Voi. XV., Sec»m) Series. 



ROCHESTER, N. Y., SEPTEMBER, 1854. 



Xo. 9. 



THE GENESEE FARMER, 



A MOXTHLT JOCRXAI. OF 



AGEICULTUEE &: HORTICULTURE. 



VOLUME XV., SECOVD SEIRES. 1854. 



EACH NXifBER COXT.UXS Si! ROY.iL OCTATO PAGES, IX 



DOUBLE COLUilXS. AXD rtTELVE yOLBEKS FORM 



A TOLITME OF 3S4 PAGES IS' A TEAH. 



Terms. 



Single Copy, - 50.-50 



Fire Copies, 2.LX1 ] 



Eight Copies, 3.00 



And at the same rate for any larger number. 

 Z^° Remittances properly mailed, and postage paid, at the risk 

 of tiie Publisher. 

 C^ Postmasters are lespecttnlly reqiiested to act as Agents. 



DA2VIEIj lee, I 



Publisier and Proprietor, RocMester, S. T. I 



MURRAIN" IX CATTLE. ! 



A GENTLEMAN- in RossTille. Indiana, asks for infor- 1 

 mation concerning ■• Bloody Murrain in Cattle," and j 

 desires a remedy for the same. It is a disease of va- 

 rious degrees of malignancy, which assumes at differ- 

 ent times and places many types, trom that of a mild , 

 distemper to an epizootic plague, characterized by ul- 

 cers, pustules, and gangrene, from which recovery is 

 hopeless. Bloody evacuations from the bowels, or 

 kidneys, or both, are but symptoms of the malady, — 

 not tlie disorder itself, in a pathological point of view. ! 

 Murrain was well known to the ancients; and it has 

 never ceased to prevail to a greater or less extent in 

 aU civilized nations. It was one of the plagues that 

 fell upon Egypt before the exodus of the Israelites. — 

 '• If thou refuse to let the Hebrews go, and wilt hold 

 them still, behold the hand of the Lord is upon thy 

 cattle which is in the field, upon the horses, upon the 

 asses, upon the camels, upon the oxen, and upon the 

 sheep; there shall be a grievous .Murrain; and the 

 Lord shall sever between the cattle of Israel and the 

 cattle of Egypt; and there shall be nothing die of all 

 that is the chUdren's of Israel" This is perhaps the 

 oldest historical allusion to this complaint, although 

 it is described by Ho.ver. and subsequently, by Hip- 

 pocKATES, PiJcTARCH, LivY and Tirgil. All ancient 

 and modern authors who have treated of the subject, 

 lead us to infer, when they do not expressly state the 

 fact, that the disease has its origin either in marsh 

 miasma or other poisonous elements developed by 

 vegetable decomposition. In Italy, Greece, Spain, 



Egypt and in all those districts which have been 

 most subject to plague, yellow fever, and ague and 

 fever, among the human species. Murrain ia cattle has 

 most prevailed. Xew England and Xew York, be- 

 ing little subject to pestilences of this character in 

 the genus homo, from the general absence of the 

 causes that produce them. Murrain, as a mahgnant 

 distemper, is little known in the region named. In 

 the more fertile States at the West," and Southwest 

 where vegetation is more luxuriant and surface water 

 more stagnant, both man and beast are afflicted to a 

 greater degree with miasmatic diseases. To do fuU 

 justice to this theme, we should require the space of 

 a volume of our paper instead of the one or two 

 pages we can devote to it. 



Many of the veterinary colleges now existing on 

 the continent of Europe were founded in consequence 

 of the immense losses sustained ia the last century by 

 Murrain in cattle. like cholera, yellow fe\er'and 

 milder bihous disorder;, Murrain obeys great natural 

 laws which are very imperfectly imderstood, if they 

 can be regarded as known, at alL In the fourth cen- 

 tury, all Europe was desolated by this distemper 

 among cattle; in the ninth century, the extensive do- 

 minions of Charlemagne were scourged in a similar 

 manner: and in the sixteenth century, two visitations 

 of Murrain desolated the states of Venice. During 

 a period of twelve years, commencing in 1745. there 

 was a continued prevalence of Murrain in Britain, 

 which swept away prodigious multitudes of cattle. — 

 In one year alone 30.0u6 died in Cheshire, and 40,- 

 000 in Xottingham shire. 



Modem improvements in agriculture by drainage. 

 thorough tillage, and the better condition of all graz- 

 ing lands, have done much to prevent the frequent 

 recurrence of tMs pestilence among the bovine gentis 

 of domestic animals; and prevention is the true rem- 

 edy to be commended to the best attention of the 

 enterprising stock-growers of the West. Cattle run- 

 ning much in the woods, in swamps, and never or 

 rarely salted, are most likely to have the Murrain. — 

 Tor ATT gives a lengthened description of the tisual 

 symptoms of this disease, which we deem it unneces- 

 sary to repeat. In the first stages of the complaint 

 he recommends bleeding and cathartics; and subse- 

 quentiy aromatic anodvnes, good nursing, and nothing 

 more. Boils and purulent tumor? often appear; the 

 breath is ofl5?nsive, and the poor beast rarely recovers. 

 A weU-cooked gruel, made of com meal, would be st 



