428 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 May, 1900. 
These figures, as will be seen, are based upon the reports received from 
522 stockowners who vaccinated about 127,000 head of cattle. The aver®, e 
loss from blackleg in these eight States and Territories was estimated in H¢ 
reports to be 14 per cent. This percentage, as already stated, is based up0? 
the losses sustained in well-known blackleg districts and not upon the tota. 
number of cattle in each State, and refer, of course, to unvaccinated herds. 
least 90 per cent. of the 522 stockowners lost cattle from blackleg previous, to 
vaccination, and the actual number of deaths reported to have occurred during 
the same season before the cattle were vaccinated amounts to 4,589 head, 0 
3°60 per cent. 
After vaccination 700 head died. These may be classified as follows :— 
72 head died within forty-eight hours after vaccination, and cannot justly 
charged to the effect of the vaccine. In every one of -these cases the owe 
reported that he was losing cattle every day before vaccination; and the pen? 
of incubation for blackleg being from two to five days, it is reasonable to assume 
that these animals were infected before being treated. Consequently the} 
should be left out of consideration in judging the effect of the vaccine. Forty- 
one head died in from three to seven days after vaccination. It would doubtless 
be safe to consider these cases as being due to the immediate effect of ™® 
yaceine, and to term them cases of inoculation-blackleg. 4 
During the yearfollowing vaccination 587 head died from blackleg. In 182 of 
these cases the owners admit to having made one or more mistakes, either 
the preparation of the vaccine or in injecting it. .A number also state that the 
animals which died were under five to six months old when vaccinated, some 
being only two to four months old. Mistakes are no doubt also responsible for 
some of the 455 deaths, but only in cases where the owners expressly state th’ 
such occurred have the deaths been classified in the column headed “ Mistakes: 
Take, for instance, the large number of deaths reported from Colorado—l* 
cases. Only 4 of them are acknowledged to be due to mistakes, while 6 
within two days after vaccination OF the remaining 128 cases, 52 head, © 
nearly half, were lost by one man who vaccinated 1,700 head. In reply, 
question 18 on the inquiry blank, this man states that he used Pasteur vace!? 
the year previous with the same result. This is an equal loss of 8 per ce?’ 
with either single or double vaccine, and indicates that either some abnor 
conditions obtain in that neighbourhood or else the same mistake in using t. 
vaccine was made in both cases. 
Another stockowner in Colorado, who vaccinated 600 head, says that he 
lost 17 from blackleg three months after vaccination. Evidently the number De 
cattle failed to become immune from the vaccination. He states, however, 12? 
in withdrawing the syringe after making the injection a part of the ae 
escaped. This cannot occur when the directions are followed, and, 28 7 
complaints were received from any of the other stockowners who obtalne’ 
yaccine from the same lot, the writer is inclined to believe that the unsatistar’ 
tory result cannot be charged against the vaccine. A third stockowne 
vaccinated 2,350 head and lost 24 head during the following winter. In rep 
to question 18, he states that he has also used the Pasteur vaccine, and th is 
subsequent loss among the vaccinated ones was equally as great as among i 
which had not been vaccinated at all. These three cases account for 93 ° u 
128 deaths, leaving but 35 deaths among the remaining 7,959 vaccine 
animals, or 0-44: per cent. 4 
The Indian Territory also figures in the table with a very high percentig 
of deaths which occurred several weeks after vaccination. Of the 95 ee 
died, 40 belonged to one man, who states that he lost a quantity of yacce © 
working in ‘too much of a rush.” 
ji 
‘ : ; e 
[The importance to stockowners of the subject dealt with above camnot Oe 
overrated; and Mr. Quinnell, who handed us the article on Blackleg, whi¢ 
taken from the Veterinary Journal, has consequently omitted his usual 
arlicle on ‘‘ Diseases of the Horse.” —Ed. Q. 4./.] 
monthly 
