484 EXPEKIMENT STATION EECOKD. 



conclusion might be drawn that it is not the cold which interferes with the 

 development of the parasites in the tick, but there are reasons to believe that 

 notwithstanding the severe cold to which the ticlis are subjected that it had 

 not been acting for a sufficient length of time; indeed, under the conditions of 

 the high veld it is probably not the sudden influence of the extreme cold but 

 the combined effect of a low temperature during the night followed by the 

 warmth of the sun in the daytime." 



The inoculation of sheep against bluetongue was very successful. Up to 

 February, 1908, over 80,000 doses had been issued to the Transvaal farmers, 

 while over 100,000 doses were distributed among other South African colonies. 



Further experiments with biliary fever of equines are briefly reported. Out of 

 72 horses and 76 mules inoculated with donkey foal blood of the fourth genera- 

 tion and upward, none died of biliary fever, showing that the inoculation can 

 be done with safety. Its use is recommended for practical purposes. The con- 

 clusion was drawn that in practice it will be necessai-y to pack horse-sickness 

 virus in small bottles in order to enable the district veterinary surgeons to util- 

 ize the material out of a fresh bottle for each batch of injections and thus pre- 

 vent recorking. Besides horse sickness there are other fevers observed in 

 horses, .fevers which may be accompanied with high temperature reactions and 

 high pulse and which, on first sight, simulate horse sickness, but which in 

 reality have nothing to do with that disease. 



Inoculations of mules with polyvalent virus and the results in practice for 

 the season 1907-8 are reported. Ont of 2,419 mules inoculated with polyvalent 

 virus, and of which 2,.j10 recoveretl and were exposed in the Transvaal, 18 deaths, 

 or 0.7 of 1 per cent, occurred after discharge, of which nearly all occurred in 

 one particular lot of mules. 



Microscopical and pathological anatomical examinations made during the year 

 are also reported. During the year 283,184 tubes of calf vaccine lymph were 

 issued. A brief report of the assistant government bacteriologist, W. Frei, is 

 given in Appendix A, and that of the superintendent, E. B. H. Parkes, in 

 Appendix B. 



Report of the principal veterinary surgeon, C. E. Gray ( Transi'aal Dcpt. 

 Agr. Ann. Rpt. 190S, pp. 'il-S'i, map 1). — Satisfactory progress is said to have 

 been made with the work of pushing back the East Coast fever. Everywhere the 

 number of infected farms has been reduced, even in those parts of the country 

 which are principally inhabited by natives. The position of the colony in respect 

 to lung sickness continues to be satisfactory, although the disease is still preva- 

 lent in Cape Colony. Restrictions on the importation of cattle from Cape Colony 

 and the Bechuanalaud Protectorate are still maintained. Only three outbi'eaks 

 of tuberculosis were dealt with during the year. Hog cholera and swine plague 

 were reported but once each. Only 13 sporadic cases of anthrax were recorded 

 and in no locality did it show a tendency to assume an epidemic character. 

 Much remains to be done in the eradication of scab. Decreases are reported in 

 the number of outbreaks of glanders and ulcerative lymphangitis. 



The loco-weed disease of the Plains, C. D. Marsh ( U. 8. Dcpt. Agr., Bur. 

 Aiiim. Indus. Bui. 112, pp. 130, pis. 11, figs. 29).— Part 1 of this work is devoted 

 to a historical summary and review of the literature on the affection and descrip- 

 tions of AragaUus lanibcrti and Astragalus moUissimus, the plants to which the 

 experimental work was limited. Part 2 is a technical report on prolonged field 

 feeding investigations carried out at Hugo and Woodland Park, Colo., and at 

 Imperial, Nebr., in cooperation with the Colorado and Nebraska Stations. Part 

 3 is devoted to the results and conclusions. The feeding experiments consisted in 

 grazing cattle and horses upon pastures containing loco weed in comparison with 

 others fed on pastures free from the loco weed, as well as feeding the loco plants 



