307 
THE ETIOLOGY OF BLACKLEG, ETC. 
Practical Consequences. 
Influence on Vegetation. 
“ In 1852 
“ The germination of cereals was 
slow, because of the drought. 
“Vegetation, after pushing vigor¬ 
ously in March, was stopped and 
burdened at the commencement of 
spring by the dryness of the earth 
and the cold weather of April. This 
stoppage of vegetation lasted until 
June, when the wind changed to 
the west, and rain fell in abundance 
during the season of llowering and 
during the harvesting of artificial 
grapes, which were badly got in. 
“Owing to the dryness, the na¬ 
tural pastures grew but very little 
hay, and the second and third cuts 
of lucern were small. Under the 
influence of the burning July sun 
the grains dried up in the ear. We 
now know the result of this bad 
harvest, the produce of wheat and 
oats being much below the average. 
“ In 1853, 
“ From the mild temperature and 
humidity, the cereals grew very 
much in winter. In February and 
March the artificial grapes and 
several trees were in flower. 
“The frosts of the latter days of 
March stopped vegetation, and threw 
it back fifteen days throughout the 
spring. In May, under the influence 
of heat, fogs, and storms of rain, 
vegetation underwent a happy trans¬ 
formation. The oats which germi¬ 
nated witli difficulty in March looked 
well. The artificial grapes were 
abundant, and well harvested; a 
good crop of meadow-hay in the 
pastures, second and third cuts of 
the artificials abundant. 
“ Abundance of pasture, rich, 
strong, and very watery. The har¬ 
vest was favoured by several fine, 
sunny days. Oats yielded well. 
“As a whole, the grass and hay 
harvest was better, but not sufficient 
to make up the deficiency of 1852. 
Influence on Animals . 
“1852. 
“ If we examine the metereologic 
influence on animals, we find a great 
number of beasts were the victims 
of the charbonne fever called sang 
de rate; it may be from the great 
heat of summer, or from the drying 
up of all the ponds and lakes of the 
plateau of Beauce. This influence 
was so great, that, after having lost 
its intensity by the August rains, it 
still made some ravages in the 
autumn season. 
“ 1853. 
“In the poor countries, deficient 
in agricultural pastures and in vege¬ 
table earth, as in Perche, anaemia, 
wrongly considered as being the first 
degree of cachexia, invaded the 
flocks of merinos in the first months 
of the year. 
“ At the same time, the bad con¬ 
dition of the fodder of 1852 influ¬ 
enced in an unfortunate manner the 
persistence of the disease of the 
blood in Beauce. This ought to be 
considered as the termination of the 
epizootic which affected in the pre¬ 
ceding autumn all cattle, and which 
disappeared very soon under the 
influence of the permanent humidity 
of the air and of the soil, to give 
place to foot-rot, which, with ca¬ 
chexia aquosa, persisted in an epi¬ 
zootic form in several localities until 
1854, a period of time during which 
not a single case of sang de rate was 
obse"’ 7 '^ 
