164 THE MASSACHUSETTS SOCIETY 



grasses; in 1882 the sum which had been usual for 

 several years, for scholarships at the State Agricul- 

 tural College; in 1883, for engravings, and printing a 

 treatise on the pine moth of Nantucket, $237 ; in 1886, 

 for certain experiments designed to destroy potato 

 bugs, $100; in 1887, for premiums for the exhibition 

 of the Massachusetts Poultry Association, $300; in 

 1888, in aid of the United States agricultural exhibit 

 at the Exposition in Paris, by a display of plates pub- 

 lished in Michaux works, $100; in 1889, for premiums 

 for the Boston Horse Show, $150, and in the same 

 year, for an insectory at the State Agricultural Col- 

 lege, $200; in 1890, for premiums at the Massachu- 

 setts Poultry Association's exhibition, $200; and in 

 1891, for preparatory measures for a Dairy Exhibit 

 from New England at the World's Fair, to take place 

 at Chicago, $175. 



In 1886 an investigation was begun, under the 

 auspices of the society, of certain diseases of milch 

 cows, more especially that known as tuberculosis. In 

 1887 a farm in West Roxbury was leased, which is 

 called in the society's records, the Experiment Farm. 

 A considerable number of diseased anim.als were pro- 

 cured, enough to represent the several noticeable 

 stages of the progress or development of the disease. 

 The chief immediate purpose of the investigation was 

 to ascertain whether the milk of tuberculous cows was 

 so infected by germs of the disease as to be a possible, 

 or probable, means of spreading the disease among 

 human beings, both when the animals were diseased 

 in the udder, and elsewhere. Incidentally the phe- 

 nomena of the disease, as a matter of scientific inquiry, 

 and methods of cure, were taken into consideration. 

 A number of calves of healthy animals were purchased, 

 and these were fed with the milk of diseased cows, and 



