Vol. XII. No. 299. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



3.31 



LIVE STOCK NOTES. 



TUBERCULOUS POULTRY THE CAUSE 

 OP TUBERCULOSIS IN PIGS 



The above intere-sting announcement is made in the 

 Month!)/ Bulletin of Agricultural Intelligence and Plant 

 IHsea^e^ (.July 1913'). 



Fowls fed upon, or inoculated with the substance of 

 tuberculou.s glands in pigs regularly developed tuberculosis, 

 but guinea pigs similarly treated remained immune Voung 

 pigs on being fed on the tlesh of tuberculous fowls took the 

 infection. It is thought that the disease was due to the 

 bacilli of avian tuberculo.si.s, and that by inoculating a living 

 pig with fowl tuberculin, it can be determined whether the 

 animal is suffering from the avian or mammalian form of the 

 disease. Ten per cent, of the cases of tuberculosis in Denmark, 

 in which country the experiments were made, are put down 

 to the agency of the bacilli of the avian type. 



PRODUCING WOOL IN THE TROPICS. 



If some use for wool — for instance in the making of 

 mattresses— could be devised locally, the efforts which are 

 being made in tropical Africa to produce this commodity 

 there in large quantities, should be of inunediate interest 

 and importance to West Indian stock owners 



According to the Monthlii Bulletin of Agricultural 

 Intelligence and Plant Diseases (August 1913), in French 

 West Africa the existence of vast pastoral districts 

 and an increasing demand in Europe for wool, have 

 led the Government to make organized efforts to produce a 

 breed of animals, from which tteeies of good commercial value 

 can be obtained. The practical possibilities of the scheme 

 are made very strong through the existence in the French 

 Sudan, of a race of woolled sheep, known as "Macina' which, 

 unlike the average sheep in the Tropics, produces wool in 

 large quantities. The Government has issued a decree for 

 the speciril improvement of this race, which are by no means 

 uniform in type; they are, in fact, a mixture of woolled and 

 non woolled sheep and constant crossing tends to further mix 

 the tieeces. 



The decree issued by the Government has had some 

 influence, but the most important line of action taken has been 

 the establishment of a sheep farm for which Merino rams from 

 Barbary have been imported. To show the extent to which 

 improvement has been effected, it may be notei that 

 the weight of a half bred fleece is 2,' lb, whilst the indige- 

 nous sheep give not much over 1 lb. The French Govern- 

 ment is turninj; its attention particularly to methods that 

 are being adopted in British East Africa in connexion 

 with wool production there, namely, the continual introduction 

 of Merino rams and ewes from Australia Owing, howevtr, 

 to differences in climatic and other conditions between 

 British East Africa and those of the Upper Senegal and the 

 Niger, it mnst be only after most careful enquiry that the 

 acclimatization of fine-wolled Merinos should be attempted. 



In regard to the quality of the wool of the '.Macina' sheep, 

 it may be added that this was so poor that it could not be 

 dealt with by the weaving machines in Europe owing to its 

 being nearly all coarse hair. Its price cm the Xiger was £20 

 to £24 per ton, and in Europe £(iO. However, as well as 

 increasing the yield, the effect of crossing with the Barbary 

 merinos has liad a beneficial effect upon the quality of the 

 wool also, but not to the same extent. 



BACTERIA IN MILK. 



In a Circular (No. 18), dealing with the sterilization of 

 milking machines, and published by Cornell University, it is 

 stated that the brme solution which has generally been used 

 for the treatment of the rubber tubes and the teat cups, does 

 not keep them in a sterile condition. In spite of the fact 

 thit the milking machine excludes external contamination, 

 the milk may still have a high bacteria count, resulting from 

 its coming into contact with the rubber tube. It is said 

 that the apparatus may be kept practically sterile by the 

 use of a salt solution containing chloride of lime, and if the 

 machines are kept in a sterile condition, it is possible always 

 to obtain milk with low bacteria counts. 



This latter statement raises the question as to what 

 a low bacteria count should be An answer to it is to be 

 found in the Experiment i:.tation Record (Vol. XXIX, No. 3). 

 In the course of some experiments to determine the various 

 factors which influence the bacterial content of milk, a 

 sample was carefully drawn in a sterile glass bottle by means 

 of sterile copper dippers, and as a rule, the determinations 

 commenced immediately, which consisted in incubating some- 

 of the diluted liquid with plain agar for seventy two hours at 

 22'C. 



Fifty-three samples were examined in this way, which 

 showed an average bacterial content of 47,90(1 bacteria per 

 cubic centimetre of milk. It is stated that Orr has pre- 

 viously suggested that clean milk, as it leaves the barn, 

 should not contain more than 50,000 bacteria per cubic 

 centimetre. 



The extent to which milk can become contaminated 

 bacteriologically, may be realized by referring to the 

 Agricultural News (April 12, 1913), where a case is described 

 of a sample of milk which was found to contain 26,000,000 

 bacteria per cubic centimetre after two days' incubation at 

 37°C The seller of this substince was fined S3750. 



In continuation of the note on dwarf cattle in Nigeria, 

 which appeared in the last issue of the Agricultural News, it 

 may be of interest to point out that in The Field (September (i, 

 1913) it is suggested that these small short-horned cattle of 

 Nigeria may be descended from an African humpless variety 

 allied to the Celtic shorthorn, or, like the small black and 

 white Shetland cattle, they may be a dwarf variety of a black 

 and white Dutch breed. 



It \i stated in the Queenslu7id Agricultural Journal for 

 August 1913, that prickly pear has been found in Australia a 

 particularly good food for pigs. One farmer has erected a 

 large boiler in which the pear is stewed, and it is said that the 

 concoction fattened a large number of animals. It is thought 

 that pigs must take to this diet better than cows, though at 

 the same time it is well known that cattle are very fond of 

 the green shoots of the spineless kind of pear and devour 

 them greedily. 



The subject of cruelty to cattle is taken up by the Port- 

 of Sptin Gazette (August 5, 1913) and particular mention is 

 made of the inhuman and insanitary conditions under which 

 animals to be slaughtered are kept previous to their time of 

 death. It is advocated thit a pislure should be provided 

 adjoining the slaught- r houso. This would ensure comfort for 

 the animals, and at the .same time improve the condition of 

 the carcase for butchers' meat. Animals brought from Vene- 

 zuela are frequently received in very bad condition, an 1 it 

 would only seem to be in accordance with ordinary business 

 principles to effect some improvement before the animals 

 are slaughtered. 



