160 



EEPOET OF THE BUEEAU OF ANIMAL INDUSTEY. 



give notice thereof so that their entire herds might be submitted to veterinary in- 

 spection. Furthermore, an ordinance has been issued strictly prohibiting all trans- 

 port of live bogs or young pigs from one district to the other, 'and that no removal 

 of the animals shall be made from their present dwellings, excepting by special 

 permission for the purpose of immediate slaughter; and lastly, power has been 

 given to all the police authorities, on any suspicion of disease, to order the imme- 

 diate slaughter of the animals, and a post mortem examination of the carcass to be 

 made by the veterinary officials ; and on the appearance of the disease in any lo- 

 cality under their jurisdiction to order the immediate slaughter of a part or the 

 entire herd as may be deemed necessary. 



It is thus to be hoped that by these measures further spread of the disease may 

 be arrested. It is, however, much to be feared that, in addition to the losses en- 

 tailed upon the Kingdom in the destruction of animals in the course of the disease, 

 the sorely-tried farmers in these days of agricultural depression will also be sub- 

 jected to material loss in a diminished sale to foreign countries of their swine 

 products. An order has already been issued by the German Federal Council pro- 

 hibiting all importation into the German Empire of swine, pork, and sausages from 

 Sweden, Norway, and Denmark, which will be most seriously felt by the agricult- 

 ural interests, as the exports of live hogs and young pigs are almost entirely di- 

 rected to Germany, whilst the exports of pork and hams are mainly forwarded to 

 Great Britain, as will be seen by the following tables, namely: 



* Average. 



From the foregoing figures full evidence is afforded that whilst the exports of 

 live stock have met with considerable decline in the latter years, a great increase 

 has taken place in the exports of swine products, due to the large number of 

 slaughter and salting establishments which have been erected in this country for 

 the development of the pork, bacon, and ham trade with England, and thus the 

 loss to the agricultural interests it is to be hoped will not be quite so severely felt as 

 would have been the case in former years under similar unfortunate conditions, and 

 it is scarcely to be feared that England will likewise place obstacles in the way of 

 the free imports of the products into her ports ; for inasmuch as the imports of 

 swine into Great Britain from this country have for some time only been admitted 

 in slaughtered condition, and setting apart the facts that swine in mature stage for 

 slaughter are far less exposed to this disease than young pigs, there will be found 

 at the same time, under the close inspection which has been introduced throughout 

 the Kingdom, and the energetic steps taken by the authorities in all cases of sus- 

 picion, an almost certain probability that no pork from a diseased animal can possi- 

 bly be exported. The sale of swine products for home consumption plays likewise 

 a very important part ; and it is here again to be feared that restricted sales will be 

 sensibly felt until the temporary scare in partaking of swine flesh has had time to 

 subside. 



In order that the energetic measures taken by the Government for the stamping 

 out of the plague may be crowned with full success it will be necessary that the 

 agriculturists should give at the same time a loyal support to the issued instructions, 

 and work hand in hand with the authorities. He who may delay in reporting or 

 may attempt to conceal any disease or suspicion of disease that may show itself at 

 his place will simply be committing a crime against the class to which he belongs ; 

 and honesty in this as well as in other cases will be found the best policy ; for 

 whereas he who reports the breaking out of disease amongst his flock will receive 

 two-thirds of the value of the slaughtered diseased animals, and full compensation 

 for the slaughtered sound ones, the dishonest party will incur not only risk of 

 confiscation of the diseased meat offered by him for sale, but will also render him- 

 self liable to heavy fines. The closing of Germany to the importation of these 

 products undoubtedly can not fail to entail severe loss upon the agricultural classes ; 

 but if success can only attend the stringent measures adopted for preventing the 

 further spread of the disease, it must be hoped the prohibition will be of short dura- 

 tion, and that agricultural interests will soon recover from the blow ; but should 

 the devastating plague on the other hand spread over the whole Kingdom, it will 



