The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1879-04-10
FARM AND HOUSEHOLD.
pIEURo-PNEUMONIA

cattle which is now exciting SO much atten-
ton. The following history Of the disease
is taken from the Scientific american
1.-The cattle plague, which is creating SO
much anxiety throughout the Eastern States
is contagious fever. affecting COWS chiefly,
characterized by extensive exudations into
the respiratory organs, and attended by q
low typhus inflammation OF the lungs, plurn,
and bronchia. 1t has prevailed in Europe
for ages, at times developing into widespread
scourges, causing incslculabie loss. 1t was
imported into England in 1889, and again
three years later: and it was estimated that
within twenty-five years thereafter the loss
es by deaths alone in England had amount
cd to $3.50. 100000. In 1858 the disease was
carried to Australia by an English COW, and,
spreading to the cattle ranges, almost depop-
ulated them.
''1n 1913 an infected Dutch COW brought
the disease to B rooklyn, where it has since
fingered, slowly spreading among the cattle
in Kings and Queens counties. In 1s47 sew
eral head of infected English cattle were
imported into New Jersey, and, spreading
among herd OF valuable cattle, made it
necessary for all OF them to be slaughtered,
the only certain method Of stamping out the
disease. In 1859 four infected cows were
imported into Massachusetts, from Holland ;
the plague spread rapidly. and was stamped
out only by persistent effort, the State payed
for over 1000 slaughtered cattle. Since 1867
the disease has not been known there.
Meantime the pest had invaded Eastern
Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland,
where it has since prevailed in isolated To-
calities. The absence of large herds of NOV
ing cattle in these districts. except for speedy
slaughter, has prevented the disease from
developing into a general plague.
1.-The recent action of the British Council
in forbidding the importation of American
live cattle is likely to prove Of inestimable
benefit to this country, in forcibly calling
attention to the grave risk that the presence
of the disease on Long Island and elsewhere
constantly entails. Fortunately the drift of
the cattle traffic is eastward, and as yet there
has been no propagation of the poison in the
great cattle ranges of the West. Unless
summarily arrested, however, the disease
will surely reach those sources OF our cattle
supply, and occasion losses that can be esti-
mated only in hundreds Of millions of dol-
lars.
professor Law, of Cornell University,
oneof our best informed veterinary surgeons,
most emphatically opposes every attempt to
control the disease by quarantining the sick
or by the incubation of the healthy. we
NAV quarantine the sick, he says, but we
cannot quarantine the air. To establish
quarantine yards is simply to maintain pro-
life manufacturers of the poison, which is
given off by the breath of the sick, and by
their excretions, TO such an extent that no
watchfulness can insure against its dissem-
mination. Besides, the expense OF thor
ough quarantining operations would amount
to more than the value Of tie infected ami
mails whose lives might be saved thereby.
incubation is still less to be tolerated at this
stage of the pest. The Professor says :
Germany, Holland, Belgium, France, and
England, have been treating the victims of
this plague for nearly half century, but the
result has only been the increase of disease
and death. Our own infected States have
been treating it for third of a century, and
to-day it exists over wider area than ever
before. Contrast this with the results in
massachusetts, and Connecticut, where the
disease has been repeatedly crushed out at
small expense. and there can be no doubt as
to which is the wisest course"
THE ASPARAGUS BED.
He who lives in the country and has no
asparagus bed has at least one heavy sin OF
omission on. his conscience for which he new
er can give an adequate excuse. If the man
who does mot provide for his own house is
worse than an infidel," he that will not
''bother" with an asparagus bed is anything
but orthodox, and yet cannot call himself a
nationalist. Some are under the delusion
that an asparagus bed is an obstruse garden
problem and an expensive luxury. Far from
it. The plants Of Conover's Colossal (the
best variety can be obtained of any seeds
man at slight cost. l have one large bed
that yields almost daily supply from the
middle of April till late in June, and l shall
make another bed next Spring in this simple
way As early in April as the ground is dry
enough-the sooner the better-I shall
choose some warm, carly, but deep soil, en-
rich it well, and then on one side of the
plot open furrow or trench eight inches
deep. Down this furrow l shall scatter a
heavy coat of rotted compost, and then run
a plough or pointed hoe through it again.
By this process the earth and compost are
mingled and the furrow rendered about six
inches deep. Along its side, one foot apart,
will place ne-year Old plants, spreading
the roots, and taking care to keep the crown
or top of the plant five inches below the sur
face when level; then half fill the furrow
over the plants, and when the young shoots
are well up, fill tine furrow even. 1 shall
make the burrows two feet apart, and after
planting as much space as l wish, the bed is
made for the next fifty years. In my faith
er's garden there was a good bed over fifty
years old. The young shoots should not be
cut for the first two years, and only spar ing
ly the third year, on the same principle that
we do not put young colts to work. The as
paragus is marine plant, and dustings OF
salt sufficient to kill the weeds will promote
its growth.-Harper's Magazine.
THE TALLEsT TREES.
The largest trees in circumference and
the graneest ever discovered are those known
as the Big Trees of California, the ,Sequoia
Gigantea. But they are not the tallest. The
highest Sequoia now standing is in the Cal
ayeras Grove, near Stockton, and measures
327 feet in height. It is altogether probable
that among the fallen trees in California
forests there were those which reached great
err height, and it has been shown that some
of them had a heigh. of 400 feet. In Gipps-
land, Victoria, there are some extraordinary
specimens Of Eucalyptus, and on the bank
of river fallen tree was measured, shows
ing total length, from roots to top, Of 435
feet. The crest of this tree was broken of,
but the trunk at the fracture was nine feet