54 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



In eoiicliiding tliis long letter, I beg to say that if it shall prove that, 

 through my ellbrts to improve the breeds ol" neat cattle, I have been the 

 means of introducing this disease into the countiy, I am sure no one 

 can possibly regret it more sincerely than myself. At the same time, I 

 find some consolation in believing that, — provided the disease can be 

 restricted to any thing like its present limits, — the benefits conferred by 

 the introduction of the Dutch cattle here will more than outweigh the 

 losses incurred by the introduction of the disease. Respectfully, 



WlXTHKOP W. ChEXERY. 



Let us now trace the further extension of the disease. 



Curtis Stoddard, a young farmer of North Brookfield, bought 

 of W. W. Chenery, of Belmont, in June, 1859, three young 

 cattle, one bull, and two heifers, from six to eighteen months 

 old. 



These he took by railroad to East Brookfield, and then drove 

 them, on the 29th of June, to his farm in North Brookfield, six 

 miles from the depot. One calf showed signs of sickness on the 

 way from the depot. 



The Chenery Calves. 



Leonard Stoddard of North Brookfield, father of Curtis 

 Stoddard, thinking he could better treat this sick calf than his 

 son, took it to his own barn, where it mingled freely, four or 

 five days, with tiie other cattle. It was then returned to Curtis 

 Stoddard's barn, wliere it remained till it died, in a pen next 

 to a passage way through whicli Curtis's cows passed to be 

 milked, night and morning. This calf was notexamined. Tlie 

 two other Chenery calves, after Curtis Stoddard's auction, went 

 to Roland F. Doane's, and were there killed by the Commis- 

 sioners and examined. These two calves never showed before 

 death any particular symptoms of disease. Tlieir histories will 

 be given in the proper place. We will now trace the disease in 

 the herd exposed to the first calf. 



Leonard Stoddard's Herd. 



This herd was well until after coming in contact with the sick 

 Chenery calf. Two weeks after the deatli of the animal, a cow 

 belonging to Leonard Stoddard's herd sickened, and in a few 

 weeks died. There is no record of a post mortem. Tiiis herd 



