THE AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 



1G3 



iluids into tlio wiiulpipo of the horse will 

 produce the disease. To this lact, how- 

 ever, too much weight cannot be attri- 

 buted, lor the writer has also by a similar 

 intra-tracheal inoculation produced red- 

 water in a susceptible ox. This latter 

 result, however, cannot be looked upon 

 as impeaching the evidence, now so 

 tlioroug'hly confirmed, that red-water is 

 ])roduced through the inoculating bite 

 of the speciticially infected tick, and not 

 by the entry of the organism through 

 the lungs. The fact, hovs^ever, of its 

 being possible to produce horse-sickness^ 

 in this way w^ould seem to point to the 

 bronchial or alveolar epithelium or lin- 

 ing, forming a point from which infec- 

 tion may take place. That such a pos- 

 sibility exists in a perfectly normal respir- 



atory membrane seems improbable, al- 

 though in this connection the extreiuely 

 snuiU size of the causal organism sliould 

 be borne in mind, passing, as it docs, with 

 ease through the finest and closest filters 

 of atomaceous clay. 



The fact of the chief characteristic 

 post portem appearances being referred 

 to the lungs may possibly have led past 

 observers to entertain the respiratory 

 view upon such evidence. Nothing, in- 

 deed, in the symptoms during life or 

 appearances after death exists to warrant 

 such a theory untenable. 



The striking exudation which takes 

 place into the lungs seems to point to 

 these organs as being specifically involved 

 in the progress of the disease. 



(7b be continued.) 



The Apirii RainfalL 



THE rainfall during the last month was 

 exceptionally good, especially along 

 the Coast The rainy season is practically 

 ended, and a comparison between the 

 rainfall of the present and the last year 

 can now be roughly made. According 

 to the JournaVs^ returns, Cornubia comes 

 out first with 4'.1'25 incbesforten months, 

 against only 24-53 inches for the last year. 

 The Government Observatory returns 

 show as the highest Eshowe, 47-09 inches 

 for the present year. Mr. A. Wilkinson 

 writes:— "The ground has got a good 

 soaking, making most of the springs to 

 run again. The cane has made a great 

 growth the last month, and with some 

 small rains during the winter, the 

 prospect is for a fair crop next season ; it 

 takes, however, two wet summers to make 



a heavy crop of cane." Gorton, Ixopo, 

 still suffers from great drought. The 

 rainfall for the ten months was only 

 13-17 inches ; for the last year the fall 

 was 21-10 inches. The heaviest rainfall 

 recorded for one day was 5-91 inches at 

 Mount Edgecombe. The exceptional 

 character of the year from a meteorological 

 standpoint will apparently continue till 

 the end. On Friday last a sharp thunder- 

 storm passed over Maritzburg, and on the 

 same day there was a heavy hailstorm in 

 the neighbourhood of Balgowan, happily, 

 however, unaccompanied by wind, and in 

 consequence doing but little injury. It 

 is the first hailstorm in May that those 

 living in the locality remember having 

 seen. 



District ReportSm 



BULWER, 16th Fay.- Through my absence 

 on hut and dog tax collections, and other 

 duties, I was not able to furnish the regular 

 fortnightly reports for April. I have now jusl 

 returned from a -visit through the upper part of 

 this Division, along the Drakensberg. Unfortu- 

 nately I was unable to resch the top of the 

 Berg, which would have given me a better 

 opportunity of viewing the surrounding country, 

 through a heavy gale having set in, and I had to 

 beat a hasty retreat, as it was becoming danger- 



ous for man or beast. I was much struck by the 

 veld ibeing so beautiful and ereen along the 

 country above the frost belt. The first frosts to 

 speak of visited this District on the 8th inst., 

 and the weather since that date has been 

 decidedly cold. Green grass or veld will soon 

 be a thing of the past ; all the autumn brands 

 have been cut up by the frost, I am glad to 

 report that all kinds of stock are almost free 

 from disease. Horsesickness has been very 

 mild ; only odd cases hive occurred at a fe\y 



