Smyser, both managers of the York County Agricultural Society. I thrashed it in the barn of Mr. Herman Hoke, cleaned it in his presence, he also being a manager of the above society. I then brought John Evans, Esq., (now deceased,) president, and George A. Heckert, Esq., treasurer of said society, and measured the grain in the presence of the last named gentlemen.

In the fall of 1875 I sowed six acres in the same way, except that I made the scores twelve inches wide, and left the spaces for cultivation ten inches wide, thereby utilizing more ground for the seed than heretofore.

The illustration is from a photograph taken from a field of wheat sown in 1875, that yielded fifty-one bushels and seven pounds to the acre in 1876, the field having had but one cultivation in the spring.

In the fall of 1876 I sowed the same six acres with wheat again, cultivated some of it once and part of it twice, the yield from the six acres was three hundred and fifteen and one third bushels, over fifty two and a half bushels to the acre.

In the fall of 1877 I put my wheat out on the same plan. I sowed twentyone varieties, most of which proved worthless, but from the "German, or Champion Amber" variety, I threshed fifty-seven bushels and six pounds from the acre this season.

I am well satisfied that the advantages gained by sowing and cultivating wheat on this mode, are: 1. More space occupied by the seed, giving the plant a better chance to take root, each grain occupying a separate space, and not confined in the V shaped furrow, as with the drill, all the seed being scattered on a level bottom, giving each stalk an equal chance, so that there are no short stalks and no small heads.

2. Cultivation breaks the hard crust caused by the snow and rain during the winter months, thereby opening the mouths and lungs of the earth to the natural influences of air, warmth, and moisture, when the young plant seems to need such influences, the growing of the wheat in larger masses, so that it is more difficult for the frost to uproot, and the better settling of the wheat if lifted by the frost.

3. The space left between the wheat for cultivation, leaves an opening for air and sun-light.

4. It seems to protect itself better than when sowed with the drill, as I have not had any wheat winter-killed since I have sowed my wheat on this plan, when, a few years ago, some of my neighbors' wheat was nearly all frozen out or winter-killed.

I always make the scores north and south, if the nature of the land permits, thereby having the rays of the sun equally upon each row of wheat. The extra cost of sowing and cultivating wheat on this mode is not over two dollars per acre more than with the drill.

I have now given you, as near as I can, the mode of sowing, and the results of my experiments in wheat culture since 1872. My yield in the last six years has not been less than forty-eight bushels to the acre when sowed on the foregoing plan and cultivated. These experiments have fully convinced me that the method I have devised is more certain of insuring a large yield than any other I have seen or read of, for the reason that I utilize fifty-four per cent. of the soil for the wheat to stand upon.

REPORT OF C. B. MICHENER, VETERINARY SURGEON OF THE BOARD, ON HOG CHOLERA IN BEDFORD COUNTY.

THOMAS J. EDGE, Secretary Pennsylvania Board of Agriculture:

By your direction I visited Bedford county, Pa., on 28th October, 1878, for the purpose of investigating "hog cholera," and suggesting such means of prevention or cure as I might be led to think advisable. From what I can learn, "hog cholera" has existed in this neighborhood for twelve to fifteen years; that it mostly makes its appearance at or about harvest, and increases until cold weather. Dry summers favor its propagation, as the poison becomes dried, and can then be carried further by favorable winds and other media. "Hog cholera " is known during all seasons of the year, but principally during the fall. The whole history of this malady, plainly and positively indicates it to be an infectious disease, having a specific poision, which can be, likewise, transmitted by inoculation. Pigs from three to six months old are the principal ones affected by this outbreak. The first lot of infected pigs visited were those of Edward Van Hartley, four miles from Bedford, in Snake Spring township. This gentleman has lost about twenty pigs, since harvest, from "cholera." Four are sick at present. He has them removed from his healthy pigs, and placed in a temporary pen, three to four hundred yards from his other hogs.

