Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1898-01-27
HELP FOR THE HOG.
Secretary Wilson Believes a Cholera
Remedy Has Been Found.

0GCTel0Iy Wll8On DclhcKG6 II NnOlcIo
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-
Iation, for he thinks the discoveries that
have been developed are worth 800, 0,O0O,-
600 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 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-fve 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 COW is inoculated with the
germs day after day until no effect is ap-
parent. Its veins are then tapped, q
few drops of its blood injected under the
skin of healthy hogs has the same effect
as preventive Of cholera that vaccina-
tion has In smallpox. There was scarcely
A. failure in several hundred cases, al
though the animals were exposed to the
disease in every possible manner. The
same treatment was equally successful
in 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 year, and
IL ordinary economy is practiced, this will
reduce the cost of treatment to 10 or 15
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 or
tut ldTkt anu VIII u uttlt
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 car
reduce the cost and extend the usefulness
of the treatment.
Secretary Wilson estimates the annual
loss from hog cholera in the United States
from SOC, ,000,0 900 to $100,000,000. 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 $15,O0O,O0O. He be
lieves that nearly all this can be pre-
| vented.
| In 1892 there were 52,30S,019 swine In
the United States, valued at 1906, ,426,
492. That was high-water mark. Since
| then their number and value have beer
materially decreased by the cholera, and
the figures for 1897 were 4O,6OO,276 hogs
valued at $166,272,770. These hogs are
worth an average of 1854 each. lows
is the largest hog State in the country
the census of 1897 showing 3, 3,737 ,070 ami
mails, valued at $21 49,, $3.50. Missouri
comes next, then Texas, Ohio, Illinois
Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, Missis
sippi and other of the Southern States
There was n decrease of 81 per cent IL
the number and 100 in the value of hog!
in the United States last year.