476 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



cause must be very heavy every year, to say nothing of the 

 danger to human beings who are brought in contact with ani- 

 mals infected with this disease, and no means should be neg- 

 lected towards doing everything possible for its eradication. 



The estimated value of the horses killed in Massachusetts 

 as having glanders or farcy is $67,646, based upon the fol- 

 lowing figures : the average value of 184 horses, killed by 

 order of the Board, as having glanders and farcy, estimated 

 at time of condemnation by a member of the commission 

 or an agent, was $90.80 ; the value of 745 horses killed 

 as having this disease, at the same average value, would 

 amount to $67,646. While this is a high estimate, many 

 of the horses killed with the owners' consent, without ex- 

 amination by the commission, probably being worth much 

 less than the average, yet the total loss to horse owners of 

 the State must be nearly $60,000. 



From Dec. 15, 1900, to Dec. 15, 1901, 908 cases of sus- 

 pected glanders or farcy have been reported to the commis- 

 sion, in 129 cities and towns ; of these, 745 were killed or 

 died and 163 were found free from this malady, as compared 

 with 849 cases in 1900, in 128 cities and towns, of which 

 700 were killed and 149 were found to be uninfected. Of 

 the animals destroyed, 4 were mules and the rest horses. 



In dealing with glanders, it seems to be much easier to 

 eradicate it in the smaller cities and towns and in the sparsely 

 settled rural districts than in the larger cities and their sur- 

 roundings. In the former places the watering troughs are 

 closed, the blacksmiths urged to whitewash their shops, and 

 any diseased horses killed and their stables disinfected, and 

 suspicious ones kept under observation. But in larger 

 cities, such as Boston, Worcester and Fall River, it is ever 

 present, and these places serve as centres of infection to 

 keep the disease from disappearing entirely in surrounding 

 cities and towns. For instance, in places adjoining Boston 

 many of the cases occur among horses owned by teamsters 

 and expressmen, which go back and forth over the road to 

 the city nearly every day. Of the 17 cases in Newton 

 during the past year, 9 of the animals killed were owned by 

 five different express companies. 



