136 AGRICUI^TURE OF MAINE. 



disease. Eighteen months after the commissioners were noti- 

 fied to come and see this cow as she had become a wreck. The 

 owner wished to have the herd tested and 24 cows out of 26 

 reacted, and later, 13 young cattle were tested and 12 reacted. 



This bad cow destroyed 36 head of cattle inside of two years. 

 The other herd was tested two years running and was sound. 

 About 8 months ago a fresh cow was added to the herd. It was 

 tested a short time ago and the whole herd, including 8 cows, 

 re-acted and were condemned. This shows the degree of infec- 

 tion caused by putting diseased animals into sound herds and if 

 one knows that his herd is sound he should never add an animal 

 until after it had been tested and proved to be sound. 



There has been a demand made upon the dairymen by the 

 boards of health of several cities in the State, that all milk and 

 cream sold in said cities should come from tuberculin tested 

 cows and there is no question but that other cities will follow 

 suit. The city of Portland has had this work done for the last 

 three years and must be conceded to be the pioneer city of the 

 State in this line of work. The first year, within a radius of 

 10 to 15 miles of Portland, 16 1-2 per cent of the cows were 

 found' diseased. Back further in the country towns very much 

 less disease was found and out of six thousand cows tested the 

 average was 6%. The present year the same work has been 

 carried on with the result that about 2% were found diseased. 

 This result should be very gratifying to the consumer of milk 

 in the city of Portland. 



On the other hand, three years ago the retail price of milk 

 was 6 and 7 cents per quart ; now it is 8 and 9 cents per quart. 

 The producers have made a persistent fight with the dealers to 

 get their share of the rise and I am glad to report that they 

 won out. 



At the March meeting of the State Board of Health there 

 was held a conference on the subject of "Bovine Tuberculosis, 

 from the public health point of view," between the State Board 

 and various persons representing the Department of xA.gricul- 

 ture, Creamerymen's Association, Dairymen's Association, Cat- 

 tle Commission, Veterinary ^Medical Association and others. 

 At the close of the conference it was voted that a committee be 

 appointed to consider the advisability of any new legislation 



