ib93 
647 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
Live Stock Matters In rc?ard to aEfo::n i a (watery blood) 
* the report says: “This is a common 
affection among cattle in certain locali¬ 
ties, above all on damp, undrained lands, 
and under a backward agriculture.* * * * 
Whether from insufficient or badly-ad¬ 
justed rations, or from the poisonous 
products of fermentations in impervious 
or marshy soils the treatment must be 
essentially tonic and stimulating. * * * * 
Hut prevention is the great need. The 
drainage and cultivation of the danger¬ 
ous soils are the main objects. Until 
these can be brought about, young and 
newly-purchased cattle, not yet inured 
to the poisons, mu't be kept from the 
dangerous fields, etc.” 
TEXAS FEVER AND TICKS. 
MORE ABOUT SOUTHERN CATTLE 
DISEASES. 
“RED WATER” IS NOT TICK OR TEXAS FEVER. 
Mr. Parker’s note, on page 583, was no 
surprise to me. I admire his pluck and 
perseverance, and for his benefit will now 
say what properly should have been a 
portion of my former article, backing up 
what I have to say w.th the “ Special 
Report on Diseases of Cattle and Cattle 
Feeding,” pages 143-145, from which I 
quote. 
Red water is a generic disease of which 
there are several species or types. The 
first division is into hrematuria and hemo¬ 
globinuria. It is the former “ when the 
blood is found in clots, cr when under 
the microscope the blood globules can be 
detected as distinctly rounded flattened 
discs.” It is the latter “when no such 
distinct clots nor blood discs can be 
found, but merely a general browning, 
reddening or blackening of the urine by 
the presence of dissolved blood-coloring 
matter. Haematuria depends upon the 
structural disease of the kidneys or uri¬ 
nary passages of the animal, and the 
natural inference, from Mr. Parker’s 
statement, is that few, if ary, of his cat¬ 
tle suffered from heematuria. Hasmo- 
globinuria, on the other band, depends 
upon one of several specific and more re¬ 
mote causes. Of these Texas fever is only 
one. It may likewise be caused by an¬ 
thrax, and also by the cattle “ eating ir¬ 
ritant plants (broom, savin, mercury, 
hellebore, ranunculus, convolvulus, col- 
chicum, oak shoots, ash, privet, hazel, 
hornbeam and other astringent, acrid or 
resinous plants, etc.”) In individual cases 
even frosted turnips may bring about the 
same bad effects. The drinking water 
may cause the same results, especially if 
it contains a large percentage of nitrites 
in solution. Again, from Mr. Parker’s 
statement I infer that his cattle suffered 
either from anthrax or from swallowing 
some of the aforenamed substances, or 
both. 
Something About Anthrax. 
I quote the following in regard to 
anthrax: “ Tne particular kinds of soil 
upon which the disease is observed are 
black, loose, warm humus soils, also 
those containing lime, marl and clay, 
finally peaty, swampy soils resting on 
strata which hold the water, or, in other 
words, are impervious. Hence fields 
containing stagnant pools may be the 
source of infection. The infection may 
be limited to certain farms, or even re¬ 
stricted areas on such farms. Even in 
the Alps, over 3,000 feet above sea-level, 
where such conditions prevail in secluded 
valleys, anthrax persists among herds. 
* * * * Another source of the virus, 
and one regarded by many authorities as 
perhaps the most important, are the 
bodies of animals which have died of an¬ 
thrax. It will be remembered that in 
such bodies the anthrax bacilli are pres¬ 
ent in enormous numbers, and wherever 
blood or other bloody fluids are exposed 
to the air on the surface of the carcass, 
there the formation of spores will go on 
in the warm season of the year with 
great rapidity. It will thus be readily 
understood how this disease may become 
stationary in a given locality, and appear 
year after year, and even grow in sever¬ 
ity if the carcasses of animals which 
have succumbed to it are not properly 
disposed of.” 
