No. 4.] REPORT OF CATTLE BUREAU. 319 



a few days before, and that another cow was quite sick. 

 There were several two-year-old heifers in the herd, which 

 the owner said had been sick but had recovered. Part of 

 the food of the animals was corn ensilage, which was cut 

 late in the fall, after having been frost-bitten ; and, as the 

 result of the intense cold of the winter, the frost had pene- 

 trated quite a way into the silo. As the owner seemed to 

 have plenty of hay and oat straw, he Avas advised not to 

 feed any more of this ensilage, but to clean out the silo as 

 soon as milder weather came, and plow the ensilage into the 

 ground. This disease was probablj?^ a septic pneumonia, due 

 to an organism similar to that producing swine plague or the 

 corn-stalk disease. No further complaint from this farm 

 has been received, and it is supposed that no more trouble 



followed. 



Foot and Mouth Disease. 



There has been no foot and mouth disease in the United 

 States since the last cases occurred at Wakefield, in August, 

 1903, but an occasional echo is heard. Cases of foot and 

 mouth disease Avere reported during the spring from Shef- 

 field, Holbrook and Carlisle. When investigated by agents 

 of the Cattle Bureau, the suspected cattle were found to be 

 suftering with ordinary foot rot. 



Takosis. 

 At the time of the report made a year ago takosis was 

 spoken of as an infectious disease occurring in goats, — 

 especially the Angora goat, — mentioned in the nineteenth 

 annual report of the United States Bureau of Animal Indus- 

 try. During the ^^'inter and spring sick goats have been 

 reported in two flocks, one at Mansfield, the other at South- 

 ville, in the town of Holliston. Investigation by Dr. 

 Frothingham has not enabled him to decide that any of 

 these animals had takosis. It was also thought that the 

 trouble might be due to a stomach worm {strongylus contor- 

 tus) among the Southville goats, but this parasite was not 

 found ; if present, it may have become disorganized in the 

 contents of the stomach after the goats died, too long an 

 interval having elapsed between the death of the goats and 



