148 ANNUAL KEPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



DOUEINE. 



In the course of the campaign for the control and eradication of 

 dourine 14,549 samples of blood serum from hors?s in districts where 

 dourine exists or is suspected were subjected to the complement- 

 fixation test for that disease. Two hundred and forty-three of the 

 samples, or 1.6 per cent, gave positive reactions. 



TESTING BIOLOGICAL PRODUCTS. 



The testing of commercial veterinary biological products prepared 

 under Government licenses, as well as of the cultures from which 

 these products are made, has been continued, with samples submitted 

 through the Division of Virus-Serum Control, in connection with the 

 enforcement of the virus-serum-toxin law. One hundred and twenty 

 samples, representing 47 different kinds of products, were examined, 

 and 23 were found to be unsatisfactory. There were also examined 

 948 cultures, of which 318 were found to be either contaminated, im- 

 pure, or untrue to type. 



BLACKLEG VACCINE. 



During the year 1,582,375 doses of vaccine for immunizing cattle 

 against blackleg were prepared and distributed to cattle owners and 

 breeders. The manufacture and distribution of this vaccine by the 

 bureau was discontinued at the close of the fiscal year, in accordance 

 with the expressed desire of the Congress. 



POULTRY DISEASES. 



The principal poultry diseases encountered in specimens submitted 

 for examination were bacillary white diarrhea and coccidiosis in 

 young chicks, roup and chicken pox in grown fowls, and " blackhead " 

 in turkeys. Correspondence with poultry raisers indicates that tuber- 

 culosis is very prevalent among fowls in the northern half of the 

 United States and particularly so in the Central and Western States. 

 This may account for the marked increase of tuberculosis observed in 

 pigs at slaughtering establishments, since these animals are suscep- 

 tible to avian tuberculosis. .The results of an investigation showed 

 that canned goods preserved with a commercial canning mixture were 

 poisonous to chickens. These results were published. 



AUTOPSIES ON WILD ANIMALS. 



The carcasses of 28 birds and 38 mammals were received from the 

 National Zoological Park for autopsy. Among the birds there were 

 found 10 cases of enteritis, 1 of peritonitis, 1 of pleurisy, 2 of pneu- 

 monia, 1 of abscess of the lung, 5 of anemia, 4 of aspergillosis, and 

 4 of tuberculosis. In the mammals there were 7 cases of enteritis, 

 3 of colitis, 4 of gastroenteritis, 2 of septic peritonitis. 1 of metro- 

 peritonitis, 1 of hemorrhagic cystitis, 3 of pneumonia, 2 of verminous 

 bronchopneumonia, 1 of pleurisy, 2 of pleuropneumonia, 3 of septi- 

 cemia, 4 of anemia, and 5 of tuberculosis. 



INVESTIGATION OF POISONOUS PLANTS. 



In the investigation of poisonous plants and their effects on live- 

 stock 25 species of plants have been studied. The experimental 



