508 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



That authorities should oversee the condition of the barns or 

 cow sheds, which should include the following : — 



1. An impervious floor. 



2. Sufficient water supply for flushing. 



3. Proper drainage. 



4. Depot for manure at sufficient distance from byres. 



5. Minimum cubic contents of from 600 to 800 for each adult 

 beast. 



6. Minimum floor space of 50 feet to each adult beast. 



7. Sufficient light and ventilation. 



For the elimination of bovine tuberculosis the commission 

 recommends that on certain conditions a gratuitous supply 

 of tuberculin, together with the services of a veterinary sur- 

 geon, be given stock owners. These conditions are : — 



1. That the test be applied by a veterinary surgeon. 



2. That tuberculin be supplied only to such owners as will 

 undertake to isolate reacting animals from healthy ones. 



3. That the stock to be tested shall be kept under satisfactory 

 sanitary conditions,^ and more especially that sufficient air space, 

 ventilation and light be provided in the building occupied by the 



animals. 



* 



These are the principal points recommended by the Royal 

 Commission in its two years' sitting ; and, although arrived 

 at entirely independently, they come to the same conclusion 

 and embody the main points of the best laws on this subject 

 in European countries. (For synopsis of these European 

 laws, as well as laws of the various States in America deal- 

 ing with this subject, see Appendix.) 



As pointed out by Bang, nowadays when a person refers 

 to a herd as being tuberculous, the idea conveyed to the pro- 

 fessional mind is entirely different from what it would have 

 been a few years ago. The use of tuberculin has completely 

 revolutionized our ideas on the subject of tuberculosis. We 

 now know that incipient cases or cases of elementary infec- 

 tion are exceedingly common, and, as is natural, they are 

 most general where there is a lot of trading and shifting of 

 cows. This occurs most commonly of course in the dairy 

 centres, the infected dairy barns gradually becoming centres 



