Ill BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



But in many cases all these evidences are not fully de- 

 veloped, and great caution is required that a mistake is not 

 made, and an animal needlessly condemned. In the dis- 

 charge of our duty cases of this kind have occurred which 

 illustrate this uncertainty. One, the noted Cambridge horse- 

 railroad case of 1887 and 1888, where, out of a total of 1,800 

 animals, many most excellent veterinarians adjudged that 

 nearly seventy were surely glandered. This opinion was 

 combated by a majority of our Board, and the horses re- 

 leased from quarantine. Measures were taken to receive 

 information from the released animals for two years, and, so 

 far as known, not a case of glanders has developed. The 

 animal which was thought to present the clearest evidence of 

 disease is at this date owned by the company, is performing 

 heavy work, and is in perfect health. Another case occurred 

 at Rehoboth, in 1888, which illustrates this uncertainty. 

 Dr. J. F. Winchester, then the veterinarian of this Board, 

 was notified by the board of health of that town that they 

 had placed in quarantine the horse of one Miller, suspected 

 of being infected with glanders. The doctor examined the 

 case, and reported that, in his opinion, it was unmistakably 

 glanders. The animal was condemned, and an order for its 

 destruction issued, which was executed by one Horton, a 

 selectman of the town. Subsequently Miller sued Horton 

 for damage, and the case came to trial before the court at 

 Taunton. The finding of the court was that the horse was 

 not glandered, but at a second trial the decision was rendered 

 that it was glandered. 



Hog Cholera. 

 During the year we have been frequently notified of sus- 

 pected cases of this disease, some of which, however, were 

 other diseases of similar type. The complaint is rife among 

 swine herds at the West, and discussions and investigations 

 are continued in relation to its distinctive characteristics, 

 and the nice technical differences between this and some other 

 forms of disease to which swine are liable ; but nothing 

 specially new in this line has been discovered, or in that of 

 giving exemption from the disease. There is much less of 

 it in our State now than four or five years ago ; but the 



