REPORT OF THE CHIEF OF THE BUREAU OF ANIMAL 



INDUSTRY. 



Sir: I have the honor to transmit herewith my report, which con- 

 tains a statement of the more important work accomplished by the 

 Bureau of Animal Industry during the past year. For many inter- 

 esting details of this work, and for the reports of the Agents and In- 

 spectors, I must refer you to the Third Annual Report of the Bureau 

 of Animal Industry. 



D. E. SALMON, 

 Chief of the Bureau of Animal Industry. 



Hon. Norman J. Colman, 



Commissioner of Agriculture. 



PROGRESS OF PLEURO-PNEUMONIA AND ACTION TAKEN 

 IN REGARD TO IT. 



KENTUCKY. 



At the time my last annual report was submitted the outbreak of 

 pleuro-pneumonia in Kentucky, which began in 1884, was still in 

 progress. A portion of the history of this outbreak is recorded in 

 the reports of the Bureau of Animal Industry for 1884 and 1885. 

 When first discovered the plague was confined to one herd. There 

 was an attempt to maintain quarantine by the force of public opinion 

 in the absence of any specific statutes, but, as was to be expected, it 

 was not successful. The danger of the extension of the contagion 

 was such, that on June 15, 1885, the infected premises were declared 

 in quarantine by authority of the State board of health. At that 

 time an additional herd was found infected and included in the reg- 

 ulations, a copy of which will be found on page 35 of the Report of 

 the Bureau of Animal Industry for 1885. By request of the board, 

 an inspector of the Bureau was stationed at Cynthiana to watch the 

 results of this quarantine. November 16, 1885, he reported that the 

 disease had been found at 6 places in Cynthiana, at 3 places in the 

 Indian Creek neighborhood, 3i miles east of Cynthiana, and at one 

 place near the Pendleton County line, 13 miles north of Cynthiana. 



Early in March, 188G, the legislature of Kentucky enacted a law 

 authorizing the State board of health to slaughter the infected cattle, 

 and appropriated money to compensate the owners. The slaughter 

 began on March 15, and on March 27 I received official notification 

 that all exposed animals had been slaughtered. I give below a copy 

 of a letter from the secretary of the board to the Chief of the Bureau 

 of Animal Industry, which shows his estimate of the value of the 

 services rendered by this Department in suppressing the malady: 



Bowling Green, Ky., March 27, 1886. 

 Sir: I have the honor to inform you, as Dr. Wray has done in detail, that in the 

 execution of the recently enacted law in relation to contagious and infectious dis- 

 eases of cattle this board has extermhiated contagious pleuro-pneumonia in this 

 State by the slaughter of all animals which have been exposed to that disease and 

 rigidly quarantined all infected premises. 



38 AG — '86 (593) 



