No. 6. DEPARTMENl OF AGRICULTURE. 233 



oi' all reiualcs nut kejit expressly lor bieediiig, and also the laslialiuu 

 of all males not kept for breeding purposes. This could be done by 

 making' the tax very heavy on entire animals and very low or nothing 

 on emasculated animals. We think the result would be the keeping 

 of very much fewer dogs, and such as were kept would either be of 

 more harmless character or would be more closely looked after. 



The pork industry has become almost a by-product of the dairy, 

 as milk, whey, and the like, enter very largely into their ratioo. It 

 now represents $8,571,000, and if the dairy stock were increased to 

 our possible limit, the sales of Pennsylvania bacon would soon be- 

 come a prominent feature in our markets. As it is, we only supply 

 a small percentage of what is consumed in our State. Since it is 

 ail established fact that the price of grain and the price of fat hogs 

 are almost universally harmonious, would it not be to our advantage 

 as farmers and stock raisers to give more attention to the production 

 of pork, and more study to theii* habits and requirements; also to the 

 diseases and ailments that have caused so much loss and disappoint- 

 ment in the past; and learn how, by preventi'iig or combating such 

 conditions, to make the pork industrj- one of large income and profit. 



The report on poultry we leave to the committee appointed for that 

 purpose. 



The reports upon the diseases of live stock throughout the State, 

 by Dr. Pearson, of the Slate Live Stock Sanitary Board, show the 

 effectiveness of the thorough work done by the Board, in a very 

 marked reduction of the ainou«t of disease existing among live stock 

 of all kinds; and your committee wish to call the special attention 

 of this Board to their work, not only in suppressing disease but io the 

 line of research and investigation; placing in the role of controllable 

 or preventable diseases, many maladies that were heretofore not well 

 understood, and the prevention of which was not attempted. We 

 referto tetanus, cerebrospinal meningitis, abortion, hydrophobia, etc. 

 We are creditably informed that when the work of eradicating tuber- 

 culosis by the application of the tubercnlin test was first effectually 

 begun in 1896, that 23 per cent, of all known diseased herds responded 

 to the test; while now there is in the same class of herds only 11 per 

 cent, of reaction; showing that by the persistent application of the 

 test and the careful guarding of the State from the dumping of tuber- 

 culous animals from other States, by means of the inter-state law, 

 we may yet reduce the percentage of tuberculous cattle to a very low 

 point. 



Hog cholera, which in 1897 caused a loss to the faruiers of Pennsyl- 

 vania to the amount of |100,000, has since been so reduced as to only 

 cause during the past year a loss of about !ii?50,000. This marvellous 

 result is due, we believe, to a more thorough knowledge of the dis- 



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