Rensselaer Union, Volume 3, Number 15, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 January 1871 — The New Cattle Disease in New York. [ARTICLE]

The New Cattle Disease in New York.

Ouk readers will remember that the Commercial called attention not long ago to the breaking oat of a new disease among the cattle of Dutchess county and that vicinity. This disease has assumed such a formidable shape that the Secretary of the State Agricultural S ciety has felt himself called upon to put the fanners, who reside along the line of the cattle traffic, on their The new scourge which is making such sad havoc with cattle, is known as the “ foot and mouth” disease. Its ravages are more extensive and fatal in Great Britain than in this country. It is in the highest degree contagious, and can be very easily spread throughout a sound herd of cattle. The contagion may be conveyed bv those who have had charge of the diseased ani-. mats, as well as from the manure and litter which is thrown from cars or pens in which any of the afflicted beasts may have beep confined. During the prevalence of this disease the milk of cows exposed to its influence should not be given to other animals, or be used as human food. Professor Low, of Cornell Univereity, has made the new disease the subject of examination and study. He has prepared a brief statement of its symptoms, and we herewith publish them for the benefit of this community and neighborhood: “ 1. Prom one to two days dullness, loss of appetite (and of milk,'in cows), hot, dry month, with a tendency to grind the teeth and to slaver, heat and tenderness of the udder and teats and of the feet, with frequent shaking of the feet, as if to get rid of same irritating matter. “2. On the second day, abundant frothing at the mouth, loud smacking of the lips and tongue, lameness, and the formation of blisters of various sizes, up to an inch across, on the mouth, udder and teats and between the hoofs. “3. In one or two days more these blisters burst, leaving raw sores and shreds of loose skin inside the uprer lip, on the roof of the mouth and the tongue, on the teats and between the hoofs. These discharge an irritating fluid for some time, then scab over and hea) up, in favorable cases, in from ten to fifleen days. -■lt should be added, that the milk should be drawn by tubes or syphons in case the udder or teats become so sore that the cow cannot be milked as usual, and that the sick beasts should be well jaursed and nourished with soft mashes pad gruels. Cooling but not purgative medicines should be gives, and the sores washed with some mild carbolic add prep-

•ration, or with a weak solution of sulphate of zinc (white vitriol)." Up to the present time this alarming epidemic has left traces of Its work In both Canada East and Canada West. In thia State Its worst ravages have been confined to Oneida and Duchess counties; from the list vicinity 115 cases have been reported. —Buffalo Commercial Adrertiter, Dec. 15.