No. 5. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 105 



tests have been all that the State was able to handle with the amount 

 of money available. Some have felt that the appraisements are not 

 sufficiently high on cattle that are condemned for tuberculosis. If 

 the limit in price for this purpose is to be raised, it will be necessary 

 to obtain very much more money from the State Government to be 

 used in the work of eradicating tuberculosis. Whether it is advis- 

 able to make this move is a question. A physical diagnosis has been 

 advocated by some and principally by those who are opposed to 

 tuberculin testing. Very little can be accomplished in exterminating 

 tuberculosis where the physical examination alone is depended upon. 

 It is not possible for even the best veterinarians to pick out 5% of 

 the tuberculous cattle by a physical examination alone, and very 

 little headway will be made in exterminating the disease when 95% 

 of the diseased animals are allowed to remain with healthy animals. 

 In tuberculin we still have the most positive method of detecting 

 tuberculous animals. When properly applied it is accurate in more 

 than 95% of cases. The State has experimented considerably during 

 the last year with different methods for applying tuberculin. The 

 old subcutaneous form of application is stiU considered best, yet 

 good results have been obtained in many cases with what is known 

 as the ocular test, the intra-dermal test and the intra-palpebral test. 

 For making the last three named tests a special form of tuberculin is 

 required. Under certain conditions they are more reliable than the 

 subcutaneous test and the Veterinarian at the present time who is 

 thoroughly qualified and competent to test cattle for tuberculosis 

 should be familiar with and prepared to apply any or all of these 

 four tests, aud in addition to using them should be able to make a 

 careful physical examination. The person who is properly equipped 

 to make these various tests, combined with a careful physical exami- 

 nation, should be able to detect tuberculosis in more than 98% of 

 the cases, and make mistakes in less than 2%. Where results so 

 good can be obtained it would seem advisable to develop these 

 methods to the highest possible standard and everybody concerned 

 use his effort to do away with the careless methods that have been 

 practiced in too many cases. 



In the fall of 1908 there was an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease 

 in Pennsylvania!. It originated in Michigan and was carried to vari- 

 ous parts of Pennsylvania by cattle shipped from Buffalo. There 

 were eight points of infection received about the same time. The 

 infection extended over an area of 100 miles in length and in the part 

 of the State where animal husbandry is most extensively practiced. 

 The infection was found on 100 farms. 1,320 head of cattle, 877 

 swine, 52 sheep and 3 goats were diseased or exposed to the infection. 

 They were appraised at 157,702.49, promptly killed, buried and the 

 premises were di.sinfected. The cost of disinfection averaged about 

 $100 per head. All told this outbreak cost a little over |86,000. The 

 Federal Bureau of Animal Industry paid two-thirds of the appraised 

 value of the livestock destroyed and cost of disinfection. The State 

 paid the balance. It required three months to stamp out the disease 

 at that time. The State was then free from Aphthous Fever for a 

 period of six years. 



The recent outbreak was discovered on two farms in Lancaster 

 county and in one cow in the Union Stock Yards at Pittsburgh on 

 October 24, 1914. The infection has existed in something over 658 



