8 BOAUD OF AGRICULTURE. 



by the technical name of Charbon. The sick animal has a very 

 high fever, the blood is disintegrated and broken up, the liver 

 becomes congested, the spleen very much enlarged, and the 

 mucous membrane of the intestines diseased. It usually runs 

 its course, and the animal dies in from one to four days. Some- 

 times it appears in boils on cattle, and can be easily communi- 

 cated to man by contact with spots bare of skin, and breaks out 

 in a pimple, which spreads, and in the end is nearly incurable. 

 Its type varies a little in animals of different species, and some- 

 times in animals of the same species. In swine it may appear 

 as carbuncular sore throat, or in that form of disease known as 

 " hog cholera." In horses it appears in purple spots on the 

 mucous membrane and with inflamed sore throat, and there is 

 a discharge of bloody matter from some of the natural openings 

 of the animal. The disease, in its virulent type, is highly con- 

 tagious, and the poison is retained a long time in the carcass of 

 the dead animal, and can be communicated. Great care should 

 therefore be taken to bury tlie dead animals deeply and securely, 

 that they may not be exhumed by dogs, and the virus scattered 

 to renew its baneful work. Although there are no indications 

 that this disease will spread extensively to other parts of the 

 State, yet so great have been the losses of the farmers in the 

 towns named, so great their apprehension of future disaster if 

 they should stock tlieir deserted farms, that we entertain the 

 opinion that we should be justified in making a thorough exam- 

 ination of that locality to find, and if possible remove, the 

 prime, exciting cause of the malady. 



Late in November a cattle disease made its appearance here, 

 which is entirely new to this State, and it is quite recent on the 

 American continent. It has developed its characteristics suffi- 

 ciently to prove that, although it is of a milder type, yet it is 

 epizootic aphtha, or the foot and mouth disease which has 

 caused so much trouble and loss in England and adjacent coun- 

 tries. It undoubtedly came to the United States from England 

 by way of Canada, being brought to the great distributing stock 

 markets of Albany, Brighton and Cambridge by Canada cattle 

 transported over the northern and western railroads. The dis- 

 ease is an eruptive fever, and so highly contagious that it is 

 communicated from animal to animal by contact, by inanimate 

 objects, and by driving healthy animals on the roads or yarding 



