TREATMENT OF CHOLERA 265 



of pigeons, which are believed to have been the principal cause in 

 the spreading of the disease. 



Another interesting case, in which hog-cholera was probably 

 brought to the farm by chickens, is the following one: One of the 

 most prosperous farmers in central Indiana had been especially 

 fortunate for a number of years, in that cholera had not made its 

 appearance in his herds. This man was a careful feeder, who took 

 excellent care of his animals, kept his feed lots in a thoroughly 

 modern, sanitary condition, and to these facts he attributed his 

 freedom from cholera. 



In the spring of 1912 he purchased a number of chickens for 

 breeding purposes from a chicken dealer who chanced to stop at the 

 house for dinner, and who had an unusually fancy flock of chickens 

 which he had purchased the day before from a farm located several 

 miles distant. It afterward was found that the farm from which 

 these chickens were bought was the seat of a severe outbreak of 

 hog-cholera. 



About two weeks after the chickens were turned loose in the 

 barn lot a couple of the young pigs were noted to be off feed. The 

 next morning several more were found to be off. The farmer had 

 been free from cholera for so many years, and, as there was none 

 now in the vicinity, he could hardly believe it possible that his 

 hogs were suffering from cholera. He sent for a local veterinarian 

 and had a postmortem examination made of one of the pigs which 

 had died. The usual findings of hog-cholera were present, and only 

 prompt shipment of the salable hogs prevented several hundred 

 dollars' loss. 



Hog Buyers, Butchers, Etc. — This is a constant source of 

 danger, and one which is usually entirely overlooked. In every 

 farming community there are several men who make it a regular 

 business to go about the country purchasing hogs, which they 

 ship in carload lots to the principal markets. These animals are 

 purchased on a basis which will allow the buyer a reasonable 

 profit on the transaction. 



As a natural matter of course when one or two hogs in a herd 

 begin to get off feed, and there is an outbreak of cholera in the 

 neighborhood, one of the first things which is done is to call up 

 one of these buyers and have him come out and have a look at the 



