348 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



Foot and mouth disease is characterized by slobbering or drool- 

 ing, smacking of the lips and lameness. Upon a closer examina- 

 tion, a vesicular eruption will be found inside the lips, on the 

 dental pad, in the mouth, on the tongue, between or around the 

 digits and upon the udder and teats. Later, the tops of the blis- 

 ters peel off, leaving superficial ulcerating sores. 



It is highly contagious, and may be spread by healthy animals 

 walking upon the highways where contaminated creatures have 

 been driven, by the use of stock cars which have not been disin- 

 fected, by utensils and by attendants. 



All persons are warned against going from infected premises to 

 those where healthy animals are kept. 



The milk from diseased cows is unsafe for food for inan or 

 cloven-footed animals, unless cooked or properly sterilized. 



This malady is a menace to the public health and to commercial 

 prosperity, and all good citizens are requested to co-operate with 

 federal and State authorities in assisting in its eradication, by re- 

 porting all cases that come to their knowledge, and by keeping 

 away from infected premises. 



Austin Peters, 

 Chief of Cattle Bureau. 



State House, Boston, Dec. 1, 1902. 



Followino- this was another letter of instruction to in- 

 spectors, telling them what they were expected to do within 

 the next few days, and calling for a rapid inspection of all 

 the neat cattle, sheep and swine in every city or town east 

 of the Connecticut River. Inspectors of animals of the 

 border towns, between Massachusetts and Rhode Island, 

 Connecticut or Vermont, received cards to be tacked up on 

 trees on the highways inside the Massachusetts line, forbid- 

 ding moving cattle, sheep, other ruminants or swine across 

 the boundaries of the State in either direction. Placards 

 were also printed and distributed to be tacked on buildings 

 where the disease existed, forbidding the removal of any 

 neat cattle, sheep or swine from the premises, or the intro- 

 duction of any new animals until the <iuarantine is officially 

 removed by the Chief of the Cattle Bureau. This placard 

 also forbids trespassing on the quarantined premises, for 

 fear that persons might carry the infection from one place 

 to another upon the hands, clothing or shoes. 



