142 AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH AND THE FARMER : 



Contagions Abortion in Cows. — The vaccine for giving bovine 

 animals a resistance against this destructive disease was elaborated 

 and worked out at the Institute. It is still being studied with 

 a view to obtaining further improvements. The appreciation 

 of its usefulness may be gathered from the fact that the Labora- 

 tory has to prepare 30,000 doses annually to meet the demands 

 of stock owners. Leaflets and reports explaining its use and 

 advantages have been issued for the information of farmers. 



Immunisation of Pedigree Stock before export to tropical and 

 sub-tropical countries. — One of the hindrances to our export 

 trade in pedigree stock is the fact that these valuable animals 

 lor the improvement of native breeds so frequently die from the 

 diseases prevalent in the countries to which they are exported. 

 The virus of some of these diseases has been brought to this 

 country, and experiments have been and are being carried out 

 with a view to obtaining a method of immunisation which can 

 be applied before the animals are shipped from Great Britain. 

 \^ery considerable progress has been made, and it is now a prac- 

 ticable proposition to immunise bovines against tropical red 

 water [Piroplasmosis bigeminum). There is also good reason to 

 believe that it will soon be practicable to immunise against 

 anaptamosis, a disease which takes a heavy toU of animals 

 imported into South Africa, the Argentine and Brazil. Provision 

 has also been made at the Institute for carrj-ing out the actual 

 immunisation of animals before shipment. 



Diseases of Sheep. — The investigation of diseases of sheep, 

 which has been much neglected, is receiving attention, and much 

 progress has been made. Some of these diseases^ — " scrapie," 

 for example- — have very long incubation periods, and this neces- 

 sarily makes experimental investigation a slow process. In 

 " scrapie " the incubation period is about two years. 



Helminthology. — The worm parasites of the domesticated 

 animals and the pathology and epizootiology of the diseases 

 caused by them in Great Britain are being studied, and papers 

 on the subject have been published. A specially trained officer 

 to deal with this subject has recently been appointed to the 

 Institute. 



Poultry Diseases. — For several years the Institute has been 

 investigating diseases of poultry, but has been greatly retarded 

 by want of proper provision in the way of funds and special 

 staff. That difficulty has now been surmounted and a poultry 

 pathologist Vvdll be appointed to concentrate on this subject. 



