534 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



a few days before the animals were sold, made cover-glass 

 preparations of their blood, and under date of November 4 

 reports that he was unable to find any of these organisms in 

 their blood. 



It is therefore clear that the source of infection was at the 

 West Albany stock yards. These stock yards became in- 

 fected because there is no provision for furnishing separate 

 chutes and pens for quarantine cattle, as required by the 

 rules and regulations of the Bureau of Animal Industry ; 

 and there is no agent of the Bureau of Animal Industry 

 there to see that these rules and regulations are enforced. 



Notwithstanding the fact that suspicion pointed much more 

 strongly to the West Albany stock yards as the infected area, 

 as will be seen from the information gathered by the Massa- 

 chusetts Cattle Commission, yet for some reason the Bureau 

 of Animal Industry chose to place the odium on the stock 

 yards at Brighton, ignoring the West Albany stock yards, if 

 a quotation from a letter of Dr. Cooper Curtice is correct. 

 He writes, under date of December 8, as follows : — 



The only step that the Bureau took regarding the outbreak was 

 to quarantine the Brighton yards. Up to October 14, or since, for 

 that matter, the Bureau took no measures to ascertain where the 

 disease was disseminated in this State (New York State), other 

 than to call it to the attention of the New York Commissioner of 

 Agriculture, about the middle of September, and, I believe, ask 

 him to investigate. No quarantine of those West Albany yards 

 was attempted until after frosts began, — early in October ; then 

 the assistant New York commissioner sent Dr. Kelly out there, to 

 tell them that, if they continued to admit cattle to alley D and its 

 pens, he would quarantine the whole yards. 



While not a legal procedure, it perhaps accomplislied its purpose. 

 The advice of j'our commission to Massachusetts buyers accom- 

 plished more. 



The whole matter at West Albany was handled in a very 

 unscientific and illegal manner by both the State and the Bureau. 

 In the first place, the yard should have been quarantined by the 

 Bureau at the same time as the Brighton yards. In the second 

 place, the State authorities should have quarantined on suspicion. 

 The commissioner of New York State was, however, partially 

 excusable, if not wholly, from the fact that the Bureau had 

 already thrown the fault upon the Brighton yards by their act of 



