526 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



Hours of Temperatures. — From the first I have given much attention to 

 the study of normal temperatures. In my first test last summer, two 

 days were given to the study of normal temperatures just as if I were ap- 

 plying a regular test with this exception, we did not take the two and 

 three hours in the early morning. Temperatures were taken every hour 

 beginning at 7 o'clock in the morning and closing at 6 o'clock in the after- 

 noon with one hour out for dinner. One day was allowed to elapse for the 

 cows to rest and return to normal conditions and circumstances. The 

 normal temperatures were again taken for another day, the tuberculin 

 injected that night and temperatures resumed eight hours after injection 

 and carried on till six o'clock at night with hours for breakfast and 

 dinner out. To do good work the operators and recorders should not be 

 allowed to grow tired. During the test in the fall, we took three days con- 

 tinuous temperatures, two normal and one after injection. This method 

 was found to be unsatisfactory because the cattle became restless the 

 third day. In the test this spring we went back to our first plan. 



Injection. — We use the tuberculin prepared by the Bureau of Animal 

 Industry, Washington, D. C. One c.c. is injected into calves, 2 

 c.c, into ordinary size cattle and 3 c.c. into large animals. For the pur- 

 pose of injection, a syringe with two holes for the fingers to hold it and 

 one for the thumb to work the piston is made of a glass barrel with a 

 metallic case. The nozzle for the needle is smooth instead of the screw, 

 thus allowing the removal and placing of the needle with ease. The 

 needles are about two inches long and made of steel. There should 

 be several of them. While injecting, the extra needles are kept in a 

 disinfecting solution and should be changed with each cow. 



The place of injection on the cow must be thoroughly disinfected. I 

 do not deem the clipping of the hair necessary, although it may be a wise 

 precaution. The syringe ready and the shoulder disinfected, the injection 

 may be easily made with sharp needles. The operator should see that 

 his hands and syringe are constantly disinfected. With sufficient help 

 the injection may be done quickly. Great care, I repeat, should be exer- 

 cised in obtaining the right kind of needles. My experience with poor 

 needles forces me to make this emphatic. By injecting on the opposite 

 side of the cow from that where you take your position will be found 

 upon trial a very desirable method in avoiding the spontaneous actions 

 of the animal while the needle penetrates the skin. 



The study of temperatures when the test is at an end is one that requires 

 perhaps the most deliberate thought. Since there will be all degrees of 

 variation; and when it comes to a matter of deciding whether an animal 

 will be condemned or not, perplexities will flood the mind. There will 

 always be suspicious animals; there will be some which react, we will say, 

 two degrees but the reaction is confined to a single hour. Cases of various 

 kinds will present themselves. That this phase of the subject may be 

 thoroughly understood and appreciated, the tables as representing the 

 work here since the spring of 1896 will be of great use. 



