52 VERMONT AGRICULTURAL REPORT. 



Iii all of these bureaus and divisions the most expert help 

 to be found is employed. Each division is presided over by a 

 man distinguished in his particular Hue for his wide knowledge 

 of the work in which he is engaged. 



I will endeavor to give you as briefly as I can some idea of 

 the work carried on in these various divisions of our Depart- 

 ment. The Weather Bureau is of more importance to the 

 farmer than may appear at first. This service has been and is 

 being greatly extended and improved. Within the past few 

 mouths stations have been established in our new possessions in 

 the West Indies and the Bureau has been enabled to give timely 

 warnings of a number of very destructive storms, thus saving 

 an incalculable amount of money to shipping. In connection 

 with the reporting of weather conditions, the Bureau also re- 

 ceives. telegraphic reports of the condition of crops in various 

 localities and the effect the weather has had or may have upon 

 them. These reports are tabulated and sent out to the agricul- 

 tural and daily press all over the country. You can readily see 

 that in this manner the Weather Bureau is of great service to 

 the farmers, for it enables them to judge of crop conditions in 

 other sections of the country than their own and gives them an 

 idea of the probable price they will receive for their products. 



The Bureau of Animal Industry is doing some very valua- 

 ble work. Its most important service to the farmer is the in- 

 spection of meats. This work has given consumers both at 

 home and abroad confidence that our meats offered for sale are 

 free from disease, and has enabled us to dispose of our large 

 surplus at good prices. 



Efforts are constantly being made to discover effective rem- 

 edies for diseases of livestock. A dip has been perfected that 

 will remove from infested cattle all fever ticks, making it prac- 

 ticable to ship them North at any season of the year. The 

 value of this is almost beyond computation, as it enables stock- 

 men south of the quarantine line to market their herds at any 

 season of the year, and as the demand for fine beef at home 

 and abroad is constantly increasing, this removes one of the 

 impediments to its production. Experiments have been made 

 with an antitoxin serum for the prevention and cure of hog 

 cholera, with the result that it has been practically demonstrated 

 that this remedy will save a great percentage of animals that 

 are attacked by this disease. In the experiments made by the 

 Bureau, eighty per cent of the animals treated were saved, 

 while a like per cent of the herds not treated died. 



It is the opinion of the Department that there is but little 

 profit to the farmers in shipping grain to foreign countries. We 

 believe it would be far better to convert the same into meats 

 and dairy products and ship them to foreign markets in that 



