The veterinary inspectors of the bureau were placed in the classified service by Executive order dated May 28, 1894, and the first examination was held by the Civil Service Commission June 22, 1894. To be eligible for the examination the only restriction made was that the applicant should be a graduate of a veterinary college. This remained in effect until July 1, 1899, when the standard was raised and the requirement made that the applicant should be a graduate of a veterinary college having a course of not less than three years. This was changed in January, 1900, to the requirement that veterinarians were eligible who were graduated during or prior to 1897 from veterinary colleges having a course of two years, while those graduated after that date must be from colleges having a course of three years. This standard was modified again in January, 1903, by requiring that applicants from a veterinary college having a course of three years must have spent at least two years in the study of veterinary science at a veterinary college. The necessity for this provision arose from the fact that certain veterinary colleges inaugurated the custom of giving degrees after one year of attendance and allowed two years' credit for time previously spent at agricultural, medical, or other colleges.

The demand for veterinarians for employment in practice and in the work of the bureau was so great that the existing veterinary colleges were not able to supply the requisite number. Some colleges did not give sufficient attention to the preliminary education of the students enrolled and were not particular as to the scope of the instruction given, the number of branches taught, and the length of the course. For this reason it was found that although some of the graduates were able to pass the somewhat restricted civil-service examination, a considerable number were not sufficiently educated to make satisfactory inspectors and were not professionally qualified for the important duties assigned to them.

Accordingly it was deemed advisable to adopt some means to designate the course of study, as an adjunct to the examination, which should be provided by colleges that wished to prepare graduates for the civil-service examination for veterinary inspector. In order to obtain expert advice as to the subjects to be included in a proper curriculum and the amount of time (number of hours) to be devoted to each, the Secretary of Agriculture in February, 1908, appointed five representative and qualified veterinarians as a committee on veterinary education, for the purpose of obtaining information regarding the course of instruction then given at veterinary colleges and to make recommendations as to the matriculation examination and the course of instruction necessary to qualify graduates of these colleges for admission to the civil-service examination for the position of veterinary inspector in the Bureau of Animal Industry.

This committee visited the various colleges for the purpose of obtaining the desired information, and as a result of its inquiry made recommendations as published in Circular 133 of the Bureau of Animal Industry. This circular was distributed generally, and most of the veterinary colleges proceeded at once to put the recommendations into effect.

On January 21, 1909, on my invitation a conference of representatives of all the veterinary colleges of North America met at Washington to consider with the committee above mentioned the whole matter

of matriculation and course of study. The committee's recommendations in the main were heartily approved by the conference, but it was decided to reduce the total number of hours in the course from 3,200, as required by Circular 133, to 3,000. By this reduction the student is still required to have instruction for an average of 6 hours per day for 6 days per week for 25 weeks for 3 years in order to cover the required 3,000 hours. The Association of American Medical Colleges recommends in colleges for the study of human medicine a curriculum of 333 hours per week, while the present regulations for veterinary colleges require for day colleges 38 hours per week and for night colleges 293 hours per week. While night instruction is discouraged and has been practically discontinued by all but two colleges, it was deemed advisable to make provision for it, as there seemed to be a demand for classes after office or work hours, particularly in Washington. It was therefore decided to fix the course for night colleges at 8 months, exclusive of final examination and holidays, as compared with 6 months for day colleges.

In March, 1909, there was appointed within the Bureau of Animal Industry a committee on veterinary education, consisting of Dr. A. M. Farrington and Dr. R. W. Hickman. This committee, commencing on March 17, 1909, visited all the veterinary colleges and made an inspection of each, obtaining all possible information regarding the manner in which each college was complying or failing to comply with the recommendations of Circular 133. A confidential report was sent to each college visited, stating wherein, in the opinion of the committee, improvements could be made and deficiencies corrected. Their reports were well received, and marked improvement has resulted in the curriculums of many colleges.

In the efforts to secure suitable veterinary inspectors properly qualified and educated in the veterinary profession there has been active cooperation of the United States Civil Service Commission, which brought about the issuance of regulations governing entrance to the veterinary inspector examination, effective September 1, 1909, approved conjointly by the Secretary of Agriculture and the president of the commission. These regulations were published as Bureau of Animal Industry Circular 150, which contains a list of the accredited veterinary colleges, graduates of which can be enrolled for the veterinary inspector examination. This list is subject to change, and any college failing to comply with the requirements is removed from the list until such time as there is faithful and explicit compliance.