I would advise Mr. Parker, should he 
lose any more cattle, to have a portion of 
the blood examined by an experienced 
bacteriologist, and if the disease is pro¬ 
nounced anthrax, not to invest in any 
more expensive cattle, owing to the per¬ 
sistent, infectious nature of the disease, 
which is communicable not only to cattle, 
but to a large variety of domesticated 
animals, and does not even spare man 
himself. However, it is my hope and 
belief that anthrax is not the cause of 
his losses. 
A Good Place for Disease. 
Now a few words in regard to Mr. 
Parker's experience : He suffered no loss 
in his town lot. The first season the 
animals were attacked by fever. This 
may have been a mild form of Texas 
fever. He says that they had probably 
been bitten by hundreds of ticks. But 
while ticks will communicate Texas 
fever to susceptible cattle, it does not 
follow that fever results uniformly from 
their bite. In fact, I claimed the very 
reverse. But Mr. Parker moved his stock 
to his present abode, two-thirds of the 
ground being low lands, and his trouble 
began. From what I rpmember about 
my ramblings through Wayne County, 
N. C., especially along the Neuse river, 
about 20 years ago, the lowlands of that 
section are the very places to prove de¬ 
structive to cattle if one wants to kill 
them without calling on a butcher for 
assistance, both as regards a plentiful 
supply of ticks, which, like dogs, are in 
the habit of tackling strangers, as well 
as an abundance of plant growth of the 
nature to induce “ red water” in several 
forms, all of which have sufficient symp¬ 
toms in common for the one often to be 
mistaken for the other. Of course some 
places are worse than others, and Mr. 
Parker’s farm is evidently not one of the 
best in this respect. Possibly only a few 
rods may be responsible for all the 
trouble, possibly the entire two-thirds of 
the lowlands, possibly the entire tract, 
though not likely. It matters not whether 
cattle are brought from the North or 
simply across the road. Even a fence 
may form the dividing line between life 
and death. It is scarcely probable that 
the cows that died in winder had an at¬ 
tack of Texas fever. Whence came the 
forage with which they were fed ? Was 
it not from a portion of the lowlands 
where irritant plants abound and seem 
to spring up again in the very wake of 
the plow and cultivator ? 
To say more would be simply to mul¬ 
tiply conjecture. For the benefit of all 
interested 1 want to say, however, that 
Texas fever and “ red water ” are by no 
means synonymous. A herd may suffer 
from some form of the latter where the 
former is entirely unknown. Where the 
causes for all the forms exist, and possi¬ 
bly attack at the same time, the chances 
are terribly against the cattle until they 
become inured to the poison. 
The South is, of course, the hot-bed of 
these types of disease. Added to the 
climatic conditions, land is too plentiful 
and variable for all to be cultivated, 
even in a prolonged rotation. The uncul¬ 
tivated portions belong to the cattle, but 
these are the very worst places for them, 
and my advice to every one who intends 
to raise good stock is to secure, as a pre¬ 
requisite, a clean pasture of tame 
grasses, and if the latter are sown in 
fields abounding in irritant plants to 
abstain from using even the hay from 
such fields for the cattle. Once more I 
urge upon every reader to use his utmost 
endeavor to obtain a copy of the Report, 
and not simply refer to it like a dic¬ 
tionary, but to read and study it very 
carefully from the first to the last page. 
It will add vastly to one’s practical 
knowledge. ,i, c senger 
I have read with interest the articles 
of Mr. Senger in The Rural upon Texas 
or tick fever. He says the Bureau of 
Animal Industry has demonstrated that 
the disease is caused by the bite of ticks. 
I should like to see the points of the 
demonstration. Is it too lengthy for The 
Rural to publish ? The fact that the 
time at which the disease is most pre¬ 
valent coincides with the time in which 
the ticks are most abundant proves noth- 
ing. At best it could only be an indica¬ 
tion which might lead to the discovery of 
the cause. He says: “This disease is 
caused by an organism that lives in the 
red blood-corpuscles and breaks them 
up.” Let us have the proof that this 
organism is produced by the tick bite, 
Mr. Senger, or at least the reasons which 
have led to the conclusion. 
I had the care of a herd of Texas cattle 
five miles from Goliad in southeast Texas. 
