632 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. No. 4. 



said Board shall immediately notify each city and town and each 

 inspector throughout the Commonwealth that said appropriation is 

 exhausted, and thereafter no Massachusetts cattle shall be quar- 

 antined until a further appropriation is made, and all Massachu- 

 setts cattle quarantined at the time such notification is issued shall 

 be immediately released. 



During the year ending Dec. 15, 1896, the Board had at 

 its disposal appropriations amounting to $300,000. There 

 has been paid for 5,198 head of cattle condemned as tuber- 

 culous the sum of $173,200. 35; there are at the present 

 time 550 warrants for cattle which have been condemned 

 and killed, in process of approval, amounting to $16,- 

 040.25 ; there has been paid for quarantine expense on an- 

 imals $28,223.43, making a total of $217,470.03 which has 

 been returned to the cattle owners of the Commonwealth. 



The Board has asked the Sergeant-at-Arms for quarters at 

 the State House, and have his assurance that at an early date 

 the request will be granted. It is believed that with this 

 change of location the work of the Board can be more satis- 

 factorily handled, and that its administrative expenses can 

 be materially reduced. 



The Board is of the opinion that such lal)oratory work as 

 will be necessary in the future can be accomplished with 

 comparatively slight expense, and proposes to rearrange 

 this department with this view at an early date. 



The Board is convinced that the restrictions against the 

 testing of herds upon the request of the owners, which was 

 a provision in the bill of last year making the appropriation 

 for the Board, should not be re-enacted. The Board should 

 have power to do this work wherever owners will bind them- 

 selves to follow it by a strict compliance with the sanitary 

 regulations of the Board. 



Respectfully submitted, 



AUSTIN PETERS, Chairman, 

 JOHN M. PARKER, Secretary, 

 MAURICE O'CONNELL, 

 LEANDER F. HERRICK, 

 CHARLES A. DENNEN, 



Board of Cattle Commissioners. 



