1908.] United States Department of Agriculture. 135- 



Department of Agriculture to farmers. A calculation was 

 presented to a Committee of the House of Representatives 

 which put its annual value at $232,000,000, and Mr. Wilson 

 in one part of his Report observes that " as the annual ap- 

 propriation for the Department is about $14,000,000, it will' 

 be seen that this is a return of about $16 50 c. for every dollar 

 appropriated by Congress." 



In the Bureau of Animal Industry the duties are largely 

 concerned with the inspection of meat and the control of 

 contagious diseases. The eradication of the cattle tick which 

 transmits Texas fever has been undertaken, and ultimate 

 extermination of this pest is considered practicable. Sheep 

 scab has been reduced, and the disease of horses known as 

 maladie du co'it or dourine has been quite stamped out. In- 

 vestigations are being made into tuberculosis in cattle, and into 

 hog cholera ; it is believed that a comparatively certain method 

 of protecting pigs against this latter disease has been secured. 

 The distribution of vaccine to prevent blackleg in cattle has 

 been continued with good results, and this disease is becoming 

 much less of a menace to young cattle than it was some years 

 ago. It is stated that the vaccine has not only saved many 

 animals to the breeder, but has gone far towards the eradication 

 of blackleg. Experimental work and investigations are also 

 being carried on in connection with the breeding of horses, 

 cattle, sheep and poultry, also in feeding live stock, most of 

 the work being in co-operation with State experimental stations. 

 In the same way a great number of enquiries are being made 

 in regard to the dairy industry. An effort has been made to- 

 improve dairying conditions in the south, by giving assistance- 

 in rebuilding barns and constructing silos, in the selection and! 

 breeding of cattle, and in the keeping of records. 



One of the most important branches of the Department is 

 the Bureau of Plant Industry, which not only endeavours to 

 aid the farmer in protecting his crops from destructive insects 

 and diseases, but also to improve existing varieties of plants 

 by breeding and to introduce new crops suitable for cultivation 

 in the United States. A prominent position in Mr. Wilson's 

 report is given to the success which has attended the intro- 

 duction of durum wheat. This was brought from Russia and 

 Africa between 1899 and 1902, and it is now grown over an 



