Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1866-03-15
Agrieultnral.
TEEoATTLE DISEASE IN PENNSYLVANIA


gornery County
The following interesting letter was
written to DR.. Worthingtun, of the Penn
sy vania Sena e, by DIR. Hiram Corson VIII
gives description of the disease, and hie
mode of treating the same. The article
should be carefully perused by every rea
der of the REPORTER.
FEBRUARY 12, 1866.
DEAR Doctor There has been yer!
fatal cattle disease prevailing in our neigh
borhood since the latter part of March,
1865, to which desire to call your atten-
tion by reporting few facts
About 1860, COW was bought IN the
Philadelphia market by one OF my neighbors
(since ascertained that she came from OAR
by, where disease was prevailing in the
dairies), and shortly after she was found to
be sick, but recovered soon after. Others
of his cattle got sick and six of them died
at that farm, and eight others at another
farm, near by, belonging to him, and to
which a cow from the first diseased herd
had been brought. Three cows taken from
here to farm mile distant also got sick,
and communicated it to the cattle of anoth-
er contiguous farm, and fifteen of those
cattle died Whether others were infected
cannot now sa, ; but as cases have oc-
Cured here and there every year since and
good many have died. it is not unlikely
that they came from that source. Omitting
the cases which may have occurred in the
years 1862, '63 and '64 will speak of the
diseases as it has been with us since the
beginning of 1865 !; and in doing this,
wish to establish one characteristic of the
malady which is Of great Importance 10 us
as guide to measures of relief from its
ravages. | allude to its mode of propaga-
ton. 1t is infections or contagious az small
pox ia that is, healthy cattle brought near
to a diseased one, even for very brief pc.
riod, will be affected, while if kept dis
tance of only few hundred yards from the
sick they will be in no danger.
few DAYS before April lst, 1865, milk
dairy man sold his half of about twenty
cattle, all of whom at the time seemed to
be well and on that farm no disease had
existed before Like other milk dairies,
new cows were bought from time to time,
and at the time of sale il was observed that
one COW did not look very we'll One cow
was bought by neighbor she sicke ned
il a few days and died, and before August
fifteen others died. Another man bought Il
cow-she soon sickened and died then
others died, and the owner then sold to a
cuw-huckster all the rest of his cows at "a
low price, for fear that they would all die
A third man bought cow--his sickened,
and with several others died, and the bal
2nce were sold at an alpost nominal price
Another man bought them. He took them
D,.gh I,,l u
others were sold From this flock, in this
healthy region another's farm stock was
affected, and it is still progressing in that
region. Now let me return to the first
man who bought Of this herd He lost six
teen cattle. One of his sick cows did not
die within the first two weeks illness, as
was common, but recruited little and held
on for many weeks. During this time she
was put in a lot along the public road q:
and stood and lay. day after day. in the
shade near the fence. A road COW" that
passed by her every morning as she grazed
this road, took the disease and died The
cows Of the neighbors on the opposite side
ot the road were along the fence but sir
gle afternoon They soon began to sicken
and number of them died This cow was
then put on the back part Of the place, and
here she had an opportunity to come close
10 large herd of co on an adjoining
farm. They soon began to sicken and "a
nu rher have die d, and nearly all the rest
have been sold to the COW hucksters and
distributed to other farms, and sold as beef
III Philadelphia markets. On the other side,
again, of the farm where the sixteen were
lost, there was large dairy and those cows
OF the first farm not yet known to be sick,
were pasturing in an adjoining field 1t
was communicated to them and seven of
them died, and the disease is still in pro-
grcss, as 1t liz also on some of the others
After the disease ran its course on the farm
where sixteen died, they bought no more
cattle for about four months About a
month ago they bought fourteen more
They are now nearly all showing symptoms
OF the disease and one has Just di, d Let
me now come back To the vendors place
The landlords eight or ten cows remained
there and d new tenant bought some more.
Very soon the landlords COWS began to
SlCkcn ; five If them died aid two of the
tenants died, and some were sold and some
got well. Ine farmer next to this one also
lost two OF his cows and then drove all the
rest away to market, and thus the disease
was stopped in that direction | could go
on tracing it 10 farms all over our region.
but this will probably do for the present
month ago ! felt it to be my duty, in
view Of the fatality, but still more on ac-
count of the horrible traffic which | learn.
ed was constantly carried on, of diseased
meat, either as beef or bologna sausages
(as they boasted for the Ph iladelphia mar
krt and also because of the sale 10y farmers
of their infected cattle 10 other localities,
thus spreading the disease, making new
toct, from which it might spread, to set
about the investigation of the disease The
examination during life of diseased cattle
convinced Inc of the disease being of the
lungs, and examination after death revealed
the most extensive inflammation of the pie
ura and lung. 1t is truly named plcura-
pneumonia. then commenced its treat
ment, and | am happy to say that they
have succeeded so well, AS to believe that
by early and judicious treatment farmers
save many of their cattle. brought the
matter before the medical society, and a
committee was appointed to report CON
cerning it at our next meeting. To-day, |
addressed our agricultural society on the
. subject, for the purpose of getting informa-
tiUn in regard to the prevalence of the dis