71 



of pigs, and Sudan grass seems to be very promising for this 

 purpose, though, of course, it can never take the place of alfalfa. 



A recent movement on the part of some of the local hog raisers 

 to form an association would seem to be a step in the right 

 direction. There are certain vexing questions in connection with 

 this branch of the local live stock industry which can only be 

 satisfactorily settled by obtaining the opinion and views of all 

 the hog raisers in the Territory. Any desired reforms, expressed 

 by a decided majority of a duly organized association, would nat- 

 urally receive the earnest consideration of the Commissioners of 

 Agriculture and would constitute an assumption of responsibility 

 for the consequences of such reforms as to facilitate a decision 

 which otherwise might seem difficult or even risky. In many 

 other ways such an association could be made of great economic 

 value, in the purchase and exchange for instance of high priced 

 breeding stock, the establishment of serum depositories, in coop- 

 erative marketing or purchase of supplies, the dissemination of 

 pamphlets or the circulation of standard works on hog breeding 

 and feeding, and finally in obtaining certain agreed-upon ex- 

 periments pertaining to hog raising carried out by the official 

 agricultural and experiment stations and colleges. 



A new rule and regulations, designed to make more effective 

 the Territorial statute requiring the early report of outbreaks 

 of infectious diseases of animals, has been prepared and is now 

 being circulated among the deputy Territorial veterinarians on 

 the other islands for such suggestions as their respective observa- 

 tions and experiences might lead them to consider advisable. 

 When their replies have been received the entire subject will be 

 submitted for the Board's consideration. 



Rabies in the United States. 



That the efforts of this Board to control the introduction of 

 dogs into the Territory were timely will be seen from the fact 

 that rabies has become endemic in Northern California, Oregon 

 and Washington to such an extent as to require the aid of the 

 federal authorities in its suppression. Bands of coyotes mad 

 with the rabies virus are said to infest the districts mentioned, 

 attacking any live being, whether human or animal, that they 

 come near, and even entering farm yards, schools and houses in 

 their frenzied efforts to relieve their insufferable pain by biting. 

 The U. S. Congress has appropriated $50,000 and ordered all 

 forest rangers in the three states mentioned to hunt the coyotes, 

 skunks and dogs in the infected districts. 



In this connection it may be stated that more dogs have been 

 arriving here of late, with tourists or returning visitors to the 

 mainland, than at any previous period, and that the dog quaran- 

 tine station at times has been taxed to its limits. When to this 

 is added the fact that the torrential rains of the past few weeks 