The symptoms presented are: emaciation, shivering, loss of appetite, a persistence of laying on the belly, and a desire to hide or cover themselves in the leaves. The skin shows a dark yellow color, but not mottled, and covered with purple petechiæ, as is usual. On being roused up, by placing my hand on them, they evince pain, and squeal violently. Their movements are unsteady, stiff, and decidedly weak in hind extremities. From two there is a muco-purulent discharge from eyes and nose. In all these cases, on being driven up, a hard, persistent coughing is induced. Breathing is accelerated and laborious. One, which has a diarrhoea, suffers palpitation of the heart, and has a temperature of one hundred and three degrees, Fahrenheit. The owner kindly consented to have one of these pigs killed. The temperature, as shown in the rectum of this pig, was one hundred and five and one fifth degrees Fahrenheit.

POST MORTEM, No. 1.-Boar pig, four months old, of medium size, and very thin in flesh. Been sick five days. Was killed by knocking in head

with an ax.

Examined immediately after death. The abdomen presented, externally, a general and diffuse dark redness, but no petechial spots. The eyes were swollen and emitted a muco-purulent discharge. The trachae and bronchi were partially filled with a frothy mucus. Anterior lobe of the right lung is hepatized. The blood is thin, black, and partly disorganized. Heart is healthy. From two to three ounces of dropsical effusion escaped on opening the abdomen. The stomach and bowels were of a slight red externally, while internally the stomach was healthy; and the bowels only revealing red spots or lines, and were filled with hardened fæces to which patches of the mucous membrane adhered. The bladder was partially filled with healthy urine. The kidneys were healthy, as was, also, the liver, spleen, and pancreas. The bile was of a normal appearance.

POST MORTEM, No. 2-PROPERTY OF JOHN G. VAN HARTLEY, ADJOINING LANDS WITH EDWARD VAN HARTLEY.-Case: sow; three years old, large,* in good condition when taken sick, on Thursday, October 24. Died on Monday, October 28, very much emaciated. Was unable to get up after first day; refused all food or drink; body is not at all tympanitic; rigor mortis, well marked. On the abdomen, axilla, thigh, and underneath the jaws, purple spots are seen. Some of these have passed through the stages of vesication and pustulation, and are covered with hard, dry scabs. A thin glairy discharge escapes from eyes and nose. About four ounces of aqueous fluid contained in abdominal cavity. The stomach presented only a very slight redness toward its pyloric orifice, and was filled with food. The small intestines, from the stomach to the termination at the ileo-caecal valve, were denuded of their mucous lining, and contained a fluid of the consistency of bile, and yellow in color. In the large bowels there were bands of purple infiltrations and some small ulcerations. The contents of the large bowels was dark and hard. The lungs were healthy; the windpipe free from any mucous secretion. The blood was black and partly coagulated; the heart, pleura, pericardium, and peritoneum were spotted with numerous petechial points. The bladder, kidneys, spleen, liver, and pancreas all healthy.

POST MORTEM, No. 3-OWNED BY JOHN VAN HARTLEY.-Case: barrow; eight months old; small for its age, but fat. Skin shows lesions, same as No. 2. Not tympanitic; rigor mortis complete. Bowels have been very loose. Had been dead two days, and was very fœtid. The lungs were very much diseased, showing hepatization and abscesses. The bowels same as preceeding, with the exception of the contents of large bowels being liquid, and the mucous lining more generally effaced. Other organs of the body are healthy.

POST MORTEM No. 4. OWNER, JOHN G. VAN HARTLEY.-Case: sow pig; eight months old; large for age; and was in good condition. Is slightly tympanitic; rigor mortis set in; no discharge from mouth, eyes, nose, or anus; surface of skin not discolored; the bowels are filled with hard black fæces, which are coated with pieces of mucous membrane; the lungs are infiltrated with fibrinous deposits, and the bronchii contain bloody froth. The heart and liver reveal traces of fatty degeneration. Blood is clotted and black. Other organs of the body do not appear diseased.

This gentleman has a barrow two and one half years old, that is sick. Has been with other hogs until this morning, when he was put out of the pen into the yard immediately joining. The symptoms are the same as those noted in cases of Edward Van Hartley. Diarrhoea exists. Temperature, one hundred and two and one fifth degree Fahrenheit. A barking cough is followed by palpitation ofthe heart, which subsides some minutes after the animal lies down. Died the following morning.

