240 DISEASES OF SWINE 



6 feet under the surface of the ground, and the dead body should 

 be covered by at least a foot of quicklime before filling in with 

 earth. Only in this way can burial be regarded as a proper method 

 of disposing of dead cholera hogs, and even then it is not so good as 

 burning, which is so much easier, so much quicker, and so much 

 more effective in destroying germs that are capable of producing 

 the disease in other healthy animals. 



The germs of hog-cholera have the power to live for several 

 months in moist earth, and especially so when they are also in con- 

 tact with a decomposing animal carcass; so that if we bury the dead 

 body of a hog dying from cholera we simply place the germs under 

 conditions wherein they will five for months, and even for a year or 

 more. When we add the foot of quicklime we are adding a sub- 

 stance which kills germs, and will, in large measure, at least de- 

 stroy them as it comes in contact with them. I am firmly con- 

 vinced, however, that there is no agent that will destroy germs like 

 the heat of a burning fire, and this is the proper method for dis- 

 posing of the carcass and the germs at one and the same time. 



Evidences of the bad effects which follow burial of dead hog- 

 cholera carcasses are not hard to find. 



During the fall of 1900 we had a severe outbreak of hog-cholera 

 in western Illinois, and one of the farms adjoining our own was the 

 seat of a very severe outbreak. Here the dead animals were al- 

 lowed to pile up through the week, and on Sunday a trench, per- 

 haps 3 or 4 feet deep, was dug and the carcasses rolled therein 

 and covered with earth. The outbreak ran the usual course, and 

 practically swept the hog lots clear of living animals. 



During the winter a number of brood sows were bought at 

 public sale and brought home for the purpose of restocking the 

 hog lots. Several strong litters of pigs were born during the early 

 spring and thrived well until about the first of June, when the 

 animals were turned back into the old feed lots and pastures. 

 Here the pigs began to root about, and it was not long until they 

 had begun to uncover the bones of the victims of the previous 

 summer outbreak; also, it was not much longer until these pigs 

 began to die, with symptoms which unmistakably were those of 

 cholera. 



Here we have an excellent example of the results which follow 



