lot and infect one or two animals 

 there. When they develop the disease their infectious discharges 

 very quickly scatter hog-cholera among the balance of the herd. 



Make it an invariable rule to keep all strangers out of your 



