282 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



which develop further .symptoms of disease later, until they 

 are in a condition to infect any new purchases that may have 

 been free from disease when put in the stable, but in time 

 aiTive at a condition where the}'^ have to be (juarantined and 

 killed. 



During 1903, (ii)0 more cattle have been (juarantined by 

 the local inspectors of animals on sus})icion of being tuber- 

 culous than during the [)revious year ; 322 more have been 

 killed because of this disease, to say nothing of the 326 

 released from quarantine for lack of funds. If anything, it 

 Avould seem that ground was being lost in the eradication of 

 tuberculosis among cattle, rather than being gained, under 

 the present system of dealing with this malady. If the 

 monej^ now expended in paying for bad cases of tuberculosis 

 could be used for testing and cleaning up entire herds where 

 the disease exists, more permanent headway might be made 

 towards diminishing its frequency. 



This testing could be conmienced in cattle-raising districts 

 in the western i)art of the State, Avhere there are only two 

 or three bad herds perhaps in many of the towns, which are 

 a constant source of danger to the neighboring ones ; and, as 

 these localities were cleaned up, work could later be under- 

 taken on the same plan in the infected localities in the 

 eastern part of the Commonwealth. If such measures were 

 adopted, the State ought to disinfect the stables where cattle 

 were killed, and the owner should be required to sign a 

 binding agreement to buy only tested cattle in the future. 

 A second and perhaps a third test might be made by the 

 State the following year or two, to be sure that no diseased 

 animals remained to infect new purchases, and condemned 

 cattle should be paid for from the Cattle Bureau's appropria- 

 tion. After it ai)peared certain that a herd was freed from 

 the infection, the owner should be required to maintain it in 

 a state of health thereafter. Any intelligent farmer can 

 learn to use tuberculin himself, and any one who now wishes 

 to can easily keep a tested herd, if he chooses, without State 

 aid. To do this with appropriations no larger than those 

 of the past few years would require a change in the law, 

 providing that individual animals now (piarantined b^ the 



