BUREAU OF ANIMAL INDUSTRY. 



257 



Hamilton Counties are, therefore, permanently infected. The district 

 infected is here, as we have found to be the case elsewhere, extending 

 slowly toward the north ; and though this extension is slow it is ap- 

 parently continuous, and the territory once overrun is seldom redeemed 

 from the scourge. The points which we have mentioned as existing on 

 the border line of the district have only been infected within a few 

 years, and, as elsewhere in newly infected sections, It is the commons 

 rather than the farms that are dangerous, and even the commons are 

 not uniformly affected. 



In Marion County the line of infection passes in a northwesterly di- 

 rection up the east side of the Sequatchie Valley and within one or two 

 miles of the Sequatchie County line, and then crosses the valley and 

 down the west side for live or ten miles, passing around the mountain 

 range and taking a southwesterly direction to the vicinity of Jasper; 

 from here the direction is again northwesterly to Decherd, in Franklin 

 County, the greater part of this county being apparently permanently 

 infected. From Decherd the direction of the line is slightly south ot 

 west to Fayetteville, in Lincoln County, and from this point along the 

 Elk River to the Alabama State line in the vicinity of Veto Station. 

 The southern part of Lincoln County is what is called the barren region, 

 and has been infected for many years. In the vicinity of Marbufs the 

 line again crosses into Tennessee, taking a northwestern direction, and 

 at the county line between Giles and Lawrence Counties is about five 

 miles north of the Alabama State line. On the boundary between Law- 

 rence and Wayne Counties this line is 10 miles north of Alabama. At 

 this point there is a sudden bend toward the north, the line crossing to 

 the northwestern corner of Wayne County, taking in about one-fifth of 

 Decatur County and all of Harden. In Henderson County it reaches 

 as far north as Shady Hill, then passes directly west to the vicinity of 

 Mifflin, in the same county. From here the direction is slightly south 

 of west to Denmark, the boundary between Madiscn being crossed 2 

 miles north of Hardeman County; from here the direction is westerly 

 to Stanton Depot, in Haywood County, and onward toward the south- 

 western corner of Haywood and along the northern boundary of Shelby 

 to the Mississippi Eiver. All of Shelby and Fayette Counties appear 

 to be infected, while Tipton, as far as we have been able to learn, is free 

 from any infection. 



This concludes our examination of the district permanently infected 

 with southern cattle fever for the year. It will be seen that a consider- 

 able portion of Tennessee has already become infected. Even the mount- 

 ainous counties in the southeastern part of the State have been in- 

 vaded, while in the river valleys of the central part of the State the line 

 has reached considerably farther toward the north. Along the whole 

 line of the infected district in this State, as in the other States pre- 

 viously examined, we have found the same history of the extension 

 of the permanently-infected district. At some points this extension 

 has been insignificant or is scarcely noticeable withiu the last quar- 

 ter of a century, but in the situations more favorable to the progress 

 of the disease there has apparently been a regular advance of from one 

 to four miles per year. This history coincides substantially with what 

 was learned of the progress of the disease in Virginia, Xorth Carolina, 

 and Georgia. As a consequence of these facts there can be no longer 

 substantial reason to doubt the continued extension toward the north 

 of the district permanently infected with this disease. Considering the 

 extreme temperature which occurs in the mountains of southeastern 

 Tennessee and in the part of this State located in the Mississippi Valley, 

 17 A- ? 8± 



