STATE DAIRY ASSOCIATION. 363 



culosis. Prof. Klimmer estimates that the dairies of Saxony lose an- 

 nually fully a quarter of a million dollars from tuberculosis. 



It is not necessary for us to look solely to foreign experiences to 

 teach us lessons in this matter of tuberculosis. The conditions in the 

 older dairy districts of our own country — in Massachusetts, New York, 

 Pennsylvania, Illinois and Wisconsin — are not as ideal as we could wish, 

 as shown by official publications from these states. In this connection 

 I wish to recommend to you as a supplement to Dr. Luckey's bulletin, 

 a popular bulletin recently issued by Dr. Russell, Bacteriologist of the 

 Dairy Department of the Wisconsin Experiment Station. A request 

 for this bulletin by postal card is all it will cost. The lesson it teaches 

 may be the means of saving your business from ruin. 



I consider it fortunate that this matter of tuberculosis is being 

 brought to the attention of the dairymen now while the dairy industry 

 in this State is yet in its infancy. The great interest which has devel- 

 oped within the past few years is full of prophecy that dairying is to 

 be one of the leading industries of the State. It is important, there- 

 fore, while we are yet young in this business, to study the experiences 

 of the dairies of the old world, and those in the older sections of our 

 own country, and to profit by their successes and failures. That tuber- 

 culosis is one of the great obstacles to success, the records abundantly 

 show. The vital question, therefore, is shall we neglect the measures 

 which the Board of Agriculture, through its veterinary service, offers 

 us in the way of prevention and eradication of this disease ? As surely 

 as these measures are neglected, the appalling conditions which exist in 

 the dairy herds of some parts of the old world are sure to be our pun- 

 ishment. I have already mentioned the fact that the dairymen of 

 Saxony lose a fourth of a million dollars yearly on account of this dis- 

 ease. Shall the dairymen of Missouri give up their profits in so need- 

 less a manner? I am sure you will not, if you join hands heartily with 

 the Board of Agriculture in this fight against tuberculosis in the dairy 

 herds. Beginning now, the work will be comparatively easy. 



I wish to say a few words in regard to a new method of combat- 

 ting tuberculosis which is now being much advertised. I refer to the 

 "Von Behring-Bovo Vaccine." This vaccine is a culture of weakened 

 living human-hihercle-hacilli ; put on the market in a powder form. The 

 powder is thoroughly mixed with sterilized water, to which has been 

 added about i per cent of salt, and injected into the jugular vein of the 

 animal which it is intended to immunize. Three months later a second 

 inoculation is made. It is claimed that the animal is then protected 



