In April, General Sterling found it necessary to move his headquar ters to Jersey City, in order to meet the requirements of moving cattle to and from the State of New York, from whence the New Jersey dairymen largely draw their supplics of fresh milch cows.

Dr. Holcombe was appointed as surgeon-in-chief, and Dr. Corlies desig nated as inspector of the abattoir at Jersey City. Four other veterinarians were appointed, and on the 1st of April were commenced regular inspections of the herds in Bergen and Hudson Counties. These counties were quarantined, in order that proper restrictions might be placed upon the movements of cattle in the absence of proper permits. All the ferries and boats on the eastern border engaged in carrying stock into New Jersey were prohibited from landing cattle, unless accompanied with a permit issued by General M. R. Patrick, of the New York State Commission, who had issued similar orders relative to the landing of stock in New York. Thus the carrying trade between the two States at this important point was effectually controlled.

From reports received from the western and south western portions of the State, General Sterling was convinced that the disease was being imported from Pennsylvania. Therefore, on the second day of August he appointed Mr. J. W. Allen an inspector, gave him written instructions, and dispatched him to Camden for the purpose of consummating arrangements with the different ferries plying between Philadelphia and the different ports of entry lying between Salem and Phillipsburg, for the transportation of cattle from Pennsylvania, and the inspection of the same on their arrival in the State. His efforts were successful, and the ferry companies caused to be erected on the New Jersey sidé a sufficient number of sheds and pens to hold all cattle crossing from Pennsylvania until after a thorough inspection had been made. The officers of the Pennsylvania, New Jersey Central, and other railroads cordially co-operated with the State authorities, and soon all the principal avenues for the ingress of the disease were effectually closed. General Sterling closes his brief report as follows:

When we consider the number of cattle in this State, and estimate their value, the importance of this subject will be apparent. The number of cattle in the State on January 1, 1879, was 236,700, valued at $7,828,922. With a knowledge of the past history of the disease in this and other countries, and the difficulty of eradicating its as well as legislative enactments and precautionary measures hitherto adopted for it, prevention elsewhere, a grave responsibility will attach to those in power if the disease be allowed to obtain a foothold, destroying our best stock, checking one of the great interests of the State, and entailing losses appalling to contemplate.

The following is a brief summary of the results accomplished during the year: The number of cattle found sick with the disease was 572. There were inspected 2,663 herds, containing 40,309 head of cattle.

Many cattle showing symptoms of disease were placed in quarantine and held until the incubative period had passed, being carefully watched during the mean time. When no other symptom than bronchial trouble was manifested the order of quarantine was removed.

The number of cattle found necessary to destroy in order to prevent the spread of the disease was 315, at an average cost to the State of $11.85 per head. There are now in quarantine 99 herds, containing e65 head of cattle, of which number 257 head have been condemned as suffering with contagious pleuro-pneumonia. The total expenses of the commission will aggregate about $19,000.

CONTAGIOUS PLEURO-PNEUMONIA-EXTENT OF ITS PREVALENCE.

REPORT OF DR. CHARLES P. LYMAN.

Hon. WILLIAM G. LEDUC,

Commissioner of Agriculture:

SIR: In compliance with the instructions contained in your letter of appointment, dated January 29, 1880, 1 left Washington on the 29th day of January last, for New York City, where I proposed to commence an investigation for the purpose, if possible, of determining the character and extent of the prevalence of the disease known as contagious pleuropneumonia or lung plague of cattle. On my arrival in New York I visited Dr. Liautard, from whom I learned that the disease still prevailed to some extent in Eastern New York and on Long Island, and that there was a reported outbreak at Haverhill, N. H. The New Hamp shire State commissioner had pronounced this outbreak as of a sporadic character, yet the circumstances attending it were of a suspicious nature, at least sufficiently so as to throw doubt on the decision arrived at by the State commission, and I regarded a further investigation necessary in order to positively determine the matter. While in New York I gained some valuable information in regard to the disease in the adjoining State of New Jersey, which I propose to make use of on my return to that State.

I arrived in Boston on the 3d day of February, where I met Dr. Thayer, a member of the Massachusetts commission for the suppression of contagious diseases of cattle. He had made some investigations of the New Hampshire outbreak, and gave it as his opinion that the disease prevailing there was not contagious. However, he did not regard his postmortem examinations as satisfactory, as he was in no case furnished with whole lungs. I also saw Dr. Billings here, who informed me that he had examined portions of diseased lungs of some of the affected cattle at Haverhill, N. H., and from the appearances he did not regard the disease as that of contagious pleuro-pneumonia. He did not regard his examination as satisfactory, however.

