SWINE 199 



cholera blood. This starts the disease and the serum counter- 

 acts it so that only a mild case of the cholera is developed. 

 Recovering from this, the hog is thought to be immune for 

 life. With the serum only method the hog is protected only 

 for a few weeks. 



If the serum only treatment is administered at the time the 

 hogs treated have it in their bodies the effect is the same as 

 that of the double treatment. But this is sometimes difficult 

 to determine and one is never altogether safe in trusting to this 

 method of treatment. The hogs may be protected for a few 

 weeks and as the germs live longer than this on the farm the 

 disease may break out again. By using the double treatment 

 before the hogs get sick one is safe. The treatment whether 

 single or double is expensive. The larger the hog, the more 

 it costs. In general it costs about a dollar a head. 



The best way is to prevent the disease by breeding, feeding 

 and caring for the hogs in such a way that they will be strong 

 enough constitutionally to resist it. In Canada the manu- 

 facture, sale and use of hog cholera serum is prohibited by law. 

 In the United States many herds have demonstrated the power 

 to resist the disease by going through an epidemic without 

 injury. In the author's experience it was shown that cholera 

 takes the weak specimens of a herd while the strong ones are 

 left. Therefore, if the herd is all strong there should be no 

 trouble with the disease. 



Shelter for Swine. — Shelter should be provided for swine 

 in summer in the form of shade; in winter for protection from 

 the cold. 



A hog house should be convenient for those who have the 

 care of the hogs, should keep the hogs dry, protect them from 

 cold winds, and be warm. It should be so placed that the 

 sun may shine into the pens where the young pigs are in the 

 spring and the fall. Any kind of a house that supplies these 

 conditions from a straw shed to an expensive structure of 

 architectural beauty is all right. 



A hog house designed by the author is discussed in his book 

 "Swine " pubhshed by the Breeders' Gazette, of Chicago. This 

 is built facing the south with windows so arranged that the 

 sun will shine into the pens on both sides of an 8-foot alley 



