400 DISEASES OF OATTLE. 



unknown among the native (criollo) cattle. Its appearance dates from 

 the introduction of pure breeding animals. Statistics prove that 

 tuberculosis is observed among the grades — above all among those of 

 the Durham and less among the Hereford." 



Moreover, the reports of the royal commission of Victoria, Australia, 

 and of the New Zealand department of agriculture, show a large pro- 

 portion of tuberculous cattle in those colonies, where the disease was 

 almost certainly carried by British cattle. 



In the same manner that tuberculosis has been carried from Great 

 Britain to Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Argentina, and Australia, it 

 has also been taken to Canada. In one herd of imported cattle 

 slaughtered in the Canadian quarantine station, 13 of the 14 animals 

 were found tuberculous. One of the largest Shorthorn herds in 

 Canada was some time ago tested because an animal from it was 

 condemned when offered for shipment to the United States. This 

 herd was found to be very badly affected, and an effort is being made 

 to eradicate the disease by the Bang method. A Canadian official 

 publication says of another Shorthorn herd, which at one time had a 

 very high reputation, that when an investigation in regard to tuber- 

 culosis was recently made the disease was found among ordinary cattle 

 wherever animals from this herd had been introduced, and that this 

 herd, which had been looked upon as one of the greatest benefits to 

 the farming community, was really a danger, because it disseminated 

 tuberculosis among the farmers' herds. Still another well-known 

 herd recently attracted attention because four animals from it offered 

 for export to the United States were all tuberculous. 



From December 23, 1900, to February 19, 1901, the period that the 

 Department inspector tested all Canadian cattle intended for shipment 

 to the United States, 140 purebred Shorthorns and 3 Shorthorn grades 

 were tested, and of the total number of 26, or IS per cent, reacted. 

 During the first month that this inspection was enforced, and when it 

 may be assumed that the condition of the cattle most nearly repre- 

 sented what it had previously been, 74 cattle were offered for importa- 

 tion, and 18, or 24.3 per cent, were found tuberculous. 



In justice to Shorthorn cattle it should be said in this connection 

 that they are probably no more susceptible to tuberculosis than are 

 other breeds, but the disease has been allowed to spread in certain 

 herds and families to such an extent as to give a wrong impression 

 concerning the breed as a whole. 



The slaughterhouse statistics of Prussia show 14.6 per cent of the 

 cattle and 2.14 per cent of the hogs to be tuberculous. In Saxony 

 the percentage is 29.13 with cattle and 3.10 with hogs. In the city 

 of Leipzig the figures are 36.4 for cattle and 2.17 for hogs. (Siedam- 

 grotzky.) Of 20,850 animals in Belgium tested with tuberculin in 

 1896, 48. 88 per cent reacted. (Stubbe. ) Of 25,439 tested in Denmark 

 from 1893 to 1895, 49.3 per cent reacted; and of 67,263 tested from 

 1896 to 1898, 32.8 per cent reacted. (Bang.) 



