REPORT OP THE SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE. 23 



350,000 over any previous year. Notwithstanding this action, the 

 demand for grazing privileges could not fully be met. Obviously, 

 the next important thing to be done was to provide for further 

 utilization of the range in 1918. To study the effects of the increased 

 use of the ranges this year, to discover in what particulars the pres- 

 ent method of handling the stock and allotting the range might ad- 

 vantageously be modified as an emergency measure, and to secure the 

 best available knowledge regarding the number of stock which the 

 ranges can be made to carry with safety next year, a special inspec- 

 tion force has been organized. As a result of this study of the prob- 

 lem it will be possible to bring about a still further emergency use 

 of the National Forest ranges for live-stock production in 1918. 



CONTROL OF ANIMAL DISEASES. 



The work connected with the suppression of animal diseases has 

 been vigorously pressed. Special attention has been directed to the 

 control of hog cholera and cattle ticks. Estimates show that the 

 losses from hog cholera during the past fiscal year decreased by 

 approximately 30 per cent and reached the lowest average per thou-, 

 sand head since 1894. More than 40,000 square miles were released 

 from quarantine on account of the cattle tick during the past fiscal 

 year and 1,788 on September 1, 1917. Sixty-five thousand five hun- 

 dred and twenty square miles will be placed in the tick-free area 

 on December 1. More than 51 per cent of the original infested 

 territory has now been cleared of the tick. The work was greatly 

 enlarged during the past summer, and many additional employees 

 were assigned to it. The suppression of the tick makes possible the 

 introduction of more and better beef and dairy cattle, and already 

 thousands of fine breeding cattle have been procured by Southern 

 farmers. Satisfactory progress has been made in the prevention or 

 control of other destructive animal diseases. 



Under the Fobd Production Act the facilities of the Bureau of 

 Animal Industry for dealing with live-stock diseases have been 

 further extended. Forty-six employees have been added to the tick- 

 eradication forces in order that the work may be prosecuted more 

 vigorously and additional areas be prepared for systematic effort 

 next year. They have been assigned to duty in seven States. This 

 force will be increased by 10 in the near future. In 12 States an 



