REPORT. 



Boston, Jan. 9, 1912. 

 To the State Board of Agriculture. 



I have the honor to present for your consideration the 

 twentieth semiannual report of the Chief of the Cattle 

 Bureau. It is also, as you are aware, the second annual 

 report bearing my signature as head of the department, and 

 embodies in its scope the statistics of the work of the Bureau 

 for the fiscal year ending Nov. 30, 1911. 



In my first report to your honorable body made one year 

 ago it was impossible to speak of work accomplished, as I 

 had then been at the helm but two months. Necessarily, I 

 could only tell you something of what I hoped to do, to point 

 out sundry changes in methods that seemed to me desirable, 

 and to outline partly a policy for the future. Standing then 

 upon the threshold of the work my report was largely tenta- 

 tive and sketchy. To-day after a year of studious application 

 to my official duties I feel justified in speaking with a 

 definiteness born of experience. 



The department, the administration of which I have been 

 charged with through appointment by one Governor and 

 reappointment by his successor, has received my constant 

 attention, and my sense of its importance as guardian of the 

 animal industry of the State has steadily increased. I am 

 more firmly convinced than ever that in its relation to the 

 public its importance cannot be overestimated. 



My first full year of service has seen sundry changes in 

 policy established, all of wdiich have passed the frictional 

 stage and are working successfully, and has likewise demon- 

 strated that still other changes are necessary. In this connec- 

 tion I should like to make a record of the fact, which is 

 already known to you, and of which I am proud, that every 

 petition for legislation emanating from the Cattle Bureau 



