QUARTER EVIT.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 11586, 29 July 1899, Page 2

QUARTER EVIT.

The Council of the Hoyal Agricultural Society of: England La? issued a lesfUr, which is in the following terms :— Tho following important facts are colhted from the articles on " QuarterEvil,' by Professor M'Fadyean, appearing in the Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society (vol. ix , part 4, '1898), to which farmers are recommended to refer fot further information on the subject :— This disease, which is known also by Buch names as black-leg, bkcl quarter, strike, puck, etc, is caused by a germ which grows in the tissues of tho part affected usually the muscular tissuj of one of the fore or hind limbs. The disease ia not infectious or contagious in the ordinary sense of those words ; but when an animal has died from it, it h advisable to take certain precautions wiih legard to th 9 disposal of the carcass. The carcasa ought not to bs skinned or opeped, and, i£ possible, it oujjh!; to ba buried deeply in some place to which cattle and sheep will not afterwards have acce;B. If thsanioial has died in a build' ing, all dung and li.ter ought to ba removed to a plane where it can ba burnt. A strong solution of carbolic acid in boil* ing water (one part of the acid to twenty" parts of water) should than be applied td tha fbor and lower part of the walls and woodwork Qjartcr evil is quite distinct from anthrax, and, unlike the latter, it ia not communicable to human b.eiogs. Anthrax may attack either cattle, sheep, horse?, p'gs, or dogs, but quarter-evil id confined to cattle and sbeep. Sh?ep of anytage may die from quarter on', but ihe dise.l39 is v«ry rare io cattle) over three years of ago, aad i% com* monest in calves and yearlings Anthrax attacks animals of any age. Anthrax in cattle and sheep is very rarely attended with the development of a spoiling about any part of tb9 Y.mbi or bo3y, and in those very exceptional instances in which such a tarnour is present it nevor orack'ea on pressure, and, if it ia cut into in the fre^h state, the liquid that fljwa from JC ia almost clear and stnw-colouwd. On tho othor hand, the development of a crackling tumour in some part of the body or limbi ia a'most constant ia quirter-c il. This, however, aLvaya con • laiin mo.-o or less gas biiforo death oocur*, and, if it is cv-, in o after death, it id found to hi dark in colour, while tha liquid thit trickles from it is nlwajs deeply llood-'.iaged. But, as stated above, tho oarcase ought not to bo akinned or opeuad.