Report on the Health of Animals of the Farm. 
275 
several of the animals died from the malignancy of the attack. 
In this case, also, it was not a little remarkable that the disease 
was not known to exist anywhere within a mile of the premises. 
Not only are animals at the time of parturition more susceptible 
to the infection, but the most serious ill-effects are produced on 
their young when they are attacked. Calves, lambs, and pigs 
die speedily under such circumstances, and the losses often are 
most serious to the farmer. The milk of the dam is so charged 
with morbific matter as to be in many instances rapidly de- 
structive to the life of the young animal. 
A remarkable case of this occurred, in March, 1861, on 
a farm I then occupied. It was my practice to have four 
calves suckled at a time by a cow which had just calved, for 
the purpose of weaning them when a few weeks old. They 
were allowed access to the cow morning and evening, and in the 
interim were tempted to partake of cooked food, which they 
soon would do as a rule. The details of this plan need not, 
however, be named in a report of this kind. They have been 
named before, and are well known to many rearers of calves. 
When properly carried out, a good cow will sometimes rear ten 
calves in the course of a year. One of my best cows calved, 
and in addition to her own calf, three young calves, a few days 
old, were placed upon her on the second day after parturition. 
All the stock on the farm at the time were free from foot-and- 
mouth disease ; but I happened to make a new purchase of a 
cow which, unfortunately, on arrival a few days after, was found 
to be affected with the malady. She was kept apart from the 
others, but, nevertheless, the infection spread. On the sixth or 
seventh day following parturition, on the calves being placed 
with the cow in the evening, one of them, the cow's own calf, 
died suddenly ; indeed, almost in the act of sucking. In a 
little more than an hour after its death a second calf died, and 
by about the expiration of three hours from the time of sucking 
a third calf died. 
An examination of the cow showed that she was in a state of 
febrile excitation — affected, in fact, with premonitory symptoms 
of foot-and-mouth disease. In a few more hours the malady was 
thoroughly established, and a full eruption of vesicles existed in 
her mouth, on her teats, and between her digits. Much to my 
surprise, the fourth calf was found to be perfectly well on the 
following day ; and on making inquiries of the herdsman, he 
said that he could explain the cause of its safety, for that on the 
day preceding the cow's illness he had placed this calf with 
another cow, as he believed the four calves were scarcely having 
milk enough. Strict isolation being carried out, the fourth calf 
fortunately escaped. This case, besides distinctly proving the 
T 2 
