by means of which infection or contagion may take place or be conveyed. He may alter or modify, from time to time, as he may deem expedient, the terms of all notices, orders and regulations issued or made by him, and may at any time cancel or withdraw the same. He may call upon the sheriffs or deputy sheriffs, to carry out and enforce the provisions of any notice, order or regulation which he may make, and all such sheriffs or deputy sheriffs shall obey and observe all orders and instructions which they may receive from him in the premises.

Section 66. Penalties. Any person violating, disobeying or disregarding the terms of any notice, order or regulation, issued or prescribed by the commissioner under this article, shall forfeit to the people of the state the sum of one hundred dollars for every such violation.

Section 67. Expenses.-All expenses incurred by the commissioner in carrying out the provisions of this article and in performing the duties herein devolved upon him shall be audited by the comptroller as extraordinary expenses of the department of agriculture, and paid out of any moneys in the treasury appropriated for such purposes.

Section 68. Compensation to owners of animals destroyed.— The actual value at the time they are killed of any animals slaughtered under the provisions of this article, shall be paid to the owners of such animals. For the purpose of ascertaining and determining such value, the commissioner, or any agent appointed by him under this article, shall appoint one appraiser, the owner of the animals killed shall appoint another, and the two thus appointed shall select a third, and the three shall appraise the amount to be paid to the owner of the animals. The board of claims shall have exclusive jurisdiction to hear, audit and determine all claims which shall arise under the provisions of this article for compensation for animals slaughtered, and to allow thereon such sums as should be paid by the state. No compensation shall be made to any person who has willfully concealed the existence of disease among his animals or upon his premises, or who in any way by act or willful neglect, has contributed to spread the disease sought to be suppressed or prevented. Section 69. Federal regulations.-The commissioner of agriculture may accept, in behalf of the state, the rules and regulations prepared and adopted by the commissioner of agriculture or the secretary or department of agriculture of the United States, under any act of Congress for the establishment of a bureau of animal industry, or to prevent the exportation of diseased cattle, or to provide means for the extirpation and suppression of pleuro-pneumonia and other contagious diseases among domestic

animals and shall co-operate with the authorities of the United States in the enforcement of the provisions of any such act.

Section 70. Rights of federal inspectors.-The inspectors of the bureau of animal industry of the United States shall have the right of inspection, quarantine and condemnation of animals affected with any contagious, infectious or communicable disease, or suspected to be so affected, or that may have been exposed to any such disease, and for such purposes they may enter upon any ground or premises; they may call the sheriffs, constables and peace officers to assist them in discharge of their duties in carrying out the provisions of any such act; and all sheriffs, constables and peace officers shall assist such inspectors when so requested, and such inspectors shall have the same powers and protection as peace officers, while engaged in the discharge of their duties. This state shall not be liable for any damages or expenses caused or made by such inspectors.

The report of Mr. Quigley, herewith submitted, shows that the contagious and infectious diseases to which the attention of this Department has been called during the last year have been in the counties of Oswego, Cattaraugus, Lewis, Madison, Sullivan, Chenango, Ontario, Yates and Monroe, and among the cattle it has been largely anthrax and tuberculosis. The disease of anthrax seems to be less prevalent this year than last. There is no contagious or infectious disease in this State, the suppression of which this Department is charged with, which has become epidemic. There has been considerable sickness among hogs, the particular nature of which is set forth in the reports of Mr. Quigley, above referred to, Dr. V. A. Moore, Dr. Wm. Henry Kelly and Dr. M. J. Henderson, which follow.

REPORT OF V. A. MOORE.

Hon. C. A. WIETING, Commissioner of Agriculture, Albany, N. Y.: Dear Sir. I have the honor to submit herewith a preliminary report on the investigation of an outbreak of supposed contagious disease among swine at Rome, N. Y., in November, 1896. On the 17th of that month, in company with Dr. W. H. Kelly, of Albany, the following facts concerning the disease were obtained:

At the farm of the Oneida County Home about 70 small pigs and 8 large hogs had died during the preceding two weeks.

There were about 40 fattening hogs still living and in apparently good health. A careful post mortem examination was made on 3 animals. The lesions which we found were neither constant in the different animals, nor were they typical of any of the infectious diseases of swine. A large number of tubes of culture media were inoculated from the different organs at the time of post mortem, and subsequently in this laboratory rabbits were inoculated with pieces of the diseased organs. A very few of the tubes developed recognized saprophytic bacteria; the others remained clear. All of the animals inoculated remained well, showing the absence of disease-producing bacteria.

