enforce the laws and at the same time secure a more general application of the various decisions made and distributed among dealers, some of whom have, through their associations, even gone so far as to print, at their own expense, the decision of the Attorney General and of the Department relating to important points in the construction of the laws under consideration. There is scarcely any phase of the question which more clearly demonstrates the value of these acts than the fact that the Department has been able to secure such general cooperation in its work.

The attention which has already been given to the cheese and vinegar acts of the session of 1897 clearly demonstrates the fact that important modifications are needed in both, and that these should be carefully considered and secured as soon as possible. Among the most important of these I may suggest the amendment of the cheese law so as to reduce the legal grades of cheese from five to two, or at most to but three, and the amendment of the vinegar law so that its provisions may be made more clear and readily understood by the dealers as well as by the special agents of the Department. Several of its provisions are contradictory and are capable of more than one construction, while the whole act is too cumbersome and lengthy for the best practical results.

VETERINARY DIVISION.

Under the care and supervision of Dr. Pearson, this division of the Department has made rapid advances during the past year, and, if leg. islative action is to be taken as the criterion of endorsement, it has been remarkably successful; its work is so intimately connected with that of the State Live Stock Sanitary Board that it is absolutely necessary to consider the two as one, and this is made all the more easy because, with the exception of the Governor, all of the members of the Board are officers of the Department, and all of the expenditures of the Board must be endorsed by the Secretary of Agriculture.

During the past year the work of this division has been mainly directed against tuberculosis and glanders; and in the former work about 16,000 animals have been examined with tuberculin and about 2,500 condemned as tuberculous and paid for, in accordance with the provisions of law. The fact that fifteen per cent. of those examined are found to be tuberculous must not, however, be taken as an indication of the possible amount of infection existing, for the herds re

ported are only examined with tuberculin after their owner has satisfied the officers of the Board that he has good reason to suppose that the herd is infected; and it therefore follows that this proportion can only be accepted as referring to the suspected herds of the State.

The price paid for infected animals condemned and killed by orders of the Board has varied greatly, the maximum for animals of common stock being fixed by law at $25.00 each, and for registered ones at $50.00 each; the actual valuations have varied from these amounts down to less than ten dollars in some cases. The report of Dr. Pearson, in another portion of this volume, gives the more exact figures as to probable infection, condemnation and valuation.

During the session of the recent Legislature an act was passed giving the Board power over the motions of animals coming into our State, the theory being that it would be impossible to even partially free the State from tuberculosis so long as infected animals were liable to come in from other states, and so long as the fact that such animals were paid for by our State officers, might possibly constitute an incentive to bring them over our borders. This act gives the Board great powers which should be used with proper caution and discre tion, and in such a manner as to inflict a minimum of loss and trouble upon the interests affected. The Board has adopted rules for governing the movements of animals coming into the State which it is believed will, while they give the least possible trouble to owners that is consistent with safety, at the same time give the maximum of protec tion to animals already in the State.

The act upon which these rules are founded gives the shipper the choice of three plans, either of which is carefully provided for by the rules of the Board, and either of which will be satisfactory to the Board as a means of protecting the interests of resident stock owners. These provisions, which follow the lines laid down by the law, are practically as follows:

1. The officers of the Board will accept as sufficient evidence of freedom from contagious disease the certificates of proper officers in the states from which the animals are shipped, and the State will expect the same courtesy from the officers of other states to which animals may be shipped from our own State.

2. The animals may be detained at or near the point at which they enter our State and there tested with tuberculin by some one approved by the Board, and, proving free from disease, will be entitled to a permit which will allow their shipment to any portion of the State.

3. They may be shipped in quarantine to their ultimate destination in the State and there be submitted to a tuberculin test by a surgeon, approved by the Board, and his certificate of freedom from disease shall be deemed conclusive evidence that the animals can be safely mixed with stock already in the State.

Section second of the act (act of May 26, 1897) provides, that except in the first plan, the tuberculin tests shall be at the expense of the owner, and may be performed by any surgeon selected by the owner who is also satisfactory to the Board, but that the latter requirement is imperative in order to prevent tests by incompetent persons.

It is as yet too soon to judge of the effects of this law, but the experience of other states which have adopted its leading provisions make it evident that its effects must and will be beneficial, and will prevent the introduction of diseased animals into our State. Its effects are not applicable to animals intended for slaughter, and by the express provisions of the act itself are limited to "dairy cows and cattle for breeding purposes," and it therefore inflicts no hardship or inconvenience upon the trade in beef cattle.

