The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1877-03-08
FARM AND GARDEN.


A correspondent of The Country Gen
t,cmah At Bfonscn, Mich, writes az fol.
lows;
Although I never have had the dis.
case among my htsa, ! lave lived in SEINE
~ ne worst infected districts of the west,
and have given the matter much thought,
and carefully noted the conditions sur
rounding lots effected the means used
for cures or preventivcs, and, of course,
the many opinions regarding cause and
curn. 1t Is not at all strange that many
opinions rs to the cauee Of tic HisGaBe
should be bcld BY those At all familiar
with it, for it presents 30 many various
forms at different times and places, that
no well grounded facts bearing upon its
origin have AZ yet been. established, II
is true that many theoties have been adj
vanced, yet not n but may have some
well founded objection brought against it,
h. T., ]. claims that an exclusive corn
diet is the immediate c6use6f the disease,
From this | must dissent, although there
are many facts relating to the elements
contained in corn az articles Of diet which,
when used ~ physiological facts, would
seem to establish the fact beyond n doubt
that Il il corn that causes the disease.
If this il 80, why Is it that the disease
was not known years ago? Corn has
been used AZ food for hogs ever since this
broad expan.e OF prairie and forest be-
gan 10 be a home for civilized man; yet
hog cholera is of comparatively late ap.
pearance. II corn causcs it, why should
we find it out at 10 late a date9 Again,
why is it that hogs that are kept on tim
Der farms, although kept up and fed on
corn exclusively, escape the disease al
most always, while those on prairie farms
are swept away in a week In every
case where my attention has been called
to hogs infected with cholera, and the
disease spreads to any extent, ! have no
ticcd that certain localities escape almost
entirely, and that the disease in its prog
ross stops at n belt Of timber.
These facts are not isolated ones, bu'
such as | have noticed from this state tt
Missouri. That the disease presents diff
fercnt phases at different times is evi
dent, | know one mar who saved hi
hogs by the use Of wood ashes at ont
time, after they were badly affected. a
while after, another lot in the same fielC
was taken, and in spite Of every curative
agent, every one died. So far IA my ex
pcrience goes, | have noticed the creates
mortality among hogs when cold nigh;
succeed warm days. When | first begal
my observations upon the cholera, |
like b. f. j., thought that corn was thu
cause OF it. subsequently, my own ex
pericnce in feeding corn to hogs curet
me of this-at least 80 far as to attribute
it to corn solely.
| have never known Of m instance 0
cholera among hogs that had clean quar-
ters, and we're fed regularly, kept warn
and dry, although fed exclusively OF
corn, and if they had pure drink. ! d.
not attribute the disease to any on,
caNsc alone, hut n combination of them
TO put a hog in a cold, wet, mudd.
place, expose it to hot days and chill,
nights, allow it to pick its food from tn
dirt, and drink from some filthy pond o
hole, is enough to make n hog sick, an
to invite every known disease hog tles
,. il heir to. The hog is naturally a ia
more clcanIy animal than many give
| credit for, and | do candidly believe tina
il more attention was paid to the naturG
disposition OF the animal, and more car
. taken Of it, that we should hear muc
:, less of hog cholera.