482 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



Blackleg, or Symptomatic Anthrax.* 



(Quarter III of the English; Ranch-brand of the Germans; and the 

 Charbon Symplomatique of the French.) 



During the season of 1901 there has been very little 

 trouble from blackleg reported to the Cattle Commission. 

 In localities where it prevailed extensively in the summer 

 of 1900 no cases occurred ; the few instances where it has 

 been found have been, as a rule, in places where it was not 

 observed the year before. 



Early in the season the Board felt that a further study of 

 the disease which prevailed in Hubbardston and the adjoin- 

 ing towns during the summer of 1900 should be made, in 

 order to ascertain as far as possible its nature, and also to 

 determine means for its prevention if it should again appear. 

 In the report of the Cattle Commission for 1901 (work done 

 in 1900) it will be remembered that an inoculation experi- 

 ment was tried upon a two-year-old heifer, four cubic centi- 

 meters of a three-day-old bouillon culture being injected 

 into the connective tissue under the skin on the shoulder, 

 with a hypodermic syringe, without producing serious results, 

 beyond causing a rise in temperature, a slight loss of appetite 

 and a swelling at the point of inoculation, which gradually 

 subsided. It is safe to assume that an animal thus protected 

 would be immune if introduced into an infected pasture ; 

 but it was not fair to come to the conclusion that all animals 

 thus treated would suffer as little inconvenience as this 

 heifer, and in some instances such experiments might result 

 fatally ; it was, therefore, decided to continue the experi- 

 ment on a larger scale, in order to decide whether young 

 cattle could safely be inoculated with an active organism 

 of the disease, without producing serious or fatal conse- 

 quences to some. Accordingly, in the month of April a 

 dozen young creatures were purchased, ranging in age from 

 six months to two years old. All were tested with tuber- 

 culin at the time of purchase, in order to be sure that they 

 were free from disease. The young animals were bought 



* A fuller description of this disease will be found in the separate report of the 

 Cattle Commissioners. 



