1860. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



307 



THE CATTLE DISEASE CALAMITY. 



We do not exaggerate in calling this disease a 

 calamity — it has already proved so, and we fear 

 its calamitous effects will not be circumscribed by 

 the limits of Massachusetts. Persons not famil- 

 iar with the extent of the cattle business in this 

 State, will undoubtedly entei'tain hopes that the 

 disease may be arrested, long after the hopes of 

 those who are acquainted with this business Avill 

 have vanished into thin air. The changes that 

 are constantly taking place among cattle are very 

 great, and they transpire in every portion of the 

 State. We know of dealers, who are not butch- 

 ers, but who own several hundred cattle annually, 

 and these hundreds are mingled with as many 

 more in collecting them, and in driving them 

 back and forth to their places of pasturage. Some 

 of these cattle are sent into the hill towns of the 

 State to be pastured, but the largest portion are 

 sent into New Hampshire, where buying, selling 

 and exchanging is carried on to a greater or less 

 extent every year, bolh in spring and fall. Thou- 

 sands are thus sent from Middlesex county annu- 

 ally, so that if the disease does exist in any of the 

 animals sent away, every favorable opportunity is 

 afforded for extending it. Looking at the matter 

 in this light, the cattle dealer, and those best ac- 

 quainted with the business, will see how prompt 

 and decided must be the work of those clothed 

 with the power to try to arrest it. Indeed, where 

 the opportunities of intermingling cattle are so 

 numerous and so widely extended, and the activi- 

 ty among cattle-dealers is so great, there is prob- 

 ability that all the wisdom and skill of man will 

 be exerted in vain. Still, it is his imperative duty 

 to do everything in his power to stay its fatal 

 march. 



The people are now alarmed, and justly so. A 

 calamity is really impending, such as they have 

 never been called to contemplate before — it is al- 

 ready upon them, or needs but a single stride to 

 bring it to their door-ways, and perhaps to sweep 

 every animal from its accustomed stall, leaving the 

 farm desolate and helpless, and its occupants al- 

 most in despair. More or less cattle are always 

 sick in the spring, and it is quite common that 

 they have a slight cough : we have heard of sev- 

 eral deaths among them within a fev/ days, and 

 have visited many farms where it was feared the 

 fatal disease existed — but for the comfort of our 

 friends, we are able to say that in every case, with 

 a single exception, there were no evidences what- 

 ever of the disease known as pleuro-pneumonia. 

 This exception is on the farm of Mr. Andrew 

 Wellington, of East Lexington, where a single 

 cow, which we saw on Saturday last, exhibited 

 strong symptoms of disease, and some marked 

 ones in common with those of cattle whose lungs 

 we examined after thev were slaughtered. A cow 



in health breathes some ten or twelve times per 

 minute ; this cow breathed from thirty to forty 

 times per minute. The eyes did not show the 

 strong symptoms which prevailed in those we saw 

 at North Brookfield, but they did not appear quite 

 natural and healthy. 



The report that the disease had broken out in 

 Seekonk and Pawtucket Avas erroneous. We 

 have conversed with the person Avho lost the cow 

 at Pawtucket, and with the physician who ex- 

 amined her, and upon a compaiison of the symp- 

 toms these gave with those of cattle affected with 

 the pleuro-murrain, they were satisfied that the 

 cow did not die of the disease. And so it will 

 prove of many other rumored cases. 



What we understand to be the meaning of 

 pleuro-pneumonia is — that the thin membrane 

 which surrounds the lungs, and called the pleura, 

 and the lungs themselves, are highly inflamed. 

 Human beings have pleuro-pleumonia every day, 

 and this we understand to be the condition ia 

 which their lungs are found. But such was not 

 the case in the lungs of the cattle we examined at 

 North Brookfield. Hero was little, if any inflam- 

 mation, but the lungs Avere enlarged, and the air- 

 cells so filled as to nearly solidify the lungs, so 

 that there was not room for a full inspii-ation, and 

 the breathing consequently became short and fre- 

 quent. These cells were not filled with pus, or 

 corrupt matter, but with something more solid 

 and less offensive, but equally fatal. 



It is quite certain now that the disease is higli- 

 ly contagious ; that the most minute particles of 

 tainted matter are thrown from the lungs by the 

 breath of affected animals, and that these parti- 

 cles, or sporules, as they are called, utterly inca- 

 pable of being seen by the naked eyes, they are 

 so small, will impart the disease to other animals 

 receiving them into their lungs. These particles 

 may be communicated by one animal breathing 

 directly upon another, or they may be lodged vip- 

 on the stanchions, timbers, floor-way, or even the 

 hay in the barn, and from them be taken off by 

 healthy cattle. 



We believe, therefore, that the term plettro- 

 pneumonia does not indicate the disease — but 

 that is it something beside, and vastly worse — 

 that it is a specific malady, a plague that will en- 

 compass the whole land unless the most prompt, 

 energetic and thorough measures are taken to pre- 

 vent it. 



Now, what shall he done ? Let us suggest. Let 

 the farmer make up his mind to do most of his 

 work, for a few years, at least, with hoi-ses, and 

 introduce immediately upon his farm the best 

 breed of sheep he can find. These may prove 

 profitable substitutes in some cases, and in all, 

 perhaps, a partial compensation for the loss of the 

 i cattle. The sheep selected should be good aiut- 



