786 OBSERVATIONS ON THE LUNG PLAGUE OF CATTLE. 
owners, being strange to each other, herded widely apart, so that 
there w T as virtually no chance of infection from the herd of one 
owner to that of another. They were never yarded nor turned 
into buildings en masse , so as to concentrate the virus. 4. There 
was no meeting at any common watering-place, for ponds abound 
all over the range. 5. Whenever a herd was known to have had 
any communication with cattle from the infected herd such 
herd was slaughtered without exception. 6. The two cattle 
that suffered later in the season were the only cattle from their 
respective owners, and had never herded with any other stock on 
the range. 
Had these cattle been crowded more closely on a smaller 
pasture, had they pastured successively on the same ground, had 
they been frequently rounded up, yarded or stabled, had they 
all been watered from a common pond or trough, had they been 
accustomed to meet to eat grain or salt from troughs, or had 
they become acquainted so as to congregate at night in one vast 
herd, as occurs on Montauk later in the season, it would have 
been impossible to prevent infection. The prevalence of this 
plague for ages on the unfenced steppes of the Old World, and 
for decades on the open ranges of South Africa and Australia in 
defiance of all the efforts of owners and governments, shows 
only too clearly that in all but very exceptionable conditions the 
advent of this plague to such unfenced territory means its 
spread and permanent prevalence in such a district. It is but 
repeating on a large scale what has for thirty-seven years 
preserved and extended the infection upon our eastern seaboard, 
and what must continue to maintain it until common pasturage 
is abolished. Our Montauk triumph gives no hope of the ex¬ 
termination of the plague from our great grazing lands in case 
they should become infected, so that the imminent risk of infect¬ 
ing these means the risk of imposing a perpetual annual tax on 
the nation of 60,000,000 dollars and upward. 
Results of One Year's Labour. —In the course of the year 
we have caused the slaughter of 1400 cattle that had either 
developed the lung plague or had been exposed to its infection ; 
we have abolished common pasturages in all infected districts 
excepting one (Brooklyn, where circumstances prevented this); 
we have controlled the movement of cattle in all infected dis¬ 
tricts, and have virtually rooted out the plague from seven 
counties, leaving but one (Brooklyn and suburbs) in which the 
affection still prevails. 
While a multitude of details were needful for each district, it 
will be instructive to notice the main restrictions in force in 
New York City, where the disease was suppressed, as compared 
with Brooklyn, where it still remains to be dealt with. 
