34 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



the first summer, and the cows which had lost their calves 

 the previous summer carried them, the next year, their full 

 time. 



Question. Has anthrax ever become prevalent in this 

 country? If it has, what are its characteristics? 



Dr. Salmon. Anthrax occurs in a few small districts in 

 this country, — I do not know how many. The fact is, we 

 do not know exactly what the diseases are which occur in 

 many parts of the country ; but that is almost the only dis- 

 ease where any considerable number of cattle are attacked 

 and die suddenly ; sometimes as suddenly as if they were 

 struck by lightning. We generally decide what the disease 

 is from this fact. The only scientific way of diagnosing the 

 disease is to examine the blood, microscopically, for the 

 germs which it almost always contains. 



The Chairman. Is the foot-and-mouth disease known in 

 this country? 



Dr. Saljion. There have been two or three outbreaks of 

 the foot-and-mouth disease in this country. There was one in 

 1868 or 1869, or perhaps two or three years later, in which 

 the disease was imported by cattle brought from Canada ; 

 and another case occurred some two or three years ago, 

 in which a cargo of cattle from England were landed at New 

 York. Those cattle were quarantined at once, and the dis- 

 ease did not spread. Another cargo was landed at Balti- 

 more, and the cattle were taken to Philadelphia, but the 

 authorities got hold of the fact and quarantined the animals 

 before the disease got outside of this herd. 



Mr. J. T. Everett. We have all listened, I know, with 

 great interest, to this learned and scientific lecture. I hear 

 with difficulty, and this hall is a hard place to speak or to 

 hear in. I wish this address could be more generally circu- 

 lated than it will be under the laws that regulate the distri- 

 bution of papers published by the Board of Agriculture of 

 Massachusetts. It is, in mj^ opinion, a very important docu- 

 ment, treating a subject that aflects millions of property of 

 those of us who raise cattle. I wish there might be some 

 measure adopted by the Board for the more general circula- 

 tion of this document than has usually been the case with 

 papers read before this body. 



