220 Ninth Annual Report of the 



all traces of the disease. One case of supposed tuberculosis in 

 a row in Wales township, Erie county, upon investigation by 

 this office turned out to be a case of rheumatoid arthritis, with 

 considerable emaciation. One case of supposed actinomycosis 

 or lump jaw in the township of Golden was found to be a swel- 

 ling in the jaw due to the presence of a foreign body bone. Two 

 cattle were reported as having died of anthrax at Beach Ridge 

 in Pendleton township, Niagara county. A local veterinarian 

 was called in by the farmer and adopted precautionary meas : 

 ures. I investigated the circumstances attending the case, and 

 while not prepared to question the diagnosis made by the veter- 

 inarian, the people there believe the animals died from overfeed- 

 ing on green plants which may have been poisonous, and the 

 symptoms described by them would tend to corroborate the con- 

 tention. The bodies had been destroyed when I arrived on the 

 ground and no post-mortem was held. 



BARNS AND COW STABLES. 



The general condition of cow barns has been fairly good, but 

 there is room for improvement in ventilation and surroundings 

 in many of them. A few complaints have been investigated but 

 in each case were found to be groundless. A number of barns 

 were inspected by the agents and myself that were found over- 

 crowded and with unsanitary floors. In each instance the 

 defects were pointed out to the owner and as a rule were 

 remedied by them. This is an important part of our duties, as 

 an overcrowded and unventilated barn is a menace to the health 

 of the animals, producing among them a weakened condition 

 and a less resistent power to bacterial invasion, as in bovine 

 consumption, for instance. This is a subject that might well 

 form part of the curriculum of our farmers' institutes. 



The special agents on duty in this division were employed 

 during the year as follows: 



