222 



COMMON DISEASES. 



months on the farm. It is a better policy to kill such hogs prompt- 

 ly, and have done with the disease. They do not usually become 

 thrifty and profitable feeders for a long time after recovery. 

 On the other hand, they may remain infectious to the last period 

 of their sickness, thus keeping the yards and pens infected and 

 furnishing a constant supply of infectious material for fresh out- 

 breaks ; whereas, if they had been killed, the infectious material 

 could soon have been destroved. 



7£. *\*^"T^'' 



FIG. 80. HOG CHOLERA. (If. II. B.) 



Ulcers in mucous m'embrane of large colon. Bowel split open. View of 

 the interior. 



It is a criminal mistake to throw carcasses into any stream, 

 lake, or pond, or to bury them near such body of water. 



Suggestion. — In dealing with infectious diseases of swine, 

 there are practically but two things to be done, viz., quarantine 

 and disinfect. It is a very simple matter to quarantine an out- 

 break of hog cholera when it first appears, and it is extremely diffi- 

 cult to quarantine the disease after it has been scattered over sev- 

 eral townships. Quarantine must be rigid to be useful. Partial 

 or imperfect quarantine is worse than useless. 



Disinfection. — If the disease is swine plague, nature will dis- 

 infect in two or three weeks. If the disease be genuine hog chol- 

 era, it is not easily controlled, for the germs may live three and 

 perhaps four months, under favorable conditions, in the soil and 

 about the buildings. Sometimes the cheapest way to disinfect is 

 to burn the old sheds and pens where the hogs have been confined. 

 But if these structures are valuable, the matter of other means of 

 disinfection is to be considered. In this case, corrosive sublimate, 

 dissolved in water in the proportion of 7.5 grains to each pint is 

 a good disinfectant; or whitewash that is made by using water 



Digitized by Microsoft® 



