Live Stock. 



48 



[July, 1911. 



This realization of the importance of 

 the live-stock industry and the confid- 

 ence placed in the men capable of its 

 protection, together with the determin- 

 ation of the veterinarians to put into 

 actual practice all sound theories per- 

 taining to the work, have in recent 

 years prevented animal diseases from 

 causing serious losses. There are many 

 points in the laws, methods, and institu- 

 tions pertaining to veterinary work in 

 Japan that are worthy the consider- 

 ation of other countries. 



ITALY. 



The Crisis in the Meat Supply and 

 the Recent Italian Zootechnic 

 Provisions. 



With regard to the above matter we 

 reproduce the following from the last 

 number of the Bulletin of the Bureau of 

 Social and Economic Intelligence, pub- 

 lished (31st May, 1911) by the Inter- 

 national Institute of Agriculture. 



The crisis in meat has spared no 

 country in recent years, and consequently 

 not even Italy. Much has been written 

 upon its causes, which certainly are 

 complex, but the chief cause, it appears, 

 is the increase in the consumption of 

 meat, which is due to the increased well- 

 being of the lower classes. 



In fact, it appears that, while in 1903 

 the annual a , \ erage consumption of meat 

 per inhabitant was 21 kg., in 1908 it rose 

 to 25 kg., to arrive at 30 kg,, in 1910. 

 At the same time the employment of 

 animals in agricultural work has also 

 increased. It is then no wonder that, 

 as meat is an article the quantity of 

 which it is not easy to increase, an 

 increase in supply has not been able to 

 keep pace with this rapid increase in 

 demand. 



To meet the difficulty, recourse has 

 been had to importation which, in only 

 three years, has increased tenfold, in 

 the case cf cattle alone rising from 12,000 

 head in 1907 to 122,000 in 1910. At the 

 same time exportation has diminished. 



All this has given a new impulse to 

 the rearing of Italian cattle, which has 

 also derived advantage from the young 

 cattle imported from abroad, 



The census of cattle, in 1908, in fact, 

 showed an increase on the figures of 

 1881, of 1,427,000 head of horned cattle, 

 1,344.011 swine, 2,567,000 sheep and 

 608,000 goats. 



Yet neither the increased importation, 

 nor the natural increase of native cattle, 

 nor the diminished export, sufficed to 



prevent an alarming rise in price both 

 of live cattle and of butchers' meat, 

 whence the King's Government has 

 thought well to accelerate the natural 

 increase, encouraging additional zootech- 

 nic production by means of suitable 

 rewards and various legal provisions. 

 This is the intention of the Bill presented 

 to the Italian Parliament on the 14th 

 December, 1910, by the Minister Raineri, 

 providing for the protection and increase 

 of the national zootechnic production. 



By this bill the provisions on the 

 Estimates for Agriculture would be 

 increased by 200,000 francs for the en- 

 couragement of horse breeding. The 

 Minister of Agriculture, besides, will 

 promote and subsidise the establishment 

 of service stations for cattle, and the 

 introduction of breeding cattle of im- 

 proved stock ; will grant prizes to the 

 breeders ; will encourage the develop- 

 ment of mutual cattle insurance socie- 

 ties, and the co-operative dairies ; will 

 found and subvention new zootechnic 

 institutes ; will arrange for shows with 

 prizes for breeding stock and competi- 

 tions in the scientific feeding of cattle. 



(Summarised from the Bulletin of the 

 Bureau of Social and Economic Intelli- 

 gence of the I. I. of A. Year II., No.5, 31st 

 May, 1911.) 



This article and others in this issue 

 are taken from the new publication 

 "Communications to the Press " issued 

 by the International Institute of Agri- 

 culture in Rome. A summary of the 

 contents of the Bulletin of Social and 

 Economic Intelligence, from which these 

 are mostly abstracted, is given below. 



Summary of the 5th No. (Year II) of the 

 Bulletin of Social and Economic In- 

 telligence, of 31st May, 1911 (pp. VIII 

 and 265). 



I. Co-operation and Association.— 

 1. Germany: The Development of Co- 

 operative Dairies ; Statistics of same for 

 the last Decade.— 2. Austria. Agricul- 

 tural Co-operative Societies registered 

 on the 1st January, 1911. — 3, Belgium, (a) 

 The Co-operative Dairies at the National 

 Dairy Congress ; (b) The House Keepers' 

 Clubs , (c) Miscellaneous Information. — 4. 

 Denmark. The new Bill on Co-operative 

 Societies (Introduction and text).— 5. 

 France. Statistics of Agricultural Co- 

 operative Societies for Production that 

 have received Long Credits from the 

 State.— 6. Hungary. The 9th National 

 Farmers' Congress and the matters dis- 

 cussed at it.— 7. Italy. Current News.— 8. 

 Russia. The Co-operative Dairies of 



