302 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. [Vol.35 



tion from Congress, and it did not finally become law until August 

 11. During the interval which followed the termination of the 

 preceding fiscal year on June 30 the maintenance of the Department 

 was provided for by the passage of special acts extending the ap- 

 propriations, under certain restrictions, on the basis of the act for 

 the previous year. 



The appropriations carried in the new act aggregate $26,948,852. 

 This is an increase of $2,349,763 over the estimates submitted by the 

 Department and an increase of $3,977,070 over the amount carried 

 in the act for the previous year. If comparison between the two 

 fiscal years 1916 and 1917 is attempted, however, an addition should 

 be made to the appropriations for the former year of deficiency 

 items aggregating $395,000, and a deduction of $2,000,000 made from 

 those carried by the new act, since this sum, provided for forest 

 reserve purchases, is not available until the following year. On this 

 basis the increase becomes $1,582,070. 



Considering the allotments to the various Bureaus, the Weather 

 Bureau receives $1,747,260. This is an increase of $81,210, of which 

 $40,000 is for the extension of the weather service to the Carribean 

 Sea region, the Panama Canal Zone, and Alaska. It also includes 

 $10,000 for an extension of the frost-warning and river and flood 

 control work and $22,500 for the erection of a building at Cape 

 Henry, Virginia. 



The appropriations directly allotted to the Bureau of Animal In- 

 dustry aggregate $3,020,746, but this is supplemented by extensive 

 funds provided elsewhere. The total corresponding allotments for 

 the previous year were $2,585,336, so that the increase granted is 

 considerable. 



The inspection and quarantine work of the Bureau against animal 

 diseases receives $532,780, a decrease of $75,000, due to the reduced 

 area under quarantine for sheep and cattle scabies. For pathologi- 

 cal studies of animal diseases $138,020 is granted, of which $50,000 

 is a new item authorizing work on contagious abortion. 



For the tick-eradication campaign an appropriation of $632,400 is 

 given, and it is expected that this will be supplemented by State 

 and county funds sufficient to make a total of nearly $1,000,000. Of 

 this amount $50,000 may again be used for live-stock and dairy dem- 

 onstration work in cooperation with the States Relations Service in 

 areas freed of ticks. During the past year 49,629 square miles of 

 territory were freed from infestation, reducing the area under quar- 

 antine to 453,761 square miles. It is now believed that complete 

 eradication is entirely feasible. 



The act carries $360,000 to continue the hog-cholera work, of which 

 $175,000 may be used for the enforcement of the virus-serum-toxin 