POST MORTEM, No. 5-PROPERTY OF SOLOMON F. DIEHL.- Case: Sow three years old; large, and thin in flesh. Was in good order when taken sick. Was suckling pigs, which were taken from her one or two days previous to her death. The body was tympanitic and stiffened. Skin on abdomen, legs, throat, and ears of a purple color. In some places the petechial spots were black, and had become confluent, with a tendency to slough. End of vulva was scarlet, with purple petechia on lips of same. Eyes are sunken, emitting a sanious fluid. Conjunctiva contains peticula; bloody discharge from nose and anus. Bowels very loose; purple or darker petechiæ on external coat of stomach and bowels; also on heart, pericardium and peritoneum. The mucous lining of bowels entirely destroyed from

the stomach to rectum. Intestinal contents, thin, darker than usual, and very offensive. Liver very dark and friable. Spleen very much congested, and black in color. Pancreas, healthy, as were the lungs, heart, kidneys, and bladder.

POST MORTEM, No. 6-PROPERTY OF ADAM SHAFFER.-Case: Sow pig; three months old, small for age. In good condition. Been dead six to eight hours. Is stiff, and somewhat bloated. Skin is dark red in lines and patches. Eyes and nose emitting a muco; purulent discharge. Lungs slightly congested and infiltrated. The lungs, heart, and stomach are all attached to the diaphragm, and the peritoneum to the abdominal walls, by fibrinous adhesions. The abdominal and thoracic cavities contain some serous exudations. The fæcal matter is very thin, of a dark yellow color, and not very offensive. Stomach, in pyloric portion, is extensively ulcerated. Ulcerations and extravasated patches of blood, to be seen from stomach to colon. The kidneys, pancreas, and liver are healthy. The spleen is congested, and its pulp is easily broken down. The coats of the bladder are from five to six times their natural thickness. The mucous lining is reddened, and the contained urine is tinged with blood. The brain and the enveloping membranes are healthy. There are about twelve pigs of the same age affected on this farm. We were able to catch but one, as they were running out, and its temperature was one hundred and three and three fifths degrees Fahrenheit. We next visited the farm of Joseph Mortimore, who has had four cases in full grown hogs. Three of these are recovering without any treatment, while the other is almost dead. This hog was steadily improving, but has had a relapse from some cause. I strongly suspected that the ulcerations had involved the serous coat of the bowels to that extent as to cause perforation. The temperature was one hundred and seven and one fifth degrees Fahrenheit, and a speedy death was prognosticated. Did not have the opportunity, however, to return to hold a post mortem, which would have been, owing to the complications, of unusual interest.

POST MORTEM, No. 7.-Boar pig; age, six weeks; size, medium and thin in flesh; been dead twelve hours; not tympanitic; rigor mortis well marked; surface of body showing separate and confluent petechiae; eyes, nose, and anus discharging a sanious fluid; diarrhoea has existed; the muscular tissue is, throughout, soft and flabby, and contains reddened spots; the lungs are healthy; the heart is flabby and empty, and shows slight fatty degeneration; endocardium and pericardium are marked with red and purple spots; diaphragm studded with vascular points and lines; liver almost healthy in aspect; gall of normal color, consistence, and quantity; spleen is congested; pancreas healthy; external surface of stomach and bowels dotted, and purple in lines and bands; in places for one foot to eighteen inches, the entire bowel is purple. Like the preceding, in this, there is almost complete loss of mucous lining of the bowels. The large Peyerian patch is ulcerated during its entire length; the pyloric portion of the stomach is ulcerated and studded with tubercles; the contents of the bowels was very thin, of a pale yellow color, and quite of fensive; the large bowels showed tubercular deposits; the kidneys are darker than usual; bladder is healthy, but the urine is slightly bloody.

From these post mortem lesions, and from the history of the disease, we infer that we have to deal with a blood disease, which owes its origin to an atmospheric poison, and which poison shows its local effects, in intensity and constancy upon-first, the bowels, and second, the lungs. I had thought of applying the name of infectious pneumo-gastro-enteritis, as a