REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. ( 



be of local value only, and communities alone, instead of States, will 

 have tbe benefit of the valuable results of science and practice. 



1^0 suitable provision, however, having been made by the National 

 Government for any extended practical experiments in this direction, 

 it is respectfully submitted that the Department should have full 

 authority and ample means to avail itself of the peculiar advantafjes 

 offered by these endowed institutions, in order to test, in a manner and 

 on a scale sufficient to determine all questionable points, the adiip- 

 tability of new and rare seeds to the various .sections of our country. 

 Surely the opportunity to use these fully- equipped experimental farms 

 for the benefit of their respective localities and of the country at large 

 should not be lost. 



Believing" that the Department of Agriculture can, if wisely conducted, 

 become a vitalizing center for a more general co-operative effort for the 

 promotion of agricultural science, and that the various State Experi- 

 ment Stations should be encouraged by the most cordial co-operation 

 on the part of this branch of the National Government, I have endeav- 

 ored, with my very limited means and force, to organize a branch in 

 this Department to take charge of the returns from these colleges and 

 stations, and to collate and distribute the information obtained for the 

 benefit of all interested parties. 



I am happy to say that the institutions alluded to warmly approve of 

 this plan, and are aiding me with their suggestions and co-operation. 



The efforts which are hereafter to bo made to carry out the unani- 

 mously expressed will of the convention on this subject deserve the 

 careful consideration of Congress. 



THE BUREAU OF ANIMAL INDUSTRY. 



"An actjfor the establishment of a Bureau of Animal Industry, to pre- 

 vent the importation of diseased cattle, and to provide means for the 

 suppression and extirpation of pleuro-pneumonia and other contagious 

 diseases among domestic animals " was approved May 29, 1884. 



The objects and purposes of the Bureau are clearly defined in the 

 above title of the act establishing it. At the time this act was passed 

 by Congress it was not known that the disease called pleuro-pneumonia 

 among cattle existed in any part of the United States west of the Alle- 

 ghany Mountains, but in August, 1884, it was discovered in the State 

 of Illinois, and an investigation by the olficersof the Bureau revealed a 

 very extensive and alarming outbreak, involving herds in Ohio, Illi- 

 nois, and Kentucky. Such measures were adopted to prevent its fur- 

 ther spread and to secure its eventual extirpation as were possible 

 under the law and b}-^ co-operation with the authorities and citizens of 

 the affected States. 



The law establishing the Bureau of Animal Industry does not author- 

 ize the slaughter of affected animals, but only authorizes such quaran- 

 tine as may bo necessary to prevent the spread of contagious disease? 



