374 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



The reason for reporting the number of cases in Boston 

 separately is because the Board of Health has full jurisdic- 

 tion over glanders and farcy, and this Bureau has nothing to 

 do with investigating cases which occur in Boston. 



The law provides a penalty for any one removing, trans- 

 porting or selling an animal with a contagious disease, if the 

 person knows or has reasonable cause to believe svich to be 

 the fact. Persons disposing of glandered horses always 

 deny that they knew or suspected the existence of a con- 

 tagious disease, and it is therefore useless to prosecute 

 cases unless proof is forthcoming to show there was good 

 reason for believing the presence of glanders and farcy. 

 But one case occurred in 1902 where the Cattle Commission 

 prosecuted a man for disposing of a glandered horse. This 

 occurred near Greenfield, and a conviction was secured. 



Contagious Diseases of Swine. 



Between Dec. 15, 1901, and Dec. 15, 1902, 18 outbreaks 

 of diseases of an apparentlj^ contagious character in swine 

 have been reported in Haverhill, Sharon, Easton, Ludlow, 

 Lancaster, Greenfield, Boston, Worcester, Townsend, Chat- 

 ham, Halifax, Erving, Florida, South Hadley, Weston, 

 Springfield, Great Barrington and Orange. On investiga- 

 tion, most of the diseases have been found to be either hog 

 cholera or swine plague. About 900 swine have been in- 

 volved, and of these, about 300 have died. 



Where contagious disease appears among a lot of swine, 

 about all that can be done is to quarantine the premises, and 

 not allow the owner to sell any until the sick have either 

 died or recovered, and no more cases appear. Owing to 

 farmers, as a rule in this section, keeping their pigs confined 

 in pens, diseases of swine do not seem to spread to the ex- 

 tent that they do in the west, and the outbreak is usually of 

 a limited character. In very many instances it is undoubt- 

 edly aggravated by the conditions under which the animals 

 are kept, being confined in dirty pens, and fed on city swill 

 or swill from hotels. A number of the cases reported during 

 the past season have been among swine which were fed upon 

 swill from hotels, and the animals that were sick have recov- 