This is the home of the tiik and of the 
fever, although I never knew of a case 
of the latter in native cattle. With the 
exception of some calves that died of 
scours, I did not lose an animal from dis¬ 
ease, and only one from any cause, yet fre¬ 
quently both the horses and cattle were 
so covered with ticks that if I had not 
cleaned them and kept them clean they 
would have died ultimately of starvation. 
If from any cause a horse or cow becomes 
debilitated, and loses energy, so that it 
docs not get rid of the ticks by rubbing 
and licking, they will become so numer¬ 
ous by breeding on the creature as to 
make the latter so poor that it is likely 
it will fall a victim to dearth of food and 
cold storms during winter. I never knew 
ticks to kill cattle directly. 
But what sort of a tick is Mr. Senger 
speaking of ? I spent several years in 
southeast, central and northern Texas, 
and know of no very small ticks except 
the jiggers or chiggars, but these are 
numerous in all the southwest and even 
in Illinois they are abundant on old, dead 
grass or weeds. Why don’t they cause 
Texas fever there? The wood-tick of 
Texas is fiat, and about two-sixteenths 
of an inch in breadth and three in length. 
It attacks mostly the inside of the ears, 
making them very sore. The pests bite 
man mostly about the middle of the per¬ 
son, causing him to hunt quickly a place 
where he can disrobe. But these ticks 
are not comparatively numerous. The 
ticks which do most injury to cattle in 
Texas have small flat heads and big, 
oblong bodies. They are about half an 
inch long, three-sixteenths of an inch 
broad and a quarter of an inch thick 
when filled. They bury their heads in 
the cow’s skin and live there, being also 
soon surrounded by a cluster of young 
ones which live and grow there. 
I think that Texas fever, so far at 
least as native stock is concerned, is 
probably a myth. It has been said, and 
I believe with some truth, that its preva¬ 
lence is due to the efforts of the mem¬ 
bers of the National Cattlemen’s Asso¬ 
ciation. These men bought all the 
Texas cows and young stock they could 
get, for three years, bringing the price 
in Texas up from $5 to $20 per head for 
cattle all round, i. e. co * s and young 
stock all counted. Now just as soon as 
they got their ranges stocked they raised 
a howl about Texas fever, and got laws 
passed which broke up the over-land 
cattle trade, as the cattle were not al¬ 
lowed to be driven north. The result 
was that southeastern Texas so filled up 
with cattle that they could not be sold 
at any price, except in small lots. c. f. c. 
R. N.-Y.—We advise our friend to send 
to Washington for the Report of the 
Bureau of Animal Industry, containing 
the information. 
TUTT’S PILLS purge out Malaria. 
The Linseed Oil Trust is in a bad 
plight. It has accumulated a surplus of 
oil greater by $1,535,637 than it had on 
hand a year ago and nearly a correspond¬ 
ing surplus of cake, and its competitors 
are pressing it so hard that it has been 
forced to reduce the price of oil four 
cents within the past week and 14 cents 
in the past month. The fight is still on 
and growing fiercer, and 1 he public are 
sure to be the gainers. 
Straining and Racking your Lungs and Throat 
with a rasping Cough, Is but poor policy. Rather 
cure yourself with Dr. I). Jayne’s Expectorant, an 
excellent remedy for Asthma and Bronchitis.— Adv. 
-NEWT0 f j 
Buckley’s Watering Device 
FOR WATERING STOCK IN THE STABLE 
C. E. BUCKLEY & CO., 
Patentees and Manufacturers, Dover Plains, N. Y 
^KINGSTON FOUNDRY AND MACHINE 
CD., Limited, Kingston, Ont., Canada, Sole Manu¬ 
facturers for the Dominion of Canada. 
RELIABLE AGENTS WANTED. 
GUERNSEYS! 
The GRANDEST of DAIRY Breeds. 
