204 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



This order has been so well received and acted upon that 

 even within the short time during which it has been in force, 

 out of the three hundred and fifty-two cities and towns there 

 are two hundred and seventy-nine in which the work is being 

 done ; and there are good indications that before long nearly 

 all of the remaining seventy-three towns will have begun to 

 comply with the order. 



When the magnitude of undertaking the establishment of 

 a large corps of inspectors throughout the State is thor- 

 oughly understood, these results, reached within the com- 

 paratively short time of eighteen months, are exceedingly 

 satisfactory, and show evidence of an interest in the work 

 on the part of by far the greater majority of the towns of 

 the Commonwealth that promises exceedingly well for the 

 future. 



No little difficulty has been encountered by the towns in 

 getting men who are properly qualified to do the work. In 

 a number of cases veterinary surgeons and medical practi- 

 tioners have been appointed ; but in by far the larger num- 

 ber of instances men who have had years of experience 

 either as dealers in or butchers of cattle have been selected ; 

 a few farmers, who have had special opportunities, have been 

 made inspectors ; while there have been only a compara- 

 tively few instances in which the appointment made has not 

 evidenced a desire on the part of the town to do all that it 

 could to get the right man for the position. 



The duty of the inspector includes a visit to each place in 

 which neat cattle are kept; these locations, unless they are 

 already known to him, he obtains from the assessors' books. 

 He then makes a thoroughly careful examination of each 

 such animal, and if, in his opinion, no contagious disease 

 exists among them (contagious diseases under the law are 

 defined by section 3 of chapter 306, Acts of 1893), he leaves 

 with the owner the following form of certificate : — 



CERTIFICATE OF INSPECTION. 



To^yn of , montli of , 189 . 



I hereby certify that 1 have this day examined a herd of cows 



belonging to Mr of this town. I have found no evidence of 



the existence of tuberculosis, or any other contagious disease, among 



