26 
PLEUROPNEUMONIA IN CATTLE. 
ported cattle,” this commission first proceeded to visit and care¬ 
fully examine the cattle quarantine station at Quebec, Canada. 
The premises there cover over fifty acres of land connected with 
Fort No. 2, on the bluff south of the Saint Lawrence, and were 
arranged to accommodate 700 head of cattle ; yet we learn that 
they are proving inadequate and that they are being rapidly ex¬ 
tended. At the time of our visit they contained 361 head of 
cattle, a considerable proportion of them being destined for the 
United States, and we have learned that the great majority of 
our western importers prefer to introduce their stock by way of 
Quebec, where the facilities for quarantine on the government 
premises save no little trouble and expense. Thus, much of the 
disbursement for maintenance and carriage which properly belong 
to the United States is monopolized by the Dominion. 
We next visited the various American ports indicated, and 
made a thorough investigation of the sites available at each. It 
soon became manifest that with the means available it would be 
impossible, in almost any case, to secure premises at a practi¬ 
cable distance from the wharves, and having a water-front acces¬ 
sible for disembarkation in all weathers. Failing in this we 
sought to secure sites on the main lines of rail, so that cattle 
might be shipped in box cars at the wharves and unshipped 
directly on the quarantine grounds. After a careful observation 
of no less than sixty sites offered, we have secured such places 
for the ports of Portland, Boston, New York, and Baltimore, 
and the premises are now being prepared for the reception of 
stock. For New York and Baltimore these inland quarantine 
stations are in some respects preferable to those on the water 
front, since the lung plague prevails in these large cities and 
vicinity, and the cattle when released from quarantine in such a 
locality would still run some risk of infection ; whereas, if detained 
ten or fifteen miles inland in a healthy country, they can, on the 
completion of quarantine, start for their'destination with no risk 
whatever. One importation is already in quarantine in the 
selected quarantine site at Portland, and in a few weeks the other 
three sites will also be ready to receive cattle. The Philadelphia 
custom-house reports showed that there had been no importations 
