254 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



This is the same number of herds as in 190G, but includes 

 more animals, with a larger per cent of reactions. Some 

 herds were found to be absolutely healthy, in others there 

 was a very large percentage found to be diseased. It is 

 gratifying to find, however, that in herds that have been 

 tested in previous years the animals as a rule are generally 

 free from tuberculosis, and the herds where a large per cent 

 are diseased are those that have not been previously tested. 



Several of the herds where tests have been made on volun- 

 tary request are the property of State institutions. The 

 advisability of the Cattle Bureau doing this work is ques- 

 tionable; furnishing an agent and paying for animals that 

 are rendered from its appropriation is too much like a man 

 doing business by taking money out of one pocket and putting 

 it into another. While it seems proper perhaps for the 

 Cattle Bureau to furnish a skilled veterinarian with tuber- 

 culin for this work, it would be better to let the Legislature 

 make a special appropriation for each institution to replenish 

 its herd when there was any loss in it from tuberculosis. 



There seems to be a continued interest in the immuniza- 

 tion of calves from tuberculosis by the Von Behring method. 

 There are a number of herds in the State where the young 

 animals are being immunized, and thus far the results seem 

 to be very encouraging. This method will be particularly 

 valuable in pure-bred herds in which tuberculosis exists, 

 where it is undesirable to kill the parent stock, many mem- 

 bers of which may be but slightly diseased, yet where the 

 young animals would grow up in a scrofulous condition if 

 it were not for this means of conferring upon them immunity 

 from disease. 



When Koch discovered the tubercle bacillus in 1882, he 

 announced that it was identical in animals and man. This, 

 if true, would make the milk from tuberculous cows very 

 dangerous as an article of human food, if used in an un- 

 cooked state, as milk usually is. 



Dr. Theobald Smith, however, in 1890-98 demonstrated 

 the existence of two types of tubercle bacilli, — the bovine 

 derived from cattle, and the human found in the sputum of 

 persons suffering from phthisis. When Koch's attention was 



