Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1898-01-26
HELP FOR THE HOG.
Secretary Wilson Believes Cholera
Remedy Has Been Found.

Remedy Has Been Found.
Secretary Wilson is well pleased with
the results Of the experiments that have
been going on under his direction in Iowa
and Nebraska during the last few months
in the treatment of hog cholera by inocu
lation. for he thinks the discoveries THAI
have been developed are worth 500, 00O,-
COO year to the people of the United
States.
The experiments were undertaken in
Page County, Iowa, last spring, where
several hundred hogs that were afflicted
with disease that has until now been
considered fatal, We're cured by the use
of serum, and several hundred more that
were perfectly healthy when protected by
the serum were permitted to range freely
among those that were diseased without
showing any effects from the contagion
Eighty-five per cent of the sick were
cured and the healthy protected. Similar
experiments have been going on in Ne
braska all summer. but the detailed re-
turns have not been received. The serum
Is obtained in the same manner as the an
titoxin that is used for diphtheria A
horse or a COW is inoculated with the
germs day after day until no effect is APP
few drops of its blood injected under the
skin of healthy hogs has the same effect
as preventive of cholera that vaccina-
ton has in smallpox. There was scarcely
failure in several hundred cases, al
though the animals were exposed to the
disease in every possible manner. ~he
same treatment was equally successful
in curing the disease when taken IL the
early stages.
Curiously enough, the cultivation of the
serum does not injure the horse or the
COW, and the animal can be used over and
over again every year until it becomes
aged, provided it is given plenty of those
forms of fodder that supply and strength
en- the blood. A single horse or COW will
produce 1000 doses of serum year, and,
IL ordinary economy is practiced, this will
reduce the cost of Treatment to 10 or Is
cents per hog. Hundreds of thousands Of
horses throughout the United States that
are now killed for their hides may be
used to save the hogs, and their value
Will be increased by the demand thus
created for them. The method of cult
waiting the serum can be taught at all the
agricultural experiment stations and on
the large stock farms, and with a little
experience farmers may be able to furnish
their own supply. The county agricul-
tural societies can take up the matter,
and by cooperation their members can
reduce the cost and extend the usefulness
of the treatment.
Secretary Wilson estimates the annual
loss from hog cholera in the United States
from 500, 000,000 to $10O,000,OO0. In the
State of Iowa alone, where statistics of
the mortality of the animals afflicted with
this disease have been accurately kept,
the annual loss is SIC, 100000. He be-
lieves that nearly all this can be pre-
vented.
In 1892 there were 52,39S,O19 swine in
the United States, walked at 1906, 1885,
Az. That was high-water mark. Since
then their number and value have been
materially decreased by the cholera, and
the figures for 1897 were 10000, 276 hogs,
valued at $166,272, ITO. These hogs are
worth an average of 1854 each. Iowa
is the largest hog State in the country,
the census of 1897 showing 3, 737, 070 ami
mails, valued at $21, 1S2, $780, Missouri
comes next, then Texas, Ohio, Illinois,
Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, Missis-
sippi and other of the Southern States.
There was a decrease of ST per cent in
the number and 100 in the value of hogs
in the United States last year.