376 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan. 



which have come to us from abroad, or from some section of 

 our own country where it exists, though more or less con- 

 cealed from public knowledge. The great trend of cattle 

 movement is along the different trunk railway lines from the 

 West to the Atlantic sea-board ; and there will be danger of 

 its appearance here so long as it exists anywhere in the 

 Middle States or at the West. It has been our endeavor to 

 avoid this danger by quarantine regulations, and arrange- 

 ments made with the U. S. Department of Animal Industry, 

 that all animals coming to us from areas of infection shall be 

 inspected by the veterinary officers of the department, and 

 a permit for transportation given only to such as can receive 

 a clean bill o£ health. We would not utter a word to 

 encourage our stock owners or l)oards of health to relax 

 their vigilance in relation to the health of their herds ; but, if 

 they would bear in mind the facts here stated, they would 

 see there is no occasion for serious alarm in the many cases 

 to which our attention is called. If the trouble complained 

 of is among their home stock, and they have not been in 

 contact with fresh arrivals from Europe or the West, it can- 

 not be contagious pleuro-pneumonia. Such cases are doubt- 

 less pulmonary tuberculosis, a destroying disease, and one to 

 be avoided if possible, but which is of minor importance 

 when compared with the first named. 



The attention of our farmers, and of those who consume 

 our stock products, has been called to this disease in several 

 of our former reports. In our last. Dr. Winchester, who 

 was then the veterinarian of the Board, treated of it in an 

 exhaustive manner, giving a minute description of all its 

 lesions, to what extent it was contagious, and its mode of 

 propagation ; the danger to humans of consuming the milk or 

 flesh, however slightly the animal might be infected by it ; 

 the methods to be pursued to avoid or mitigate this danger ; 

 and indicating the methods by Avhich it might be eradicated, 

 or its prevalence materially diminished. All seekers after 

 detailed information respecting it are referred to that report. 

 Should this disease materially increase in those sections of 

 the State where milk is produced for town and city markets, 

 as a measure to guard the public health, it may become the 

 duty of the commissioners or of local boards of health to 



