EXPERIMENT STATION REPORTS 71 



disease among animals in the State. It is of peculiar interest because of 

 the wanton carelessness and indifference with which it is managed by 

 swine owners, and because also of its variable nature and its probable 

 variance with hog cholera. Numerous examinations have been made of 

 hogs dying from the disease and hogs nearly dead. Bacteriological exami- 

 na;ions have extended into the hundreds of guinea pigs and rabbits inocu- 

 lated and several hundred tube and plate culture inoculations. Much 

 evidence has accumulated and the indications are very suggestive, yet 

 with our knowledge limited to perhaps a dozen outbreaks and our experi- 

 ments to rabbits and guinea pigs, we do not feel justified in drawing any 

 conclusions or uttering positive statements until the work can be taken 

 up more systematically and thoroughly and carriel to a finish. The ques- 

 tions to be solved are: Is it hog cholera or not? Is the disease the same 

 throughout the State, or is there a variety of diseases? What is the cause 

 or causes of this disease or diseases? How shall this disease or these 

 diseases be managed? Is a preventive treatment able to eradicate it, or 

 will a cure have to be found? To answer the above questions, it will be 

 necessary to devote one's whole time to the matter, and considerable ex- 

 pense will be incurred in visiting and studying outbreaks as well as the 

 providing of young pigs for experimental purposes. It is a subject well 

 worthy of serious attention. 



Some attention has been given to dairy work, but not as much as it 

 deserves. For two years past I have been advocating the use of a separate 

 milking room to the students in the short dairy courses. This has been 

 done under the hypothesis that the fighting of bacteria by means of pas- 

 teurization and other methods is only inviting a continuous struggle 

 which will never lead to the most satisfactory results. It virtualhi 

 amounts to the insertion of filth into milk, and then devising methods hy tohich 

 we may get rid of it. If it is possible to so handle the milk, even if it is 

 at a third more expense, so as to keep the milk in its practically pure 

 condition as it conies from the udder, such milk is absolutely under the 

 control of the dairyman. With the one factor^ the disease of the animal 

 eliminated, there remains a single factor in the securing of pure milk. 

 Nearly a year ago work was started along this line, and sufficient was 

 done to demonstrate the feasibility of the plan. The work has been 

 dropped for the time being, owing to the pressure of other investiga- 

 tions and circumstances not under the control of the investigator. How- 

 ever, it is hoped that this work may receive all the attention it needs, for, 

 since studying the conditions elsewhere the author has found that the 

 above plan is to be adopted the coming winter by one of the leading milk 

 companies of the world. This practical test will be watched with keen 

 interest, for in it may be the solution of a problem which will eventually 

 yield beneficial results to milk producers and to milk consumers. The iso- 

 lation of a gassy cheese bacterium some time in the past has kept our 

 attention centered on its relation to the process of cheese-making. Much 

 has been done with it in a practical w^ay, but much more ought to be done. 

 On account of a lack of facilities in cheese making, we are unable to go 

 on with this work. 



For the past two years we have been engaged with the study of crown 

 gall in peaches. Nearly one thousand peach trees have been used in the 

 experiments which cover several phases of the subject. This fall will 

 close this set of experiments, but we hope to follow^ them with others 



