r. Cattle-doctors in a majority of cases, fail to
cure it. I have, however, by a simple course of treatment, effected
many signal cures. Some parties are so confident of the contagious
character of the disease that they refuse to drive cattle along a road
where it is known to exist. They even, oftentimes, wash their boots
previous to entering their barnyards, after walking over the ground
where such diseased cattle have been running.

"Caution is both proper and commendable. I do not, however, regard it as
a contagious disease, nor can it be transmitted by inoculation. The calf
is carried during the progress of the disease, and delivered in
apparently good health. The milk of the cow appears to be unaffected and
harmless. I call this disease _sphacial fever_, or _gangrenous fever_.

[Illustration: THE MAD BULL.]

"The ergot, or spur of the hay, is confined to the June grass, as far as
my observation extends; owing, probably, to its early maturity. Most
other kinds of grass are cut before the seeds have matured sufficiently
to produce the spur. I was suspicious of the foulness of the feed before
I examined any hay, and have found the spur in the hay wherever the
disease is found.

"Mr. Sanford, of Edinburgh, Ohio, purchased one half of a mow of hay
from Mr. Bassett, of Randolph, which was removed to his farm in
Randolph, eight miles distant. Of this hay, Mr. Sanford fed eleven cows
some six or eight weeks. Mr. Bassett had been feeding the same to four
cows. At about the same time, both heads began to show lameness. I
visited Mr. S. after he had lost six cows, and examined the remaining
five, four of which were lame and the other showed symptoms of the
disease. He had two other cows, one of which was loaned to a neighbor,
and the other was fed upon different hay, for convenience. The loaned
cow was returned about the first of March,--the two then running with
the ailing ones until the 24th of April, when I saw them sound and in
good health.

"I then visited Mr. Bassett's stock, which I found infected with the
same disease,--he having lost one, and the remaining three being lame,
and much debilitated. The hoofs were sloughing off. Some of the same hay
remained in the snow, which, upon examination, exhibited an abundance of
the spur. Upon inquiry, I found that no such disease existed between the
two farms, or in the neighborhood of either Mr. S. or Mr. B. The
peculiarity of this circumstance at once swept away the last