168 BOAKD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



sanitary conditions. With this imj)rovement on the farms 

 the farmers have a right to expect that there shall be an 

 increased income from the sale of the animal products. 



With the recurrence of foot and mouth disease among the 

 cattle of the country it is encouraging to be able to report 

 at this time that, through the efficiency of our national and 

 State authorities, under whose jurisdiction matters of this 

 nature come, the disease has not gained a foothold in Massa- 

 chusetts. Although the disease has been found to exist only 

 in New York, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Michigan, the 

 restrictions that have necessarily been imposed by national 

 and State authorities, limiting the shipment of cattle, has 

 to a slight extent interfered with our milk producers obtain- 

 ing such additions to their herds as are necessary to enable 

 them to maintain the production of the amount of market 

 milk needed to supply the trade. 



The occasional occurrence of the disease glanders among 

 the horses in the rural districts is a matter of such im- 

 portance as to warrant a brief reference to it by your 

 committee. It is usually found that horses in which this 

 disease manifests itself are of recent importation from some 

 of the large cities of the State, more especially Boston, or 

 that it occurs among animals that have been in close contact 

 with these recently imported horses. Barring this source of 

 introduction, it is doubtful if the disease Would be often 

 found among the horses on the farm or among those in the 

 rural districts of the State. In many instances it is possi- 

 ble to trace the animal that acts as the center of infection 

 in these occasional outbreaks to a horse that has been recently 

 purchased at one of the city sale stables. It seems advisa- 

 ble in this report to call the attention of farmers to the 

 dangers that exist in connection with the purchase of animals 

 from such sources, more especially the purchase of second- 

 class animals that have for some time been kept in city 

 stables, that are liable to contain the infectious principle, of 

 this dangerous disease. 



Your committee so firmly believes that the majority of the 

 cases of glanders developing among the horses of the rural 



