REPORT. 



To the State Board of A(/ricnUure. 



I have the honor to .submit the fourth .semiannual report 

 of the Cattle Bureau of the State Board of Agriculture, as 

 provided for in section 3 of chapter ll(i of the Acts of 1902. 



This report will be more in detail than the third semi- 

 annual rei)ort, made to the Board at the meeting at Amherst 

 last June, as the report i)re.sented the first of the year is 

 intended to take the place of the annual report formerly 

 made by the Cattle Commission to the Legislatiu'e. 



The report made in the summer is simply a very brief 

 account of the work done during the first half of the year, 

 while the later one is intended to give a full and detailed 

 statement of the doings of the Cattle Bureau for the entire 

 year. Owing to the necessity of having the report ready by 

 the tenth day of January, it is necessary to close the books 

 of the Bureau the 15th of December. This report therefore 

 includes the period from Dec. 15, 1902, to Dec. 15, 1903. 



The report now presented includes the work performed in 

 connection with tuberculosis in cattle and glanders in hor.ses, 

 and also a history of foot and mouth disease, cohnuencing 

 at the point where it was left in the last report, Jan. 1, 1903, 

 to the time of its eradication. Other diseases will be men- 

 tioned briefly ; but there is not a great deal to say in this 

 connection, as, aside from the outbreak of foot and mouth 

 disease, the 3^ear has been more free from other contagious 

 animal diseases than usual, and the i)rincipal labor per- 

 formed aside from that for the suppression of epizootic 

 aphtha has been chiefly in connection with tuberculosis and 

 fflanders. 



Owing to the fact that the books are brought u\) only to 

 the 15th of December each year, the financial statement 

 shows the amount of money on hand at that time, and does 

 not give a clear idea of what the deficiency in the appro pria- 



