490 



Actinomycosis in Cattle. 



[NOV., 



should all be capable of easy disinfection. In order to 

 strengthen the constitution of young animals they should 

 spend as much time as possible in the open air ; in summer 

 they should be kept out all night under a sheltering roof, 

 and even in winter they should be driven out during the 

 warmer hours of the day. After weaning, the young animal 

 should be kept constantly on the pasture, away from the rest 

 of the herd, care being taken to supply a sufficiency of 

 strengthening food, so that it may develop quickly, for only in 

 rare cases does the pasture yield enough nourishment for grow- 

 ing animals. This should be done up to the end of the first year ; 

 cattle which have developed well up to that period will after- 

 wards be able to find food enough in the field. The animal 

 reared in the open can then, in case it does not re-act under 

 tuberculin, take up permanent quarters in a light, well- 

 ventilated stall, provided it spends some hours every day in 

 the open. M. de Kovacsy is of opinion that if these rules were 

 strictly observed and carried out the propagation of stable 

 diseases, and especially of tuberculosis, would be checked. 



The Board recently caused some inquiries to be made with 

 regard to the disease known as Actinomycosis or " Hard- 

 Tongue " of cattle, which has been the 

 Actinomycosis in cause of much trouble in Norfolk. In 

 Cattle. this county the opinion appears to be 



prevalent that it is imported with store 

 cattle from Ireland ; but so far as can be gathered from 

 information obtained, through the Board's Correspondents, from 

 a number of farmers whose cattle have suffered from the 

 disease, there seems to be no good reason for believing that 

 Irish cattle more than any other have brought the disease to 

 Norfolk. It is true that the majority of store cattle are Irish 

 or of Irish origin, but since it is well known that Norfolk is 

 badly infested with Actinomycosis it is not surprising that it 

 should be most commonly met with in the kind of cattle which 

 are the most numerous. Scotch, Welsh and English cattle, 

 however, also become affected with the disease when taken to 

 Norfolk. 



The number of animals stated to be affected on different 

 farms varies from 2 to 30 per cent, of the cattle kept. The 



