BUREAU OF ANIMAL INDUSTRY. 75 



extended its cooperation to the War Department and to State and 

 local authorities at assembling and shipping points, with a view to 

 minimizing the losses following exposure to this disease. Horses are 

 inspected for influenza, those found affected are segregated, and the 

 barns, stables, corrals, cars, etc., used in handling them are cleaned 

 and disinfected. Though this work is yet in its incipiency, sufficient 

 progress has been made to show that the losses resulting from this 

 disease can be greatly reduced. 



Larger forces and greater efforts have brought further progress in 

 the eradication of the parasitic diseases known as scabies of sheep 

 and cattle. These diseases now linger in only a few small portions 

 of the country. Greater efforts have been put forth, also, to control, 

 reduce, and prevent blackleg, anthrax, hemorrhagic septicemia, con- 

 tagious abortion, dourine, parasites, plant poisoning, and other causes 

 which operate to reduce Uve-stock production. 



DAIRY PRODUCTS. 



As the dairy industry of the United States is being called upon 

 more and more to shoulder the burden of supplying the world's 

 needs for dairy products, the bureau has endeavored to bring about 

 an increase in the output by means of more and better cows, better 

 methods and practices, and the extension of the industry. Special 

 efforts have been made to maintain and, if possible, to increase the 

 size of dairy herds. The consuming public has been impressed with 

 the vital properties of milk and its products, and has responded 

 heartily to appeals to use dairy products well and wisely but without 

 waste. Continued encouragement has been given to the develop- 

 ment of the dairy industry in the South and in the West and to the 

 organization and operation of cheese factories in the mountainous 

 regions of the South. The building of silos has been promoted as a 

 means of providing succulent winter feed for dairy cows and other 

 live stock. 



Special attention has been given to the fuller utihzation, for human 

 food, of skim milk and buttermilk, large quantities of which ordi- 

 narily are fed to live stock or wasted. The high food value of dairy 

 by-products has been emphasized alike in the city and on the faniis. 

 Printed matter pointing out the value of cottage cheese as a food 

 and telling how to make it has been issued in large editions and 

 widely circulated. Specialists have been sent out in cooperation 

 with State extension organizations to encourage the production and 

 consumption of cottage cheese and to demonstrate how it is made 

 and the various ways in which it may be used satisfactorily as a 

 meat substitute. This work has led to the greater consumption of 

 cottage cheese and the release of quantities of meat for shipment 

 overseas. 



WHOLESOME FOOD FOR MILITARY AND NAVAL FORCES. 



The bureau has cooperated to the fullest extent with the War and 

 Navy Departments in providing our military and naval forces with 

 an abundant supply oi good food and in protecting them against 

 unwholesome products. The Federal meat inspection, which for 

 years has protected the civil population of the united States from 

 bad meat m interstate commerce, has now been extended to include 



