Annual Report for 1914 of Royal Veterinary College. 255 



Sheep Scab. 

 The following Table shows the number of reported out- 

 breaks of this disease during the last six years : — 



Year Outbreaks 



1909 ... 685 



1910 ... 556 



1911 ... • 434 



1912 ... 302 



1913 ... 236 



1914 ... 226 



The experience of the past year is somewhat disappointing, 

 since, as the Table shows, the number of outbreaks was nearly 

 the same as in 1913, whereas each of the previous five years 

 marked a notable decline in the prevalence of the disease. 

 That something like this might happen was suggested in last 

 annual report ; since it was to be expected that special difficulty, 

 probably necessitating special measures, would be encountered 

 in stamping out the disease from the hill farms in Wales, the 

 Scottish Highlands, and the border counties of England and 

 Scotland, to which the disease is now mainly confined. 



The present position with regard to sheep scab is in reality 

 much better than the above Table indicates ; for during the 

 first four years of the present century the average annual out- 

 breaks reported exceeded 1,500. 



Swine Fever. 

 The following Table shows the number of outbreaks of 

 this disease confirmed during each of the last seven years : — 



Tear Outbreaks 



1908 2,067 



1909 1,650 



1910 1,598 



1911 2,466 



1912 2,920 



1913 2,573 



1914 4,356 



The control of swine fever was taken over from the Local 

 Authoi-ities in the latter part of 1893, and since then the 

 disease has been dealt with directly by the Board of Agriculture 

 and Fisheries. The first complete year of the Board's opera- 

 tions in connection with the disease was therefore 1891, and in 

 that year the total number of outbreaks confirmed was 5,682. 

 Within three years afterwards (1897) the outbreaks had fallen 

 by 50 per cent., viz., to 2,155. In 1905 the disease touched its 

 lowest point, the total confirmed outbreaks for the year having 

 been only 817. Two years later they had risen to 2,336. The 

 detailed figures for the later years are given in the Table. 



The outstanding facts with regard to the incidence of the 

 disease are (1) that during the first ten years of the Board's 

 operations there was such a marked reduction in the number 