Combining the richness of the Jersey with the size 
approximate to the Holstein or Short-horn but 
standing alone and UNKqualed in producing the 
richest colored butter In mid-winter on dry feed 
Gentle as pets, persistent milkers and hardy In con¬ 
stitution, they combine more qualifications for the 
dairy or family cow than any other breed. In the 
‘ ‘ Old Brick Guernsey Herd ” 
are daughters and granddaughters of the renowned 
Squire Kent, 1604 A. G. C. C. and of the finest strains 
on Guernsey or In America—Comus, son of Squire 
Kent and Statelltte, son of Kohim head the herd All 
particulars In regard to Breed and Herd cheerfully 
Klven. 8. P. TABER WILLETTS, 
“ The Old Brick,” Roslyn, L. I., N. Y. 
QT. LAMBERT Bull Calves and Heifers of the 
„■ Best butter blood, ln-and-in-bred to Stoke 
Foffis III. (the sire of Mary Anne of St. L., 807 lbs. of 
butter In one year) at very low prices. 
E. L. CLARKSON, Tivoli. Now York. 
High-Class Bhropshires 
75 yearling ranis tb;.t will weigh 250 to 300 pounds 
and shear 12 to 15 pounds at maturity; and 150 year- 
ling ewes, to weigh 175 to 210 pounds, and shear!) to 
12 pounds at maturity, just arrived, recorded In Eng¬ 
land and America. “A grand lot.” Send for cata¬ 
logue. THE WILLOWS, 
GEO. E. Breck, Prop. Paw l*aw, Mich. 
Shropshire* for Sale. 
Twenty-two one and two-year old Rams; Ifi year¬ 
ling Ewes, and a choice lot of Lambs ol either sex 
JAS. M. COLEGROVE, Rox 1148 Curry. Pa'. 
Get circulars and 
valuable testimoni¬ 
als of the best 
GREEN BONE 
. CUTTER on the 
market. Its cheap, durable, practical and war¬ 
ranted. WEBSTER & IIANNUM, Ca/.enovla, N. Y. 
KNOB MOUNTAIN POULTRY FIRM. 
KOCF s and 8- c. BROWN L£«- 
DDKNS a speo Rity. Eggs and birds for sale. 
MAHL'>N SAGER, Orangeville, Pa. 
Iff POULTRY MEN 
Have proved that .green cut bone is the 
greatest egg producing food in the world. 
Mann’s Bone Cutter 
Warranted to cut green bone with the meat and 
gristle, without clog or difficulty, or money 
refunded. 
Illus. catalogue free if you name this paper. 
F- W. Nlann Co., MILFORD, MASS. 
'sap®! INCUBATORS & BROODERS 
® Jl Brooders only $5. Best and cheapest for 
raising chicks; 40 first premiums ; 3,000 
testimonials ; send for catalogue. 
G.S. SINGER, Box 574 » Cardington, 0. 
WILLIS WHINERY, WINONA, O., 
Breeder and Shipper of 
IMPROVED CHESTER-WHITE SWIHE. 
Largest and finest herd In the world. Over 300 head 
on hand. Special Inducements for the next 30 days. 
Write at once for clrculais. This herd will be at the 
World’s I air Sept. 25 to Oct 14. See It sure. 
Recorded Berkshire*. 
Why pay high expressage ? You can buy the 
P, 6 ™.-?? 160 ’' luj ported blood near home. The 
Willswood Herd ” will have about 100 ptgs 
to select from. Order at once. Prices lowest 
for the best. Catalogue on application. 
WILLS A. SEWARD, Rudd’s Lake, N. J. 
PP nPTT P ere 18 probably no branch of 
A ALY/JL X J farming or stock-raising that Is 
m »0 sure to return a prom as the 
flock of sheep, and there Is prob¬ 
ably no branch so much neg- 
ni i d T7i TA lected. A well-kept dock would 
NH H.H.K restore the fertility to many run 
. down farms, and put their own- 
e s on the road to prosperity. 
But every man doesn’t know how to care for sheep 
though he can easily learn " Sheep Farming” is a 
practical treatise on sheep, their menagement and 
diseases. It tells In plain language bow to select 
and breed them, and how to eare for them. It Is a 
little book worth three times Its cost to any farmer 
vi ho raises sheep. Sent postpaid for 25 cents. 
THE RURAL PUBLISHING COMPANY, 
Cor. Chambers and Pearl Sts., New York. 
