1909.] Report of the Tuberculosis Commission. 845 



good rough grass, and over all of it a considerable quantity 

 of broom, some of the broom being about six feet high, in 

 which it was often difficult for the herdsman to find his stirks 

 when he wanted to drive them home, but on which they seldom 

 failed to thrive. Ferns grew here, too, but not generally over 

 all of it, and very sparsely anywhere, making it not worth 

 while to cut them for litter, except on one or two limited 

 spots, and to no appreciable extent did they interfere with 

 the grazing. 



About this time a son succeeded his father in the tenancy 

 of this holding, who inclined to rearing sheep in preference to 

 cattle, and who afterward grazed this ground with sheep 

 instead of cattle, to th£ end of his lease, and with the result 

 that the broom was eaten down by the sheep more or less 

 at all times, but especially during snowstorms and wintry 

 weather, until it entirely disappeared, when the broom was 

 succeeded by a general covering of bracken all over the 

 ground, under which the grass is thin, wiry, short, and in 

 dry years is burned up. 



This may be an uncommon practical experience, but if not, 

 it would be most interesting on such soils to see the experi- 

 ment tried of banishing the sheep, reverting to grazing with 

 cattle, and ascertaining whether richer grass, with or without 

 broom, would not follow the change of practice along with the 

 gradual diminution of the objectionable bracken. 



The work of the Royal Commission on Tuberculosis 



(Human and Bovine) has, since the date of their Second 



Interim Report (see Journal, March, 



Report of the 1907, p. 740), been mainly directed to 

 Tuberculosis ' . . . .11 , r 



Commission determining the special characters of 



the bacilli which are the cause of tuber- 

 culosis in animals other than the cow, and the relationships 

 of the different types of tubercle bacilli encountered in man 

 and certain of the lower animals. The investigations bear- 

 ing on these and other matters referred to in that Report 

 are not yet complete, and the publication of the results 

 obtained is therefore postponed. 



In the meantime a Third Interim Report * has been issued 



* Cd. 4483. Price 4 d. 



! 



