THE RECENT CATTLE DISEASE IN KANSAS. 
255 
where a comparison has been made, suggests this as the essential 
cause of the disease. 
9th. In some of the worst outbreaks (Keith’s, Hindman’s, 
Beard’s, Kansas ; Mason’s, Founce’s, Wheeler boarding house, 
Wetherholt’s, Illinois), the localities were low and the ground 
damp and rich, while in several (Keith’s, Hindman’s, Beard’s, 
Kansas; and Faunce, Kibler, Illinois), the places were more or 
less shaded by woods, both of which conditions favor the growth 
of ergot. 
10th. That in one case at least (Faunce’s) horses kept in the 
yards with the cattle and fed almost exclusively on the badly 
ergo ted hay became unwell, lost condition rapidly, had sores in 
the mouth, and slobbered for six weeks until spring weather set 
in and the effect of the ergot was modified by a fuller allowance 
of corn. 
11th. That in Effingham and adjacent counties the red-top 
hay, which was generally ergotcd, was rejected by horses if they 
could get other fodder, and where it was used the animals did 
badly, lost condition rapidly, and in some cases slobbered. This 
hay was in such ill-repute that Mr. Moore, who keeps horses on 
livery at Effingham, told us this kind of hay would not bring 
over $3 per ton, whereas ordinary Timothy hay sold at $10 per 
ton. 
12th. Mr. Mason, Jasper County, Illinois, informed us that 
in his district he knew of twenty abortions, or premature parturi¬ 
tions, in mares, a common result of the continuous use of ergot. 
13th. Mr. Schlager, who practices veterinary medicine at 
Effingham, further states that there has been an unusual number 
of difficult parturitions in mares and cows in the present spring. 
14th. At Pleasanton, Linn County, Kansas, on the Osage 
River also, Colonel Hamilton, State cattle commissioner, found 
that a number of abortions had occurred among cattle in the 
present season. 
FACTS APPARENTLY OPPOSED TO CAUSATION BY ERGOT OR SMUT. 
1st. The calves of Mr. Keith, of Coffey County, the first 
known to be attacked in Kansas, are alleged to have been fed on 
