350 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[September, 
sectional view of a filled silo. The planks 
should run crosswise of the silo, so that only 
the covering of a single slice or layer need be 
removed at a time. After the first layer is 
removed, only the lower doors will be re¬ 
quired for taking out the ensilage. 
The Means of Controlling the Contagious 
Diseases of Animals. 
BY D. E. SALMON, D.V.M.—WASHINGTON, D. C. 
The most conservative will probably admit 
that, as a people, we have put off the con¬ 
sideration of what we can and should do, to 
arrest our losses from the contagious diseases 
of animals, longer than good policy has war¬ 
ranted. The so-called cholera of hogs and 
fowls, the southern Texas or cattle fever, 
pleuro-pneumonia, glanders, anthrax, rabies, 
■etc., have been, and are, the causes of con¬ 
tinual and increasing loss of our live stock ; 
and the question returns, with ever greater 
urgency, what can we do to check and con¬ 
trol these wide-spread plagues ? 
Practically, the only method of dealing 
with these diseases, that the experience of 
the past has sanctioned, may be summed up 
in the terms, slaughter, quarantine, disinfec¬ 
tion. It has been recognized as a cardinal 
principle that sick animals must be kept at a 
.sufficient distance from well ones to prevent 
the transmission of the malady ; it has been 
found not less important to destroy the par¬ 
ticles of contagion that have been deposited 
upon the walls and floors of stables, by the 
use of various chemical agents; and it has 
even proved advisable to slaughter the dis¬ 
eased animals in order to stop the generation 
and distribution of the contagion, and to 
hasten the disappearance of the plague. 
In this way it has been possible to control, 
and, in particular instances, to completely 
exterminate certain contagious diseases. And 
probable we 6hall never be in possession of 
better means than these for combating such 
a plague as pleuro-pneumonia ; but when we 
see vast sections of country over-run by such 
•diseases as hog-cholera, chicken-cholera, or 
southern fever, particularly when we have to 
deal with malignant anthrax and black-leg, 
which seem so frequently to originate de 
novo, or, as is said, “spontaneously,” wc feel 
the need of a different class of remedies. But 
in what direction can we look for these ? 
The popular mind evidently inclines with 
hope toward the discovery of specific reme¬ 
dies—medicines which shall have as benefi¬ 
cial an effect upon the contagious fevers as 
sulphur ointment has upon itch (scabies), or 
quinine upon intermittent fever. The medi¬ 
cal mind, however, has turned from this hope, 
after in vain exhausting the list of available 
remedial agents with an incredulity and even 
a repugnance toward the subject which has 
arisen from the numerous reverses. Even 
the latest experiments with our newest and 
most powerful antiseptics, alone and in com¬ 
bination, employed under the most favorable 
conditions, have been equally fruitless in good 
results ; and it, consequently, seems that for 
the present, at least, it is useless to look 
toward chemical agents of any kind with an 
idea of arresting the course of a contagious 
fever when once the germs have gained en¬ 
trance into the living animal body. 
Turning to the experience of the past again, 
we find that success in controlling contagious 
fevers has been reached in two principal 
ways. On the one hand, the aim has been to 
destroy the contagious germs, and to prevent 
their multiplication and distribution by every 
possible means ; while, on the other hand, we 
have sought to render the animal organism 
insusceptible to these diseases, or, in other 
words, to increase its power of resistance to 
such an extent as to prevent the multiplica¬ 
tion of such germs within the body. With 
small-pox, as we all know, the latter plan 
has been carried out in man by inoculating 
with a very similar though much milder dis¬ 
ease, to which cattle are subject. With the 
fatal plagues of animals, unfortunately, there 
does not appear to be a milder but closely re¬ 
lated disease which may be used for such 
preventive inoculations. The justly cele¬ 
brated M. Pasteur has, however, lately deter¬ 
mined that with at least two of these plagues 
the germs might be left in a cultivation ap¬ 
paratus exposed to filtered air, until they lost 
a part of their rigor, and were no longer 
capable of producing more than a mild form 
of the malady. Another Frenchman, Chau- 
veau, has discovered what seems to be even 
more practical, that in one disease the intro¬ 
duction of a sufficiently small quantity of the 
potent virus only produces a mild form of 
disease ; and this principle, according to some 
recent experiments of the writer, applies to 
another though equally fatal malady affect¬ 
ing an entirely different species. 