Those who have given attention to the question of tuberculosis, as it exists in the human and animal races, have been strongly impressed with the theory that many of the cases are preventable, and with proper precaution and care, need not necessarily lead to the death or condemnation of the animal infected. But there was nothing practical to which the members of the Board could point as a proof of this belief and theory. It was believed by the members of the Board that a portion of the State funds carefully and economically invested in ascer taining the correctness or falsity of this theory would be a good investment, and accordingly the Legislature was asked for a specific appropriation to be applied to this purpose only; one of $15,000 for two years was promptly granted, and the Board has commenced a series of extensive experiments to show the comparative effects of the best and worst sanitary surroundings and their results in spreading the disease, and, although too early to give anything in the form of a conclusion, yet I may state that everything points to the belief that, when surrounded by the best sanitary conditions, the spread of tuberculosis through a herd, and possibly through an animal, may be prevented and that while, as in the past, animals of a certain conformation will prove more liable to the disease, yet we think it will be conclusively shown that much of its losses are preventable and that the sanitary surroundings have much to do with the percentage of loss.

By the use of its current funds under former appropriations the Board has conducted experiments with tuberculin and tuberculous animals which have proven to the entire satisfaction of Drs. Pearson and Ravenel that repeated injections, until the system fails to show reaction, will and does encyst the tubercles, and will in this manner check the disease to a very material degree. Cows infected with tuberculosis in one of its worst forms and from one of the worst infected herds in the State, were placed under favorable sanitary surroundings as to light, air and food and injected with tuberculin until their systems failed to react; one of these animals was killed and a

post mortem distinctly showed that the tuberculous deposits had been encased in a gristly material which, at least for the time being, prevented any danger from them, and that they appeared to exist in the animal merely as so many foreign bodies, and as harmless as a bullet or shot encysted in the same manner.

It has also been shown by the officers of the Board that an infected animal, after three or more carefully conducted injections, fails to react to the tuberculin test and the inference is that, except by reinfection, such animals are free from the danger of communicating the disease to others or from injury to themselves, but further and more extended experiments are needed, and will be made, before definite conclusions can be safely arrived at, but sufficient has already been shown to prove that if the work of the Board had been confined to these experminents alone, the results would have fully warranted every cent of expenditure which the State has thus far been called upon to make. Acting upon the information given above, the Board has ordered the erection of a building which shall combine within its limits the best and worst sanitary surroundings, and animals have been placed in its various parts under conditions which will give sanitary surroundings, especially as to air and light, their full power and effect, and the results will be looked for with no little interest on the part of the members of the Board and others who have interested themselves in the experiment. If the results are as it is anticipated they will be, it will not only greatly economize the enforcement of existing laws, but will also serve as an object lesson to the dairymen of our State, many of whom are encouraging outbreaks of tuberculosis and other contagious diseases by violations of the laws of sanitation, and, if the experiments are successful, the Board may, instead of giving, as now, mere assertions as to the effects of sanitary surroundings, can point to demonstrated facts as a proof of their statements.

The Board also has, at the Veterinary Department of the Pennsylvania University, a laboratory under the care of Dr. Ravenel, in which tuberculin for tuberculosis and malein for glanders have been prepared and a large amount of expenditure saved to the State, and in addition, the Board and its officers have been furnished with an article upon which they could rely for results; an important consideration, because a slight defect in the agents used might not only render them abortive but even dangerous by giving a sense of safety which did not legitimately exist.

It is gratifying to report that the opposition which at first met the work of this Board has all vanished, and that instead of opposition there are now more applications for tuberculin tests than the funds at the disposal of the Board will admit, and that instead of making tests in all cases of applications, the Board is compelled, as an act of justice. to the owners of infected herds, to demand some proof that the appli

cant has good reason to suspect that his herd is infected, and when, as has been stated, even under these provisions, there are more applications for tuberculin examinations than the Board can attend to, it speaks volumes for the popularity of the work performed.

It is also a matter of congratulation that, notwithstanding the large number of animals examined and condemned, no mistake has yet been made, it being a rule of the Board that post mortems shall be held of condemned animals, so that there may be no room for doubt as to the correctness of the tuberculin tests, and the surgeons employed have in all cases positive orders to do everything in their power to demonstrate the correctness of the tuberculin tests as a means of diagnosing tuberculosis.

In addition to the work in connection with tuberculosis, Dr. Pearson has also devoted more or less time to hog cholera and to rabies and other contagious diseases, and in all cases in which any disease of this character has been reported, advice has been freely given, or, if the cases appeared to warrant it, an examination was made of the outbreak, and it is believed that much good has been done in this manner.

TOBACCO EXPERIMENTS.

Previous to the year 1895, the Pennsylvania State College Experiment Station had commenced a series of experiments for the purpose of ascertaining the results of different fertilizers upon the yield and quality of the tobacco crop, and had, up to the year named, carried them forward to a point at which their value and usefulness to the tobacco growers of our State was evident. An act making an appropriation to carry on the work during the term from June 1, 1895 to May 30, 1896, having failed to become a law, the Department of Agriculture, fully recognizing the value of the experiments as far as completed and believing that their result in the future would fully warrant the outlay, pledged itself to the officers of the Station for bills incurred in the carrying out of the experiment, provided the total amount of the bills did not exceed $1,000 per year for the two years named.

When, after the legislative session of 1897, the Legislature again failed to make provision for these experiments, the Department again pledged itself for the expenses for the two years ending May 30, 1899.

This action compelled the Department to economize in other direc tions, but it was then believed, and the results have confirmed that be