I left Boston on the 5th day of February for Concord, N. H., for the purpose of seeing Dr. A. H. Crosby, chairman of the State commission. He regarded the Haverhill outbreak as of a suspicious character, and advised me to visit that place at once and thoroughly examine the affected herd. He gave me an order for the slaughter of such animals as I might deem necessary for examination, and also a letter to the chairman of the board of selectmen for the town.

I arrived in Haverhill on the morning of the 6th, and in company with Mr. Parker at once proceeded to the farm of Mr. Merrill, the owner of the suspected herd. I found the animals suffering in various degrees from respiratory troubles. As the herd was supposed to have been infected by a drove of cattle from Canada, I asked Mr. M. when this drove stopped with him. He answered

On the 11th day of September; the first case of sickness occurred about October 2 the animal died on the 2d of November, having been sick only about one week.

Which was the second animal attacked, and when?

The light-colored or Fisher cow. She was taken somewhero between the 7th and 14th days of November. The calves first showed symptoms of sickness about the 14th of November. They were taken sick one by one with an interval of about seven days between each, except in one instance, when two were attacked at the same time.

Mr. Merrill described the symptoms as follows:

Coughing is the first symptom. The nose is dry, and the animal stands with its back arched and elbows turned out. If forced to move briskly about it will cough and pant. The disease seems more severe during a thaw than when the weather is colder. There is some running from the eyes. The appetite is invariably good up to about twenty-four hours before death. From six to twenty-four hours before death occurs, the animal is not able to stand. As death approaches, the animal groans quite loudly, the breathing becomes accelerated, and the cough seems to come from a more or less solid body. In coughing, a calf will extend its nose on a level with its neck. This symptom has not been observed to so great an extent among the cows.

How many cows, calves, and yearlings did you have in the fall? How many of each have been sick, and how many have died?

In the fall I tied up the following named animals:

How have these animals been housed, and how have they been fed?

The cows and yearlings were tied up on the same side of the barn in a long row, but the yearlings were kept at the further end of the building by themselves. The calves have all been kept together in a separate pen 18 x 12 x 7 feet. During the day they were all turned out into the barn-yard. The cows have been fed on roots and hay, the yearlings on hay alone, and the calves on hay and roots.

Mr. Merrill continued:

The cows from this strange herd were put into the barn-yard, and the calves into a little pasture adjoining. About a week after this herd left, my own calves broke into this pasture. That would make the date about the 18th of September. October 20th I brought home a drove of calves myself from the north, and the first calves taken sick were some of these driven calves.

This being the statement, I regarded a post-mortem examination necessary in order to settle the question as to whether this outbreak was occasioned by contagions pleuro-pneumonia. For this purpose I thought it best to take the "Fisher," or light-colored cow, as she was the first attacked and had been the sickest animal of the lot. She was, therefore, slaughtered. I found the lungs in a perfectly healthy condition. The pleura of the ribs still showed plain traces of previous inflammation, but she had so far regained her health as to commence to again lay on healthy fat. This cow never had contagious pleuro-pneumonia.

I found a calf quite sick, evidently in an almost dying condition. This was next killed, and an examination revealed the fact that it had been suffering from a clear and unmistakable attack of bronchitis. This I demonstrated to the satisfaction of the medical representative of the New Hampshire commission, Dr. Watson. There had been preserved a pair of lungs taken from a calf which had died a few days previously. These showed the lesions of sporadic pneumonia, with some bronchitis. All the specimens were sent to New York for the inspection of the profession.

CAUSE OF THE OUTBREAK.

Iu looking about for the cause of this outbreak, the buildings and the lay of the land in the immediate vicinity of the premises were thoroughly The homestead is a meadow farm, lies well, and is inclosed by small hills, with a brook running a crooked course near to the buildings-a place that, in the fall of the year, would retain the fogs rising from the water for a considerable length of time. Further investigation proved this theory correct.

