REPORT OP THE SECRETARY OP AGRICULTURE. 11 



breeders. The elimination of the tick is of great importance to all 

 sections of the country and consequently is a matter of national 

 concern. 



Hog cholera. — While the eradication of hog cholera must be the 

 work of many years and the department is not ready to suggest any 

 one plan which gives reasonable promise of ultimate success, there 

 is no question that the use of properly prepared serum already has 

 had a pronounced effect. Great numbers of hogs have been saved. 

 The systematic eradication work conducted in certain counties in 16 

 States shows that 178 hogs in a thousand died from cholera in 1912, 

 168 in 1913, and only 49 in 1914. Only 62,690 died in these counties 

 in 1914, as compared with approximately 200,000 in each of the two 

 years preceding. 



Public grazing lands. — An important factor in connection with the 

 country's meat supply is the public grazing domain. The lands 

 outside of the National Forests, of which there are about 280,000,000 

 acres, are not supporting the number of meat-producing animals they 

 should. In the absence of any control by the Government these 

 lands have been overgrazed. That they can be restored to their 

 former usefulness is proved by what has been accomplished on 

 the National Forests and in Texas. On the Forests under regulated 

 grazing the number of stock has been increased 50 per cent. Prac- 

 tically the same increase has been secured in Texas under its leasing 

 system. There should be a classification of the remaining lands 

 at the earliest possible date to determine their character and to secure 

 information upon which to base plans for their future improve- 

 ment and use and for the distribution among settlers of those portions 

 upon which it is possible to establish homes. 



FOOT-AND-MOUTH DISEASE. 



An outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in the fall of 1914 pre- 

 sented a serious menace to the live-stock industry of the United 

 States. First appearing in the vicinity of Niles, Mich., the malady 

 spread to 22 States and the District of Columbia. "Work of eradica- 

 tion was undertaken by the department in cooperation with the au- 

 thorities of these States. 



Foot-and-mouth disease, or aphthous fever, is highly infectious. 

 It is confined chiefly to cloven-footed animals and is characterized 

 by an eruption on the mucous membrane of the mouth and on the 



