76 ILLINOIS STATE DAIRYMEN'S ASSOCIATION 



it is a service which is equally important to one as it is to 

 another. The dairy side of it is an important branch be- 

 cause dairy products are an important food commodity. I 

 hope you will watch that division in the future and see 

 wherein they are rendering efficient service. They are not 

 functioning one hundred per cent but they are functioning 

 very much better every month as time goes on. 



Next I wish to mention that division of Plant Indus- 

 tries and Seed Inspection. This division handles the en- 

 forcement of the seed laws of the state as carried on by 

 the eradication program which removed one of the worst 

 enemies of the wheat grower. It has carried on the black 

 smut campaign, and this last spring when the white snake- 

 root epidemic broke out in northern Illinois and on down- 

 state until it reached Cairo, that division was on the job 

 making surveys of farms and localities where the outbreaks 

 occurred, warning the farmers as to whether or not they 

 had white snakeroot in their pastures; and I am satisfied 

 there were thousands of head of cattle, horses and sheep 

 saved by the warnings given by that division. But more 

 important than that, I am satisfied that a great many hu- 

 man lives were saved, for the drinking of milk from cows 

 that have eaten white snakeroot is very poisonous. We 

 have had several deaths in this state this year. 



The division is now not only engaged in the analyzing 

 of seed samples but is also sending out bulletins, delivering 

 talks and doing everything they can to warn the farmers 

 of Illinois, so that another j^ear should we have a repetition 

 of the white snakeroot epidemic, the farmers of this state 

 will know what it is, will be forewarned, and will be able 

 to guard against it. 



This division also has control of some of the embargo 

 and quarantine work for the protection of our plant life. 

 It is occasionally necessary for the state department to issue 

 an embargo for the protection of agriculture. It may be 

 for the protection of the plant life of the state or it may 

 be for the protection of the livestock industry of the state. 

 We all make mistakes, but we are doing our best to pro- 

 tect the farmer. 



