THE QUARANTINE DIVISION.

The Quarantine Division, under the direction of Dr. R. W. Hickman, chief, has charge of the work of the Bureau relating to the exportation and importation of live stock, including the management of the quarantine stations at various ports of entry for imported animals, and also conducts certain special investigations.

INSPECTION OF VESSELS AND EXPORT ANIMALS.

During the fiscal year 638 inspections of vessels carrying live stock were made before clearance, in order to see that the regulations were complied with as to fittings, equipment, ventilation, feed, water, attendants, etc., and 1,093 certificates of inspection were issued for American cattle. The following table gives statistics of inspection of live animals for export during the year:

Number of inspections of American and Canadian animals for export, number rejected, and number exported, fiscal year 1908.

Most of the animals included in the foregoing statement were shipped to Great Britain. There went to that country, of the American animals, 293,107 cattle, 40,071 sheep, and 963 horses, and of the Canadian animals 34,045 cattle and 30,079 sheep.

The inspection of vessels carrying export cattle and the enforcement of the regulations referred to continue to result in an exceedingly low percentage of losses of animals in transit. Statistics of animals landed at three principal British ports show that only 0.17 per cent of the cattle, 0.22 per cent of the horses, and 0.95 per cent of the sheep were lost at sea.

During the fiscal year there were inspected for export to Canada 34,835 sheep, 1,779 horses, 487 cattle, and 7 hogs. Of these horses, 1,726 were tested with mallein for glanders, of which number 7 reacted and were excluded from exportation. Of the cattle, 319 were tested with tuberculin, of which number 16 failed to pass. During the fiscal year 226 American horses were reported as inspected and subjected to the mallein test by Canadian official veterinarians at the border, and of this number 89 reacted and were rejected.

INSPECTION AND QUARANTINE OF IMPORTED ANIMALS.

In order to protect the live stock of the United States from contagion that is liable to be introduced with animals from other coun

tries, the regulations require that all horses, cattle, sheep, and other ruminants and swine imported into the United States must be inspected before they are admitted, and, in addition, that all ruminants and swine from any part of the world except North America shall be quarantined. For the importation of animals for which quarantine is required, a permit (in duplicate) must be procured from the Secretary of Agriculture prior to shipment. Importations are not permitted at all from some parts of the world where destructive diseases of animals prevail.

The following tables show the number of imported animals inspected and quarantined and the number inspected but not quarantined during the fiscal year:

Number of imported animals inspected and quarantined, fiscal year 1908.

Number of imported animals inspected but not quarantined, fiscal year 1908.

The regulations governing the importation of animals subject to inspection and quarantine provide that all cattle six months old or over imported from Great Britain, Ireland, and the Channel Islands shall be tested with tuberculin by an inspector of the Bureau of Animal Industry before being exported or after arrival at the animal quarantine station at the port of entry. The following table shows the results of such tests made in Great Britain during the fiscal year: Results of tuberculin tests in Great Britain of cattle for importation, fiscal year 1908.

CONTROL AND TREATMENT OF ANIMAL DISEASES.

To the Quarantine Division there is assigned a large amount of correspondence requesting information and asking for aid in combating animal diseases. Material assistance is rendered to State live-stock sanitary boards and other officials in enabling them to locate and take proper procedure for the control of contagious diseases of animals in their States, and, as far as practicable, cooperative assistance is given to the State officers in the suppression of such outbreaks. Farmers and breeders of animals are advised in the case of noncontagious diseases of the most approved and simple measures for their prevention and cure.

TUBERCULIN TESTING OF CATTLE IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA AND VICINITY.

The work of applying the tuberculin test to dairy cattle in the District of Columbia and vicinity was started in the spring of 1907, under the direction of the Pathological Division, but was later transferred to the Quarantine Division. The principal object has been to assist the Health Department of the District of Columbia in its efforts to create a milk supply free from the contamination of the germs of tuberculosis. The test is applied without charge and upon the voluntary request of the owner of the cattle, provided that he sign a form of agreement with the Bureau. A steadily increasing number of dairymen have availed themselves of this opportunity of proving the health of their herds or of detecting and removing tuberculous animals. The following public institutions in the District of Columbia, which includes all such institutions maintaining their own herds of dairy cattle, have had the tuberculin test applied to their cattle, by which it was shown that four of these herds were in a satisfactory state of health at the time of applying the first test: The United States Soldiers' Home, the Government Hospital for the Insane, the Girls' Reform School, the Home for the Aged and Infirm, the National Training School for Boys, the Washington Asylum, and the Columbia Institution for the Deaf and Dumb. The test was also applied to the herd supplying milk to the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Md.

From the beginning of the work in the spring of 1907 up to the close of the fiscal year, June 30, 1908, the Bureau applied the tuberculin test to 2,468 cattle in the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia, of which 387, or 15.68 per cent, reacted. Of the reacting animals, 126 were slaughtered under the Bureau's inspection, and in all but a single case the presence of tuberculosis was demonstrated on post-mortem examination. The diagnosis of the tuberculin test was therefore confirmed in 99.21 per cent of the animals slaughtered. Of the 126 animals killed under inspection, 94 were so very slightly affected as to be safely passed for food after removal of the glands or organs in which the lesions were found, while 32 were condemned.

