SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL YEAR BOOK— PART II 111 



trees, the growth of years. Likewise also have we had the experience of 

 losing our total annual production of grains from the army worm and 

 our corn crops from the ravages of the wire worm and white grub. Re- 

 cently Wisconsin and Minnesota have discovered the pine blister rust, 

 a disease which has destroyed all white pine in large sections of Ger- 

 many and Great Britain. Already this disease has advanced so far in 

 the eastern states, including Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and 

 parts of New York, that it is doubtful whether it ever can be eradicated 

 from these states. This disease is threatening the immense white pine 

 forests of the west and Canada, commencing with northern Minnesota. 

 Wisconsin and Minnesota must form the barrier to protect, not only their 

 own borders and make possible the continuance of the growth of white 

 pine within their borders, but must also set an effective check to keep 

 the disease out of these great forests of the northwest. 



(2) Veterinary Inspection — the Foot and Mouth Disease. The very 

 names reminds us of recent great clouds of danger hovering over our 

 cattle industry. Great was the responsibility placed upon our state 

 veterinarians and the National Bureau of Animal Industry, but nobly 

 was the work performed. Our borders are tree from this disease, thanks 

 to the effective policy pursued, yet Denmark, Germany, and the Argentine 

 are still suffering tremendous losses from the disease, and in many 

 instances they despair of its eradication. Our policy was effective, yet 

 it cost the state of Wisconsin seventy thousand dollars for indemnity 

 funds alone, not to speak of the losses to the cattle trade. The disease 

 cost the state of Illinois over two million dollars. 



Tuberculosis — The White Plague. We now know that this disease 

 in the bovine type is the direct cause of the disease in man. Not to 

 mention the financial phase of this disease, we cannot help for this one 

 reason alone but appreciate the tremendous importance of its control. 

 The state of Wisconsin has the past year adopted an aggressive policy, 

 looking toward the complete eradication of this disease. A large number 

 of state accredited herds tested yearly by the veterinarians of the state 

 department has been established. Arrangements have been made with 

 nearly all of the states in the Union for admitting animals from these 

 herds into such states without the necessity of a test just previous to 

 shipment. This policy is also being pursued by Illinois and Minnesota. 

 At the national meeting of the Live Stock Sanitary Board at Chicago, 

 this policy was adopted as a national policy. Mention should also be 

 made of the tremendous losses from hog cholera; contagious abortion 

 among cattle, glanders and many other destructive diseases, the control 

 and eradication of which lie entirely in the field of work of the depart- 

 ments of agriculture. 



{?>) Seed Inspection. When we remember that the only weeds natural 

 to this country are those found in the forest, that the rest of the tre- 

 mendous number of varieties of weeds found in every field have been 

 introduced from foreign countries, we begin to realize how important is 

 the work of this department. Mention should also be made of the stal- 

 lion registration, by means of which we eliminate the scrub stallion, 