The calves, when removed from the meadow, where one or two of them had taken cold, were, about the 10th of November, put into a close shed 18 feet long, 12 feet wide, and 7 feet high. Here they were tied up in two rows, and were so close together that they completely packed the pen. This huddled condition, to my mind, furnished ample cause for the outbreak, for I do not think that a pen of such dimensions, with so many animals confined in it, could be sufficiently ventilated to preserve health in the absence of mechanical means. I advised the erection of another pen and a division of the herd.

I found that the cows had caught cold from being constantly subjected to a draft of cold air, so applied as to keep their bodies constantly bathed in a cold current. The arrangement of the barn is given in the following diagram:

The yearlings were turned in through door No. 1, and divided from the cows by a partition. This door was then closed, and they were left to themselves. The cows were turned in at door No. 2, which, together with the large barn-door, was open a considerable portion of the time. Door No. 3 was seldom used. Between the cows and the barn-floor was a board partition, with the board at the bottom fixed to lift up, thus leav ing an open space fifteen inches wide directly in front of the cows and down at the floor. Except in very cold weather, this novel ventilating device was left open all the time. The air rushed in through the wide open door and the opening in front of the cows, passing over and bathing their bodies, and especially the under part of their breasts, chests, and abdomens, on its way out at door No. 2, which, by the way, is a little larger than any of the doors on this side. This cause I regarded as sufficient to give the toughest animal a cold.

In order to prove this theory correct, it is only necessary to state the following facts: Cow a in the diagram, a small and nearly black one, stood in the corner against the partition, just out of the line of draught, and has never even coughed. Cow b was the first animal taken sick, and the only one that died. Cow e was sick, but not so bad as either cows b or e. Being next the partition, even if on the cold side of it, may ac

BARN DOORS

count for this in a measure. Cow d had been but very little troubled. She coughed slightly, but nothing more; the partition may have protected her. Cow e, the light-colored or Fisher cow, was the second one taken sick, and was inore seriously affected than any of the others except the one that died. Of the four animals which were called sick, although the whole herd except cow a were more or less affected with coughs, cow f came third. The yearlings were turned in and tied up without any regard to regularity or place. Several of them coughed. Three of them were sick, i. e., the respiration was considerably accelerated, but none of them died. It was advised to close up the feeding space next the floor and put it up in the partition 34 or 4 feet from the floor, so that the draught through would be over the heads of the cattle. It may be objected that this cause has been in operation for years, and no such trouble has before occurred. The only answer to this objection is that the past season has been remarkable for its sudden changes. I am told that it has not been uncommon here for the thermometer to vary from 30° to 40° in the course of twenty-four hours. These sudden changes are as liable to affect cattle as human beings, and where exposed as these were, without artificial covering, they could hardly be expected to remain exempt from serious colds. Another thing should be remembered: the past winter has been so mild that attendants no doubt became more careless than usual, and often neglected to close the doors and feeding-troughs.

CONNECTICUT.

In the course of my investigations in Connecticut the following facts were gleaned:

Statement of Hon. E. H. Hyde, chairman of commission.

An outbreak of contagious pleuro-pneumonia had occurred at Greenwich, occasioned by exposure to a calf which had been brought from New York and placed in the herd of Mr. B. Livingstone Mead. This farm is located on the State line, a part being in the State of New York and a part in that of Connecticut. The buildings are in Connecticut. This herd consisted of 20 head. From 7 to 9 animals have died, the last one about the 18th of March, 1879. The remainder are unaccounted for. These animals were at one time examined by Professor Law.

The herd of Daniel M. Griffin, on an adjoining farin, contracted the disease from Mr. Mead's herd. He had 27 head, 8 of which died. With the exception of one animal, Mr. G. sold the remainder of his herd to dealers in New York for slaughter. The one he retained remains with his tenant, and will soon be slaughtered on the place.

Joseph B. Husted, of Greenwich, took some cattle to New York for slaughter, among them two cows. They were all landed at the infected Sixtieth street yard. The cows were not sold, and after some hesitation on the part of the New York commission they were allowed to be returned to Connecticut, the commissioners of the last-named State being notified of the fact. The State authorities at once ordered them quarantined, but before the letter reached Mr. Husted he bad sold them, and they are still untraced. They were taken away from Greenwich on or before July 11, 1879.

Mr. Curtis Judson, of Watertown, near Waterbury, keeper of the Gramercy Park Hotel, bought two cows from Hedge, a dealer in New York, and placed them in an excellent herd of his own at Watertown.