Hot Springs weekly star. (Hot Springs, S.D.) 1892-1917, 1898-01-28
HELP FOR THE HOG.
Secretary Wilson Believes a cholers
Remedy Has Been Found.

oGGfCSaTy Vhk0Uu 1bGA1GVCS a Cholera
Remedy Has Been Found.
Secretary Wilson is we'll 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 that
have been developed are worth 100000
GOO a year to the people of the United
States.
The experiments were undertaken in
Page County, Town, last spring, where
several hundred hogs that were afflicted
with a disease that has until now been
considered fatal, were 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 III 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 ap-
ANA AS NSilo uIG lueu tuppeu, II
few drops of its blood injected under the
skin of healthy hogs has the same effect
as Il preventive of cholera that vaccina-
tion has i'll smallpox. There was scarcely
n failure in several hundred cases, al
though the animals were exposed to the
disease in every possible manner. The
same treatment was equally successful
i'll curing the disease when taken in 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 n wear. and.
If 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 nov killed for their hides may be
used to ave 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 w 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 S9o.00O,OO0 to $1OO,OOO,OOO In the
State of low alone, where statistics of
the mortality of the animals afflicted with
this disease have been accurately kept.
the nua loss is $15. 600. lie be-
heves that nearly all this can be pre-
vented.
In 1892 there were ~. S,O19 swine in
the United States, valued at 2295 1885,
~. That was high-watcr mark. Since
then their number and value have been
materially decreased by the cholera, and
the figures for 1897 were 40, GOO.27G hogs.
valued at $16G,272,77O. These hogs are
worth an average of $5.S4 each. Iowa
is the largest hog State in the country,
the census of 1897 showing 3,737.O7O ami
mails, valued at $21, 33O Missouri
comes next, thcn Texas, Ohio, Illinois,
Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, Missis-
sippi and other of the Southern States.
There was n decrease of 81 per cent in
the number and 100 in the value of hogs
in the United States last year.