The Newtown bee., 1901-04-19

Judgment. AS soon as this discharge
becomes thoroughly dried, the action
of the caretaker in cleaning the man.
ger or sweeping the floor or current of
air caused by an open door or window
or by moving of hay in the process of
feeding may liberate the germs and
put them in circulation about the sta
BILE, when they may easily and quickly
find their way into the lungs of other
cattle or of the man who feeds them.
The consumer of milk who stops
drinking his favor te beverage lest he
contract tuberculosis should bear in
mind that the owner or herdsman in
feeding or caring for his herd is very
many times more likely to inhale the
tubercle bacilli through his respira-
tory organs into that part of his sys-
tenn which is most susceptible, and
favorable fortheir future development
and that his own protection and self
interest will or should ever keep him
alert and watchful to detect the first
symptoms of the dread disease and
prompt him to employ a competent
veterinarian to carefully examine his
herd or to report the case to this de-
partment..
Litchtield and Holland are distinc-
lively agricultural counties and dairy
ing is their leading industry. In these
counties there is much larger per-
centage of COWS in proportion to pop
ulation than in the rest of the state.
Milk and all it's products are freely
used in every farmers family. The
herdsmen are closely associated With
their COWS in milking and caring for
them. From the report of the State
Board of Health of Connecticut for
1889, page 10, are CLEANED the follow
ing facts for the five years from 1894
to 1898 inclusive: Average number of
deaths from consumption in Litch-
field and Holland counties for five years
in 10000 population, III, in the rest
of the state during the same period
1863; percentage of deaths from con-
sumption to total mortality during
said period in Litchfeld and Tolland
counties IS, in the rest of the state
81. From these data it can seemingly
with propriety be inferred that, drink
ing milk and caring for cattle are both
fairly healthful and safe occupations
when compared with that of riding in
electric or steam cars or even walking
on the city sidewalks. 1t should also
be borne in mind that the germs IN
in circulation in those places are from
fellowman aud consequently much
more dangerous to the person who in
hales them.
There are no data by which we can
determine if bovine tuberculosis is on
the increase or the decrease in this
state at the present time. However,
if we take period back about IS years
when the farmers OF the state were
generally engaged in buying young
STOCK mostly steers, from the West,
and after keeping and feeding them a
year or possibly two years selling them
to the butcher and marketman, and
compare it with the present time when
dairying is the leading industry of the
farmers of the state. the result would
undoubtedly
SHOW A CONSIDERABLE INCREASE IN
THE PREVALENCE OF THE DISEASE.
There are several reasons why this is
SO, among which are the following:
First. AS rule COWS have a more
nervous temperament than steers and
their vital energies are subjected to a
greater strain in reproduction and in
the yielding of milk and they are con-
sequently more susceptible to the dis
ease than are the males.
Second. The average COW at the
present time is kept to a greater age
than were the steers that were slaugh-
tered when two, three, or four years
old. This gives the disease, if present
in the animals system, more time to
develop into the later and advanced
stages when it assumes the contagious
form and endangers the health of it's
stable mates.
Third. Farmers are more frequent
ly trading and exchanging COWS with
each other than formerly, and the dis
ease is thus carried from one herd to