State  Aid  to  Agriculture  in  Canada.  97 
cent,  on  the  total  estimated  value  of  farm  horses  alone,  viz.  : 
60,287,4007. 
In  matters  of  veterinary  pathology  the  Branch  carries  out 
the  same  kind  of  work  that  is  undertaken  for  the  governors 
and  members  of  the  Royal  Agricultural  Society  by  the  Royal 
Veterinary  College.  A local  experiment  station  for  the  scien- 
tific investigation  of  special  animal  diseases  is  maintained 
at  Lethbridge  in  southern  Alberta  ; but  the  principal  work  of 
this  kind  is  carried  on  at  a well-equipped  biological  laboratory 
at  Ottawa.  Here  diseased  tissues  are  received  from  all  parts  of 
Canada,  and  the  diseases,  when  sufficiently  studied,  form 
the  subject  of  reports  and  bulletins.  A work  of  especial  value 
to  agriculturists  is  the  distribution  of  anthrax  and  black-leg 
vaccines,  consisting  of  attenuated  cultures  of  the  germs  causing 
these  diseases,  which  have  been  proved  to  afford  genuine 
protection  or  immunity  against  subsequent  infection.  The 
vaccines  are  supplied  in  the  form  of  silk  threads  impregnated 
with  the  virus  ; they  are  passed  by  a needle  into  a fold  of  the 
animal’s  skin,  the  needle  being  withdrawn,  but  the  thread  left 
behind.  The  vaccine  outfits  are  sold  at  2s.  each,  and  each  dose 
costs  five  cents,  or  2\d.  In  1909-10  the  number  of  vaccine  doses 
supplied  for  black-leg  was  13,469  and  for  anthrax  386.  Mallein 
and  tuberculin  for  the  diagnosis  of  glanders  and  tuberculosis 
are  also  prepared  in  the  laboratory,  the  number  of  samples  sent 
out  in  1909-10  being  32,996  of  the  former  and  6,600  of  the  latter. 
The  administration  of  the  Meat  and  Canned  Foods  Act, 
1907,  which  provides  for  the  inspection  of  meat  and  canned 
foods  intended  for  export,  is  entrusted  to  this  Branch,  and 
entails  the  appointment  and  supervision  of  a large  number  of 
specially  trained  inspectors.  The  Act  has  an  important  bearing 
upon  the  live  stock  industry  inasmuch  as  it  ensures  the  absolute 
wholesomeness  of  the  canned  meat  products  of  animals  which 
are  bred  and  fed  in  Canada. 
Dairying  and  Fruit. — Annually  increasing  in  importance  the 
dairying  and  fruit  industries  have  been  and  are  the  object  of 
special  solicitude  on  the  part  of  the  Dominion  Government. 
The  Dairy  and  Cold  Storage  Branch  is  organised  in  the  four 
divisions  of  (1)  Dairying ; (2)  Extension  of  Markets ; (3)  Fruit ; 
and  (4)  Cold  Storage,  under  a Commissioner  (Mr.  J.  A.  Ruddick), 
with  a staff  numbering  seventy-five,  of  whom  about  forty  are 
dairying,  fruit,  or  cargo  inspectors.  An  Assistant  Commissioner 
is  employed  chiefly  as  lecturer  amongst  the  French-speaking 
populations  of  Quebec  and  Ontario. 
Practical  dairying  experiments  are  undertaken  as  required, 
but  probably  the  most  important  present  work  of  this  Division 
relates  to  the  cow-testing  movement.  This  had  its  origin  about 
six  years  ago,  when  a special  cow  census  taken  bv  the  Branch 
VOL.  71.,  H 
