220 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pul). Doc. 



designated merely ])y a single letter, that it appeared that to 

 widen the inquiry would doubtless serve a useful purpose, 

 although with the very limited force available it was mani- 

 festly impossil)le to cover the entire ground. Therefore, in 

 the latter part of July the secretary of the Board sent to the 

 board of health in every city and town within the Common- 

 wealth a circular letter, asking for a list of slaughterhouses 

 in each place, and information concerning their sanitary con- 

 dition." 



From 103 no replies were received, although the reports 

 to the Chief of the Cattle Bureau show that there are licensed 

 slaughterhouses in 10 of these towns. Twenty-three of these 

 towns were afterward visited by an inspector of the State 

 Board of Health, who found slaughterhouses in 16 of them; 

 only 1 of these places was among the 10 that had previously 

 reported licensing slaughterhouses to the Cattle Bureau 

 office. 



One hundred and one reported that they had no slaughter- 

 houses, — a melancholy fact in many cases, as many of these 

 conmmnities ought to be self-supporting, and supply their 

 own meat products. Fifty reported that their slaughtering 

 establishments were in a satisfactory condition and were not 

 visited. Only 8 of these had previously reported licensing 

 slaughterhouses to the Cattle Bureau office. 



Twenty-three places which reported the number of slaugh- 

 terhouses, but not their condition, were not visited; only 2 

 of these have reported licensing slaughterhouses to the Cattle 

 Bureau office. 



Five cities having large slaughtering estaljlishments , namely, 

 Boston, Cambridge, Chicopee, Somerville and Worcester, 

 were reported upon in the June " Bulletin ; " only Cambridge 

 and Chicopee have notified the Cattle Bureau of having granted 

 licenses. 



The September and October bulletins then describe the 

 conditions in 107 cities and towns, comprising 201 slaugh- 

 tering establishments ; that is, there seem to be slaughtering 

 establishments in at least 210 of the 354 cities and towns 

 of this Commonwealth, including a much larger number of 

 slaughterhouses, and only 50 of these had reported licensing 



