898 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XII. No. 311. 



Department on behalf of sugar and tea in- 

 dustries, of the orange industry, which owes 

 its beginning and its preservation to this 

 Department, of the tobacco industry, and 

 others. 



Then taking up the work of the Depart- 

 ment in more detail, he reviews the opera- 

 tions of its several branches. 



WEATHER BUREAU. 



Important extensions of the Weather 

 Bureau work have been made during the 

 past year. Its efforts were specially di- 

 rected to investigate methods of electrical 

 communication without wires, with a view 

 to establishing wireless electrical communi- 

 cation between vessels at sea and exposed 

 points on our lake and sea coast. New ap- 

 pliances have been devised and receivers 

 constructed more delicate than any hereto- 

 fore made. Already messages have been 

 successfully transmitted and received over 

 60 miles of land presenting a rough and 

 irregular surface, and it is believed that 

 the efficiency thus indicated would operate 

 successfully over several hundred miles of 

 water. This matter, says the Secretary, is 

 of such importance to commerce that he 

 has authorized further extensive experi- 

 ments, and he expresses the hope that in 

 the near future the craft employed in our 

 coastwise commerce and on the Great 

 Lakes will be placed in instantaneous com- 

 munication with the stations of the Weather 

 Bureau located at the principal ports. 



Special storm forecasts for the North At- 

 lantic will be undertaken shortly through 

 the use of reports received from the West 

 Indies, the Bahamas, Bermuda, the Azores, 

 and Portugal, the new cable system connect- 

 ing Lisbon with New York via the Azores 

 making this possible. Much stress is laid 

 upon the continued improvement of the 

 forecast service and the value of its warn- 

 ings. He points out that, notwithstanding 

 the great number of craft plying the Gulf 



of Mexico at the time of the Galveston 

 storm, the warnings were so timely that 

 there was no disaster upon the open waters. 



BUREAU or ANIMAL INDUSTRY. 



The number of abattoirs and packing- 

 houses receiving the benefit of inspection 

 was 148 in 45 localities, as against 138 in 

 41 localities the preceding year. The total 

 ante-mortem inspections of cattle aggre- 

 gated 53,087,994 ; animals rejected, subject 

 to post-mortem, at abattoirs, 5,928; and in 

 stock yards, 153,561. The total post-mor- 

 tem inspections were 34,737,613, and the 

 total carcasses condemned, 61,906. In the 

 microscopic inspection of pork 999,554 

 carcasses were examined. Of these but 

 19,448, or 1.95 per cent., were found to 

 contain living trichinse. The total cost of 

 inspection was but a few dollars over $700,- 

 000. Of vessels inspected by officers of the 

 Bureau, 862 received clearances. Of the 

 cattle shipped across the Atlantic, the losa 

 amounted to but .24 per cent. ; of sheep, .71 

 per cent., and of horses, 2.55 per cent. It 

 is interesting to note the great increase in 

 the number of horses exported. Of these, 

 over 29,000 were landed from American 

 ports at London, Liverpool and Glasgow. 



During the quarantine season of 1899 

 over a million cattle were moved under 

 the supervision of the Bureau from the 

 districtjinfected with the Southern cattle 

 tick. In Texas alone, over 357,000 cattle 

 were inspected for shipment to other sec- 

 tions. The sheep industry has suffijred 

 greatly from sheep scab, and much time 

 and attention have been given to securing 

 its control and eradication. Results so far 

 are encouraging, and the Secretary believes 

 that a few more years of earnest work will 

 effectually eradicate the disease. Over 

 1,800,000 sheep were inspected, and nearly 

 627,000 dipped under the supervision of the 

 inspectors. 



The work of preparing serum for treating 



