1908. 
THE BOVINE TUBERCULOSIS PROBLEM. 
First Prize Essay at New York State Fair. 
'I he tuberculosis problem can be summed up under 
four headings, its existence; its cause; its effect, and 
its treatment. First, its existence. Although no sta¬ 
tistics have been compiled to determine the exact num¬ 
ber of tuberculous animals in this country, we know 
from the reports of the Department of Agriculture 
and the State Veterinary College that out of a total 
of 12,721 animals tested in New York State during the 
past two or three years, 4105 have reacted to the 
tuberculin test. As these diseased animals were dis¬ 
tributed over nearly the whole State, it shows that the 
disease has gained a strong headway, which will 
greatly damage the dairy industry unless its spread is 
checked. Statistics prove that tuberculosis has existed 
in nearly every civilized country for hundreds of years, 
yet the fact that it is an infectious and communicable 
disease was not discovered until late in the last cen¬ 
tury. Since that time numerous experiments and in¬ 
vestigations have resulted in conflicting evidence as to 
the destructiveness of the disease and the possibility 
of its being contracted by human beings through the 
use of dairy products, or by coming in contact with 
infected cattle. This conflicting testimony, which has 
attained wide publicity through speakers and the pub¬ 
lic press, has created a feeling of distrust among farm¬ 
ers and cattle owners generally, and this distrust has 
been augmented by seemingly arbitrary laws, whereby 
the State could confiscate diseased animals for the bene¬ 
fit of the public, paying the owners but a small part of 
their true value. This practice has influenced owners 
to refrain from applying the tuberculin test, thereby 
allowing the disease to spread unchecked and un¬ 
noticed. Until recently, no adequate law 
has been in force to regulate the sale 
and transportation of tuberculous cattle, 
which fact has greatly contributed to 
the increase of the disease especially in 
New York State. The insidious nature 
of tuberculosis is often responsible for 
the infection of whole herds of cattle 
unknown to the owners, and it must 
exist in herds considered healthy. 
ITS CAUSE.—Tuberculosis is caused 
by a specific micro-organism. These 
micro-organisms are discharged from 
infected animals in large numbers. They 
are found in the milk and butter, in the 
feces and in the discharges from the 
mouth. Any cattle coming in contact 
with these germs are liable to contract 
the disease. The conditions which have 
caused the disease to spread most 
rapidly are feeding calves the milk from 
tuberculous cows and buying and sell¬ 
ing diseased cattle without taking 
proper precautions to prevent contaminating healthy 
herds. Cattle which are kept closely confined in un¬ 
sanitary stables or near large cities contract the disease 
more readily than those which have free range or are 
kept in sanitary stables which are well lighted and 
ventilated. 
ITS EFFECT.—The harmful effects of the increase 
of diseased cattle in this country can hardly be esti¬ 
mated; but it is certain that a diseased herd cannot 
produce a normal amount of milk and butter. Many 
a. BRaCE 04’ YOUNG CHINA GEESE. Fig. 883. 
cows become so seriously affected every year that they 
are killed or die with the disease in its last stages. 
Furthermore, the consumption of dairy products is 
less than it would be if a uniformly clean, whole¬ 
some supply could be depended upon. In some cases 
where pasteurization of the milk has been resorted to 
the danger of using the infected product has been 
allayed, but it is an added expense to the producer 
and does not remove the economic reasons for eradi¬ 
cating the disease. The presence of tuberculosis in a 
herd reduces the market value of every animal in the 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
herd. Swine running with diseased cattle or fed on 
skim-milk which contains the germs of tuberculosis 
rapidly become infected, and in time their value is 
destroyed. 
ITS TREATMENT.—Although tuberculosis may 
become arrested or temporarily cured, no specific has 
ever been discovered for the disease. It seems rea¬ 
sonable to believe that vaccination will be successful in 
“A NEW AND STRANGE WORLD.” Fig. 384. 
