BUREAU OF ANIMAL INDUSTRY. 95 



which are at present ravaging the livestock of many foreign coun- 

 tries. It is an assurance that the department will be able to take the 

 most prompt and vigorous action immediately should the necessity 

 arise. 



LITERATURE. 



During the year G7 new publications were issued or contributed by 

 the bureau. These included 10 Farmers' Bulletins, 4 Department 

 Bulletins, 2 contributions to the department Yearbook, 13 issues of 

 Service and Regulatory Announcements, 3 articles for the Journal of 

 Agi'icultural Research. 16 Department Circulars, 3 miscellaneous pam- 

 phlets, 6 orders in the nature of regulations, and 3 posters. In addi- 

 tion 323 articles relating to the work of the bureau were published. 



REPORTS BY DIVISIONS. 



The year's work as conducted by the various divisions of the bureau 

 is presented more fully in the following pages. 



ANIMAL HUSBANDRY DIVISION. 



The work of the Animal Husbandry Division, under George M. 

 Rommel, chief, has undergone some reorganization and readjustment 

 in the cessation of war-emergency activities, the curtailment of ex- 

 tension work from lack of funds, and the trnnsfer of some of the 

 horse-breeding work to the War Department. The research activi- 

 ties, however, have been continued with good progress. 



SAVING ANIMALS FROM DROUGHT-STRICKEN AREAS. 



A scA^ere drought in Montana and adjoining States in the summer 

 of 1919 necessitated relief work to save nnich of the livestock of that 

 area from starvation or premature slaughter. This work was begun 

 in July, 1919, under the direction of a committee of department 

 officers, of which the Chief of the Animal Husbandry Division was 

 chairman. A considerable force of department employees spent sev- 

 eral months in this service, and other (iovernment agencies co- 

 operated. At least 300,000 cattle and between 500,000 and 600.000 

 sheep were moved out of the drought area to other sections, where 

 feed and ]iasture were available. This work was reviewed in some 

 detail in the department's Yearbook for 1919. 



BEEF-CATTLE INVESTIGATIONS. 



BEEF PBODUCTION. 



Experimental work in breeding and feeding; beef cattle has been 

 continued in Mississippi, North Carolina, West Virginia, Kansas, 

 and Arkansas, in cooperation with State agricultural ex]-)eriment sta- 

 tions. The steer-feeding experiment at the Animal Husbandry 

 Farm, Beltsville, Md., to determine the comparative feeding value of 

 velvet beans and cottonseed meal for fattening steers, has been trans- 

 ferred to the Coastal Plain Experiment Station at McNeill, Miss. 



Experiments to determine the most desirable rations and methods 

 for wintering steers were continued at Lewisburg, W. Va. Sixty 



