726 



THE AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 



cattle belonging to Messrs Dicks, Bier- 

 bourn & Rodgers, the cause being due to 

 the fact that the disease existed amongst 

 their cattle some consideral)le time before 

 they were inoculated. The disease also 

 exists amongst native cattle near Ingogo 

 and on the Charlestown Town Lands. 

 The majority of the farmers about 

 Charlestown and Ingogo have inoculated 

 their cattle with glyceriuated bile, so far 

 with very satisfactory resuUs. Two out- 

 breaks have occurred near Dundee, viz., 

 upon the farms Goedgeloof and Babesay. 

 Both herds have been inoculated. 



LADYSMITH.-D.V.S. POWER. 



My time during the month has been 

 chiefly occupied at the Bile Station, and 

 I have been very busy, as the demand for 

 bile has been increasing daily. 



The young cattle have given very poor 

 biles : seven two-year-olds gave an average 

 of only nineteen doses each. 



Most of the cattle over four years old 

 sent to the station have not taken the 

 disease even with repeated inoculations 

 of virulent blood, but the old cattle, in 

 poor condition, that take the disease give 

 by far the best biles. 



I have been asked a good many times 

 during the month if the serum from old 

 cattle that suffered from the disease 

 during the last outbreak was reliable now. 

 Well, Mr. J. W. McKenzie sent two old 

 oxen here, which I fortified heavily with 

 virulent blood, then after inoculating ten 

 ^wo-year-olds belonging to the same 

 owner with virulent blood, I treated them 

 with the serum frOm these two oxen. 

 Eight recovered after having the disease 

 in a very bad form, and I feel pretty sure 

 that had the serum not been effective the 

 majority of them would have died. At 

 present I am testing the seram from ten 

 old cattle fortified here, on 40 two or 

 three -year -olds just inoculated with 

 virulent blood, and hope to let you know 

 the result shortly. With the steady pro- 

 gress of the disease, both in this District 

 and in Newcastle, the api)licants for bile 

 have greatly increased, and 1 think most 

 of the people who were at hrst sceptic as 

 to the existence of Rinderpest in the 

 Colony are now convinced that the 

 diseasK is amongst us. 



There have been fi-esh outbreaks 

 amongst Mrs. Schoenian's cattle on 



Briuley, about six rnile^ from here ; at 

 Mr. MacPherson's, near Ladysmith ; and 

 amongst native cattle at Brakwal, Klein- 

 fontein, and Hill Crest, all of which I 

 have visited. 



On the 23rd instant, I went to Acton 

 Homes to ascertain the cause of death of 

 a cow, which Stock- Inspector Freer re- 

 poited as showing suspicious symptom?, 

 and found, on post-mo) tern examination, 

 that the cause of death was " lead poison- 

 ing." 



Lungsickness is still prevalent in the 

 District. 



No cases of horsesickness have been 

 reported yet in the district, nor any con- 

 tagious disease amongst horses. 



MOOI RIVER. -D.V.S. VERNEY. 



Glanders —k. very bad case of this 

 disease occurred at Moot River in a horse 

 the property of Mr. Levy. This was one 

 of the worst cases of glanders I have ever 

 seen. According to Mr. Levy's statement, 

 this horse originally came from the Re- 

 mount Depot. I examined the horse and 

 found both farcy and glanders acutely 

 indicated, and so had the horse destroyed 

 and suitably buried. This horse, accord- 

 ing to Mr. Levy's statement, had been 

 running on the Town Lands, Weston. 



There has been a large number of cattle 

 suffering from poisoning this month. 

 In one outbreak of disease nine head of 

 valuable cattle died. I had an opportunity 

 of examining these cattle, and I found 

 that paint was the cause of death. Paint- 

 ing had been going on at the Railway 

 Station, and all the refuse of the pots had 

 been thrown outside the fence. 



The symptoms shown by the affected 

 animals were very characteristic of lead 

 poisoning, the lead symptoms being very 

 well marked. 



I think stock-owners near the line 

 would be wise if they had all refuse, etc., 

 picked up whenever any work has been 

 going on with the railway, and also if any 

 regiments encamp on the farm it would 

 be a wise precaution to bury all the 

 refuse left behind, as nearly all the cases 

 of poisoning have taken place on farms 

 traversed by the line, or where regiments 

 of .soldiers have been encamped. 



Dxmsicknoss.—Theve has been a large 

 amount of this disease this month. All 



