62 MAINE STATE COLLEGE 



some suspicion, which has not been confirmed by a more recent 

 examination. 



Thus it will be seen that we have had two cases of tubereulosis; 

 Sard 4th and her calf, and the rest of the thirty animals in the 

 herd are pronounced sound. 



It may interest some to know what the cattle of the College 

 have for feed. Sard 4th and the other mature cows giving milk 

 have been fed two quarts of shorts and one of corn meal at a feed 

 twice a day, and what good hay they would eat. The heifers are 

 raised on skimmed milk and as soon as they are old enough a 

 few shorts are given them and ' the amount gradually increased 

 until it reaches two quarts when they are two years old. No corn 

 meal or other grain than shorts is given to the heifers. In the 

 summer all the stock is turned out to pasture and while the feed 

 is good they get no grain. 



The question very naturally arises, Where did these two ani- 

 mals contract tuberculosis? Were they diseased animals when 

 they were brought here, but in so slight a degree that it could not 

 be detected by a careful examination, or were they infected after 

 they came ? 



That there is some ground for taking the latter view must be 

 admitted. There is too much tuberculosis walking about in 

 human form for us to be sure that any inhabited locality is free 

 from the elements of infection, and no greater change than these 

 animals underwent would probably render them somewhat more 

 susceptible for a time. That there was sufficient time for these 

 cases to develop as the result of infection after they were brought 

 here is abundantly shown by the fact that very much the most 

 advanced case of the two was brought here as a young calf. 

 There is no conclusive evidence either one way or the other, so 

 that if any one cares to think both' cases were the result of acci- 

 dental infection, occuring after they were brought here, there is 

 no proof to the contrary. But much the more probable theory is 

 that they were already infected animals when they came to Maine. 

 Indeed, it is possible that the ultimate source of their disease is 

 the native home of the Guernseys, as I understand that Sard 4th 

 was imported in her dam. It is much more likely that Sard 4th 

 conveyed the disease to her calf than that both of them con- 

 tracted it independently and all the rest of the herd escaped,' 

 although exposed to the same danger. 



The greater advance that the disease made in the heifer may be 