preventing the disease, in time, but at present the 
process is in its experimental stages. Farmers who 
have had experience with the disease as well as 
authorities on the subject agree that tuberculosis can 
and should be eradicated, and that with our present 
knowledge of the subject we must depend upon the 
tuberculin test and the segregation of the diseased 
animals. This, however, cannot be carried to any 
great extent, nor can it be productive of any per¬ 
manent decrease in the disease while so many farm¬ 
ers and dairymen are opposed to such action. There¬ 
fore, the only way to establish any system of action 
for controlling the disease is to begin by educating 
the dairy farmers and stock raisers. Every effort 
should be made by writers and teachers through the 
medium of the farmers’ institutes and agricultural 
colleges and the agricultural press to bring absolutely 
reliable information upon all phases of this subject to 
the notice of every farmer and stock raiser in this 
country, because it is only by a united intelligent effort 
on the part of a large majority of cattle owners that 
the disease will ever be eradicated or even materially 
reduced. The importance of intelligent legislation 
upon this subject cannot be overlooked. In New York 
State the provisions of the Lansing bill, as recently 
passed by the Legislature, provide as good a founda¬ 
tion upon which to work as can well be formulated 
with our present knowledge of the disease. Other 
States should pass similar laws. Dairymen, as a rule, 
require many explanations of this law and its work¬ 
ings which should be supplied by the Department of 
Agriculture. They should be taught that it will pay 
from an economic standpoint to remove every diseased 
animal from their herds and then test the healthy 
herds in four or five months to detect any that might 
have had the disease in a state of incubation at the 
time the first test was made. Only skilled practition¬ 
ers or persons who have had experience in applying 
the tuberculin test should be allowed to use it, as it 
is often brought into disrepute by its misuse through 
ignorance. Physical examinations cannot be relied 
upon except when the disease is found in its advanced 
stages. It is important that every person should ascer¬ 
tain at the earliest date possible whether tuberculosis 
exists in his herd or not. Animals from a diseased 
herd should never be introduced into a healthy herd, 
as they may carry the disease in a state of incubation 
which cannot be detected by the tuberculin test, but 
which may soon break out in a virulent form. The 
819 
State law authorizing the Department of Agriculture 
to issue certificates of inspection to owners of healthy 
herds should be taken advantage of by every owner 
of a healthy herd, so that such owners can buy stock 
from each other to replenish their herds, thereby re¬ 
ducing the danger of infection from that source to a 
minimum. With a better knowledge of the disease by 
cattle owners generally, and with better sanitary sur¬ 
roundings, there is no reason why this disease should 
not be brought under control, and in time completely 
eradicated. c. s. greene. 
ACIDITY IN SOILS. 
The Benefits of Basic Slag. 
In a very interesting article on “Acidity in Soils” 
in The Country Gentleman for October, Prof. W. F. 
Massey discusses the effect of acid phosphate and 
muriate of potash in robbing soils of lime, and says, 
“What the particular action of lime chloride is on the 
soil or vegetation I must confess that I do not know.” 
Prof. Massey evidently overlooks the fact that lime 
chloride (chloride of calcium) is extremely soluble, 
having about twice the solubility of common salt. 
For this reason it is washed or leached from the 
soil by almost the first rain that reaches it, thus 
rapidly carrying away the stock of lime in the soil. 
As Prof. Massey points out, the lime chloride is 
formed by the use of muriate of potash, the growing 
crops taking up the potash, while the chlorine com¬ 
bines with the lime; the effect of this combination 
being pointed out above. When sulphate of potash is 
used, the crops take up the potash, and the sulphuric 
acid combines with the lime to form lime sulphate 
which is the same thing as gypsum. While the lime 
sulphate does not have the same sweetening effect on 
the soil as either carbonate of lime or 
quicklime, it does not make the soil 
• sour, nor is the lime carried out of the 
ground. The lime sulphate is also of 
some indirect value in helping to make 
available a small portion of the natural 
stores of plant food in the soil. 
The effect of muriate of potash in rob¬ 
bing the soil of lime was pointed out by 
Goessmann over 15 years ago, and has 
been confirmed by the writer by eight 
years’ of practical tests. Robbing one’s 
soil of lime, with the resultant soil acid¬ 
ity, may be avoided very simply by 
using Thomas phosphate powder (basic 
slag phosphate) as a source of phos¬ 
phoric acid, and sulphate of potash as a 
source of potash. The phosphoric acid 
in Thomas phosphate powder is com¬ 
bined with a very large amount of lime, 
besides which it contains an additional 
large amount of lime in a free state. 
By following this plan the soil may 
be kept constantly sweet, and the necessity for 
extremely heavy liming at intervals is avoided. In 
other words, it is better to keep the soil healthy all 
of the time than it is to wait until it is sick and then 
call in the doctor. 
I he above plan of using Thomas phosphate powder 
and sulphate of potash has been found especially 
effective by the writer in raising beets, cabbages, tur- 
YELLOW CORELESS TOMATO. NATURAL SIZE. 
Fig. 386. See Ruralisms, Page 822. 
nips, Timothy, clover, and Alfalfa. In one instance, 
where a very gravelly subsoil existed, Alfalfa re¬ 
fused to grow when acid phosphate and muriate of 
potash were used, and liming was practised at the 
same time. Soil tests showed that the land rapidly 
became acid again after liming, or in other words 
was robbed of the lime that had been applied to it. 
A change to Thomas phosphate powder and sulphate 
of potash has resulted in keeping the soil sweet, and 
that piece of Alfalfa is giving three cuttings each 
Summer. george d. leavens. 
Soil expert. Agricultural Experts’ Association, New 
York City. 
A WAGONLOAD OF VOSBURGH MELONS. Fig. 385. 
