1869. 



NEW ENGLAND FAE]\IER. 



135 



The board of health opposed the practice, as 

 many of the cows lost portions of the tail, and 

 reports were made of blood and matter find 

 ing their way into the milk-pail. The disease 

 has never ceased, and I have visited many 

 dairies, in all of which at one time or another 

 and in most of which during the present year, 

 the disease has prevailed. In five dairies I 

 examined, within 100 yards of each other, I 

 found one or two sick cows in each. The 

 Hartford Insurance Company, which has re- 

 cently suspended operations, lost heavily on 

 the insurance of cows from the prevalence of 

 this disease, and that company objected also to 

 the practice of inoculation. 



From Mr, Bedell's statement, there is no 

 doubt of the existence of the contagious 

 pleuro-pneumonia in New Jersey when he first 

 bought his cattle. Mr. Robert Jennings, vet- 

 erinary surgeon, had his attention drawn to 

 the disease on ita appearance in Camden and 

 Gloucester counties. New Jersey, in the year 

 1859. In 1860 it crossed the Delaware river 

 into Philadelpliia, spreading very rapidly in all 

 directions, particularly in the southern section 

 of the country known as "The Neck" — many 

 of the dairymen losing from one-third to one- 

 half of their herds. The sale of sick cattle 

 continued, as it always does, unless prevented 

 by rigid laws. In 1861 the malady appeared 

 in Delaware, and in Burlington county. New 

 Jersey, and the disease could be distinctly 

 traced to the Philadelphia market. 



The records of outbreaks are by no means 

 satisfactory, but a gentleman well known in 

 Maryland, Mr. Martin Goldsborough, informs 

 me that the malady has been very destructive 

 on many farms of that State for the past three 

 years. Ii dividuals have lost their entire herds, 

 in some cases numbering 24, 30, and as high 

 as 47 head. Last year an tffort was made to 

 direct the attention of the legislature in Mary- 

 land with a view to the adoption of successful 

 measures, but without effect. Mr. Golds- 

 borough's statement is to the effect that the 

 disease in Maryland is due to the purchase of 

 cattle in the Philadelphia market. 



There is no doubt of the great prevalence 

 of the malady for some years in Philadelphia. 

 I have seen it on two farms in Delaware coun- 

 ty, and it has been on several others recently. 

 Bucks county has suffered much for two years. 

 A correspondt nt informs me that in March, 

 18G7, a drove of cows was taken into that 

 county, and one of them was observed sick. 

 These animals were distributed among the 

 farmers and soon the plague appeared in all 

 directions. An effort was made then to se- 

 cure the aid of the State legislature, without 

 effect, and to this day the disease is in Bucks 

 county. The last case I have to report is at 

 Newtown, Bucks county, where the disease 

 was introduced by cows bought in the Phila- 

 delphia market. 



I can corroborate the statements made as to 

 the sale ol cattle that are infected. "Not only 



has this occurred often where the disease has 

 been most rife for years past, as on Long Is- 

 land, but recently, in making inquiries in Del- 

 aware county, Pennsylvania, I learned of three 

 cows which had been sold "healthy" (?) out 

 of an infected herd. Such a practice explains 

 the progress of the disease further south than 

 Maryland, 



I recently visited the dairies of Kendall's 

 Green and Georgetown, near Washington, and 

 found that last year the cattle had been nearly 

 entirely exterminated by the disease — so much 

 so that to the present day the poor people who 

 keep only one or two cows are afraid to buy 

 and in constant fear lest the malady shonid re- 

 turn. 



Three years since the lung plague appeared 

 m Alexandria county, Virginia. It has been 

 steadily on the increase ever since, and con- 

 tinues to the present day. 



I have been informed that the malady has 

 travelled as far west as Kentucky and Ohio, 

 but of this I have not been enabled in the brief 

 time since I commenced the inquiry to obtain 

 satisfactory evidence. I have taken some 

 pains to ascertain if the disease had reappeared 

 in Massachusetts, and personal inquiries in 

 various parts of the State show that it is quite 

 free from the disease, — thanks to the energy 

 of its people and the enlightened action of its 

 legislature. 



Of all the cattle diseases pleuro-pneumonia 

 is in the long run the most destructive, because 

 the most insiduous and the least likely to rouse 

 people to united action for its effectual sup- 

 pression. To ignore its presence is, however, 

 to insure that the cattle mortality of America, 

 like that of England, will be at least doubled 

 in a few years' time. Rational means, ener- 

 getic action, and earnest co-operation between 

 the different States and the central govern- 

 ment may, with a moderate expenditure now, 

 save many millions annually in the not distant 

 future. 



PHOSPHATIC DEPOSITS. 



We have forborne any notice of the re- 

 markable discovery of phospbatic deposits in 

 the neighborhood of Charleston, South Caro- 

 lina, lest we might help to give currency to 

 what seemed very exaggerated estimates of 

 their value, and forward the aims of specula- 

 tors. There is no longer, however, reason to 

 doubt that the truth has hardly yet been told 

 of them, and of the great wealth which under- 

 lies thousands and thousands of acres along 

 the Ashley river. They are known to contain 

 millions of tons of fossilized bones, the tusks 

 of elephants, mammoths, hippotami, the teeth 

 of sharks, and a multitudinous variety of irregu- 

 larly shaped pbosphatic nodules of animal ori- 

 gin, underlying the surface soil, and averag- 

 ing in many places a foot in thickness. After 

 removing the surface soil, quantities of brown 

 phospbatic nodules worn into water holes and 