The swine in this herd were fed upon the garbage from the home and cooked potatoes and soft corn. The pens were reasonably clean, but the pigs had been allowed to run in a small yard covered with horse manure, decomposing offal from sev eral slaughtered cattle and pools of stagnant water. The manager stated that hogs had not been brought on the place recently and no evidence of the spreading of the disease from this to other herds could be found. Further, the history of the outbreak does not indicate the presence of a contagious disease. The facts indicate that these animals died from the effects of some organic poison which appeared in their food, or as the result of their unhealthy surroundings, and not from the effect of the microbe of any infectious disease:

Two other outbreaks of a disease of a similar nature were found in the vicinity of Rome among garbage-fed swine. An inspection of the premises showed the hog-pens, yards and surroundings to be in an exceedingly filthy condition.

In the report which I shall make to your department, at the close of the year, on swine diseases, and in which will be mentioned the conditions under which herds of swine in which supposed infectious diseases have occurred, and which have come to my notice, it will be found that the majority of the reported outbreaks of infectious diseases have occurred under similar unsanitary conditions. It is highly probable that if a knowledge of the nature of infectious swine diseases and of the disorders

brought about by improper care could be disseminated among our farmers that many of the losses now sustained could be avoided.

Very respectfully,

V. A. MOORE.

REPORT OF WM. HENRY KELLY.

ALBANY, November 25, 1896.

Hon. CHAS. A. WIETING, Commissioner of Agriculture:

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Dear Sir. According to your instructions, I visited Rome, N. Y., on November 17th for the purpose of making an examination of the herds of swine reported to be suffering from a contagious disease. The disease was found on the farm of the Oneida County Home, Rome, N. Y., of which Mr. L. Mittenmaier, Jr., is superintendent, Richard Conley, Rome, N. Y., and John Dorn, Westmoreland, N. Y. Prof. V. A. Moore, of Cornell University, as pathologist, and Inspector Quigley were present.

Upon inquiry, we found that at the Oneida County Home about 70 small pigs and 8 large hogs had died during the preceding two weeks. There were about 40 fattening hogs still living, and in apparently good health. A post-mortem examination was held on three animals. Two of these died the night before, and the other was killed, in the last stages of the disease, for examination. The lesions found were not typical of any infectious disease of swine. The bacteriological examination, including animal inoculation (as you will see by the annexed report), with pieces of the affected organs, did not reveal the presence of hog cholera or swine plague.

The animals of the three herds were fed on garbage, cooked potatoes and soft corn. While the pens of the home were reasonably clean, the pigs were allowed to run in a small yard covered with horse manure, the decomposing offal from several slaughtered cattle and pools of stagnant water. The manager stated that the hogs had not been brought on the place recently, and evidences of the spreading of the disease from this to other herds in the neighborhood could not be found.

At the outbreak, after thirty pigs had died, and others were sick, Dr. Huff suggested that they all be turned in the woods, where they had nothing to eat but beech nuts. A number of them recovered; only eight died. If swine plague or hog cholera had been the cause of the deaths they would not have recovered under such treatment. The fact indicates that these animals died from the effect of some organic poison which appeared in their food, or as the result of the influence of the unhealthy surroundings, and not from the effect of the microbe of any infectious disease.

At the farm of Richard Conley we found that at the beginning he had 9 large hogs; 30 two to five months old, and 36 small pigs. On November 10th 5 large hogs, 30 two to five months old, and 13 small pigs were found dead. Three days later 18 small pigs were found dead, and at the time of the investigation all were dead.

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The pens and surrounding yards were in a filthy condition. The lesions found were the same as those at the county home. At John Dorn's farm, upon inquiry, we found that at the beginning, which was about November 28th, he had 2 old hogs and 42 small (one to three months) pigs, all of which died except one old hog. The lesions found were the same as before.

The pens and surroundings were also in a filthy condition, which, no doubt, was the cause of the disease.

The majority of the farmers think that anything is good enough for a hog, and the sooner that they can be taught that hogs need a good, clean place, as well as good food, the better it will be.

At all of these places they were instructed to clean these pens with a disinfectant, and burn all the dead animals.

Yours respectfully,

WM. HENRY KELLY, V. S.