We have here, then, the most satisfactory 
grounds for believing that we shall soon be 
able, by means of preventive inoculations or 
“ vaccination,” to render our animals capable 
of resisting these destructive plagues. That 
this vaccination will entail a considerable 
annual expense is undeniable—but how much 
less will it be than the losses at present ex¬ 
perienced? Is there not reason for hope, 
however, that even this may in time be 
avoided ? We do not at present know exactly 
in what the insusceptibility to these diseases 
consists, but it seems to be a quality capable 
of being transmitted, to a certain extent, to 
the offspring. Even unvaccinated white men 
have a power of resistance to small-pox much 
greater than is possessed by races which have 
not been subjected to vaccination. Thus the 
disease is known to be remarkably fatal to 
Indians, and the party of Esquimaux which 
visited Europe a few months since were at¬ 
tacked with a virulence such as had never 
been seen by the physicians, and every one 
perished. The explanation of this, given by 
a celebrated Parisian pathologist was, that 
they were virgin soil; that is, the disease was 
foreign to their country, and their ancestors 
had never been affected by it. I was also 
struck with the remark of a medical friend, 
that the human race had acquired a certain 
power of resistance to another contagious 
fever, the virulence of which at present could 
not be compared with what it was in the 
early years of its history. So we find the 
people in yellow fever districts have acquired 
a certain immunity from this disease, and 
that cattle of the Southern States have an 
equal power of resistance towards southern 
or Texas fever, white Algerine sheep have 
acquired a remarkable power of resisting 
anthrax or charbon. 
Not to mention other facts bearing on the 
subject, it may be added that there seems 
good reason to believe that, with a mild form 
of virus of the different contagious diseases, 
we may be able, not only to ward them off by 
vaccination, but that we may carry the in¬ 
susceptibility to the most perfect degree, 
and, by conferring this quality on all the 
breeding animals, we may create breeds that 
will transmit it by heredity, and thus prac¬ 
tically rid ourselves of the ravages caused by 
the animal plagues. Much research, how¬ 
ever, is still required to settle these points, 
and to render the methods of vaccination 
practical and safe; but with an out-look 
brighter than ever before it is advisable to 
redouble our efforts in this direction, and to 
accomplish all that the most advanced science 
of the time can attain to. We shall doubt¬ 
less meet many discouragements, and be foiled 
many times in our endeavors, but with deter¬ 
mination, energy, and perseverance, success 
must surely crown our efforts at last, and 
this class of diseases which has discouraged 
our most advanced thinkers, and has been 
shrouded in the profoundest mystery for so 
many years, will disappear—conquered by 
that perfect science which patient work alone 
can develop. 
Butter Substitutes versus Butter. 
BY PROFESSOR L. B. ARNOLD.—ROCHESTER, N. T. 
At the Dairy Conventions held last winter, 
there was a concurrent feeling of solicitude 
and fear, running through the whole of them 
in regard to the safety of the dairy interest, 
on account of what was denominated butter 
and cheese adulterations- Excited discussions 
were indulged in, and resolutions were passed, 
vehemently denouncing everything in the 
shape of butter and cheese, not exclusively 
derived from milk and legislation was sought, 
and to some extent obtained, to protect the 
dairy interest against their introduction. 
The idea held out, was, that if artificial sub¬ 
stitutes, for butter in particular, were allowed 
to go into the markets unrestricted, they 
would, by the low price at which they could 
be sold, reduce the price of butter below the 
cost of production, and drive it out of the 
market, and out of existence. It cannot be 
successfully denied that cheap substitutes, 
closely resembling the original, thrust upon 
the markets in great abundance, would bring 
the price of butter down. The assumption 
that oleomargarine, in its best estate, can only 
compete with butter of a parallel grade, and 
that first-class butter will not be affected by 
it, is unsound. The experience of all com¬ 
mercial men goes to show that when any 
grade of butter, from over-abundance, is com¬ 
pelled to drop, grades both above and below 
soon sympathize with it, and that the price 
of first-class butter yields to the expansion of 
the lower grades. 
But the course pursued on the part of the 
dairy in this conflict with substitutes, has 
been puerile, and betrays a spirit of intoler¬ 
ance and a short-sighted view of the merits 
and impregnable position of the dairy interest. 
That there is ample occasion for dairymen to 
open their eyes is plain enough, but there is 
no cause for alarm. The permanancy of the 
dairy interest does not depend upon the suc¬ 
cess, or failure, of substitutes for butter. 
These can, at best, only hasten a reduction in 
price, which, through a diminished cost in 
the production of milk and increase of pro¬ 
duction, is sure to be brought about. 
Though dairymen and dealers often com¬ 
plain that the price of butter is too low, and 
are striving with all their might to make it 
I higher, the fact is the reverse. It is too high. 