Much of the growth of interest in the tuberculin test among cattle owners is probably attributable to the fact that instead of forcing the test upon them an educational policy has been pursued with a view to leading them to an appreciation of the significance of the dangers of

tuberculosis among their cattle, and thus to a recognition of the economic importance of obtaining sound animals and the production of a wholesome milk supply. Another factor in the growth of this interest has been the demonstration of the accuracy of the tuberculin test when applied by the veterinary inspectors of this Bureau.

The form of agreement adopted for use in the tuberculin testing of cattle is set forth below. This is intended to represent the most liberal measures for the control of tuberculosis that are compatible with economic principles, aiming at the final eradication of the disease and the maintenance of a herd free from tuberculosis.

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE.

BUREAU OF ANIMAL INDUSTRY.

Agreement.

In consideration of the testing of my herd of cattle by the Bureau of Animal Industry of the United States Department of Agriculture, and the assistance of said Bureau in enabling me to produce and maintain a herd of cattle free from the contamination of tuberculosis, I,

of

(Post-office address.)

(Name of owner.)

owner of said herd of cattle, comprising

Number and kinds over 6 months old; number and kinds under 6 months old. agree as follows:

do hereby

1. I will cause all animals which react to the tuberculin test, and which also show other marked symptoms of tuberculosis, to be slaughtered within a reasonable time under the United States meat-inspection regulations, and I will cause the carcasses of said animals to be disposed of according to the meat-inspection regulations of the Bureau of Animal Industry, based upon the lesions found upon inspection.

2. I will cause all animals which react to the tuberculin test, but which show no other evidence of tuberculosis, either to be slaughtered and disposed of as herein provided for animals which show also other evidence of tuberculosis, or I will cause such animals to be removed from the herd and portion of the farm upon which the healthy animals of the herd are maintained, and I will cause the diseased animals to be segregated from the healthy animals, and thereafter they shall remain so segregated.

3. In all cases where the milk from such segregated reacting cows is to be used for any purpose whatever I will cause the said milk to be sterilized.

4. Segregated reacting bulls may be used for breeding, provided they are held on leash and are not permitted to leave the premises reserved for their use, and provided the healthy cows bred to such bulls are not unduly exposed to infected premises or to other diseased cattle.

5. I will cause the young from segregated reacting animals to be removed from their mothers at birth and will not permit the said young to suck their mothers.

6. Any part of my premises contaminated by reacting animals will be submitted by me to a thorough disinfection under the direction or supervision of the Bureau of Animal Industry.

7. All cattle owned by me, both healthy and tuberculous, I will mark, or allow to be marked, in such manner as to enable their identity to be retained, and I will not change the location of or slaughter any tuberculous cattle except after due and timely notification to the Bureau of Animal Industry, stating the exact nature of the change of location, or the exact date, name, and address of the official establishment at which the animal or animals are to be slaughtered.

8. I will add no cattle to the said herd which have not passed a tuberculin test administered by an authorized public agent qualified to perform such test or by an inspector of the Bureau of Animal Industry.

9. I will comply with all reasonable sanitary measures which are indicated by the proper officials of the State or Territory wherein my herd is located, or

by the local board of health under whose permit I am disposing of dairy products, or by the Bureau of Animal Industry.

In witness whereof I have signed this agreement this one thousand nine hundred and

day of

Witness:

Owner of the

herd.

(Address)

VENEREAL DISEASE OF HORSES.

Notwithstanding the fact that the eradication of the disease of horses known as maladie du coït or dourine was believed to have been successfully accomplished a year or two ago, it has been considered wise to continue the inspection of horses in certain Western States where the disease formerly prevailed, to make sure that none of the contagion persisted. During the fiscal year the Bureau veterinarians made 2,884 inspections without discovering any case of the disease.

EXPERIMENT IN EFFECT OF SANITARY CONDITIONS ON TUBERCULOSIS.

In the latter part of the fiscal year a cooperative experiment was instituted with the Virginia Agricultural Experiment Station to determine the variation in the curative influence of fresh air and sanitation upon tuberculous cows kept under different conditions. Twenty tuberculous animals have been entered in the experiment, and these have been divided into three groups, two of which are being maintained under ideal sanitary conditions in new buildings constructed on economic principles, which can be used as models for the farmers. The remaining group, used as a check upon the other two, is kept in a poorly ventilated, insanitary barn, such as is seen upon some farms.

LIVE-STOCK DISEASES AND CONDITIONS IN PORTO RICO.

From August 8, 1907, until April 15, 1908, investigations of the diseases of live stock and conditions surrounding the live-stock industry were carried on in Porto Rico by Dr. William Thompson under the direction of the Quarantine Division.

The Porto Rican cattle are noted throughout the West Indies for their superior size and working ability. A majority of them show the effect of a cross with zebu blood, which resulted from the importation of a number of zebu bulls in 1858. This cross has lessened the milk yield, but has created an ox with a particularly strong neck and heavy frontal bones and horns, which are particularly valuable when the Spanish yoke is used. This yoke is placed across the forehead and lashed to the horns so that the animal is compelled to push its load rather than draw it. The zebu strain is also characterized by short hair, heavy dewlap, dependent sheath, and an attenuated, whip-like tail.

From 1901 to 1906 the exportation of Porto Rican cattle to other parts of the West Indies was quite extensive, there being exported during this period 65,915 cattle, which went principally to Cuba. On account of the free trade with the United States, the sugar crop has

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