6 BOAED OF AGRICULTURE. 



The Cattle Commission of Massachusetts have done what, 

 in their opinion, seemed called for. Last spring a request 

 was sent to the Commission asking if there were any restric- 

 tions against bringing Jersey cattle from New York or else- 

 where to Boston to sell at auction ; and the Commission felt 

 that, whether there were any or not, perhaps it would be 

 well to have some ; and, after consultation, it was agreed to 

 require an affidavit or certificate from a veterinarian, certify- 

 ing that each and every animal brought in here w^as healthy ; 

 and, furthermore, an affidavit from the owner that said 

 animal had not been in any infected district, or in any 

 way exposed to any contagious disease, during one year 

 preceding. Since this excitement at Chicago the Commission 

 have tried to learn what they ought to do under the circum- 

 stances, but have been waiting, and have not done anything 

 3'et. To undertake to quarantine the State against the ship- 

 ment of beef cattle or store cattle from Chicago over the 

 Grand Trunk, the Vermont Central and the two or three 

 other trunk lines, to stop them when they come to the 

 borders of the State, subject them to a rigid inspection, put 

 them in quarantine for three months, and treat all cattle that 

 are brought here for shipment to Europe in the same way, 

 is a considerable undertaking, and the Commission have not 

 felt like taking that step until it seemed absolutely neces- 

 sary. The general feeling of the meeting at Chicago, and 

 of Dr. Salmon, the head of the Bureau, was that quarantines 

 are very dangerous things to undertake, should not be 

 adopted except as the last resort, are hard to maintain and 

 very injurious to the business of the country. 



Mr. Ware. I should like to move the adoption of the 

 resolutions. 



Mr. BowDiTCH. Before a vote is taken I would like to 

 ask if the paper that the gentleman said was read by one of 

 the stock-yard men suggested any way of stamping out the 

 disease ? 



Mr. Cheever. Mr. Washburn, in his lengthy paper, 

 laid out a good deal of work which he thouo^ht ousrht to be 

 done, and it was not very different from the work that is 

 being done by the Bureau of Animal Industry at Washing- 

 ton. It seemed to the meetinsr that there was a bitterness 