The result of these measures has been not only to make it possible or the bureau to obtain men better educated and qualified for its veterinary work, but to raise the standard of veterinary education in the United States and to provide students with larger and better facilities for study. Many of the veterinary schools have made large expenditures of money and have greatly augmented and improved their equipment and facilities since the regulations were issued. The majority of the schools have cooperated heartily with the bureau in bringing about improvement and have cheerfully complied with the official requirements. The officials of several schools have expressed their appreciation of the bureau's efforts and their desire that its supervision should be continued, and some have said that until they found it necessary to make certain improvements in order to meet the bureau's requirements they had not realized that their schools were deficient in those particulars.

The department assumes no direct authority or control over the veterinary colleges; it merely undertakes, in conjunction with the Civil Service Commission, to prescribe certain requirements for admission to the examinations for veterinary positions in its own service with a view to obtaining the services of qualified men. In order for the graduates of a college to be eligible to such positions the college must provide the required facilities for instruction.

NEEDED LEGISLATION.

As indicated in previous reports, further legislation by Congress is needed in order to enable the department to exercise efficient control over certain matters in the interest of the live-stock industry and for the public good.

With the growing use in veterinary practice of vaccines, serums, antitoxins, tuberculins, and other preparations for the detection, prevention, or treatment of diseases of animals, and the increasing imports of such products, there is constant danger that contagious diseases may be introduced from abroad and cause great damage, as happened a few years ago in the outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease. Furthermore, these preparations, as shown by the bureau's investigations, are sometimes lacking in potency or are not standardized. It therefore seems very desirable that the Secretary of Agriculture should be given legal authority to control the importation of such products and to supervise the preparation of those manufactured in this country for interstate commerce, such authority to be similar to that already vested in the United States Public Health and Marine-Hospital Service with regard to similar products for use in human medicine.

The need for legislation to enable the department to regulate more effectively the interstate transportation of live stock so as to prevent the spread of contagious diseases and provide more humane conditions was set forth in my report for the last fiscal year as follows:

Experience in the enforcement of what is known as the 28-hour law has shown the desirability of exempting in some cases from its operation live stock which is being shipped under quarantine restrictions. Owing to unforeseen delays it is sometimes necessary in order to comply with the law to unload stock which is being shipped under quarantine restrictions into pens which are not specially set apart for that class of stock and which are likely to be used soon afterwards for other stock, and in this way infection has sometimes been spread. This danger could be practically obviated if the Secretary of Agriculture were clothed with power in such cases of emergency to waive the provisions of the law so that animals under quarantine might be kept in the cars for a sufficient time to reach a point where facilities were available for handling them without danger to other stock.

Although existing law authorizes the Secretary of Agriculture to require the disinfection of live-stock cars moving into or out of a section that is quarantined, it is desirable to have this authority extended so as to empower the Secretary of Agriculture to require the disinfection of any live-stock cars used in interstate commerce whenever he may consider such disinfection necessary in order to prevent the spread of disease. In the shipment of live stock it is sometimes a practice to put into the same car animals of various sizes and different species, with the result that small animals are often injured or trampled to death by larger ones. In order to remedy this evil it is desirable that the Secretary of Agriculture should have authority to regulate the shipment of different classes of stock in the same cars.

Dead animals are sometimes shipped in the same cars with live ones, and there is danger of the spread of disease in this way. Such shipments should be prohibited by law.

There should also be legislation prohibiting the interstate shipment of young calves, which, on account of their inability to eat solid food

and their refusal to drink water, are sometimes kept for several days. without nourishment.

TRICHINE IN PORK.

As the bureau continued to receive occasional reports of illness following the eating of uncooked or insufficiently cooked pork, it was found desirable during the year to give to the press a statement warning the public against the danger of trichinosis. An average of about 1 per cent of the hogs slaughtered in the United States are infested with the microscopic parasite commonly known as trichina or fleshworm, the scientific name being Trichinella spiralis. When transmitted to human beings trichina may cause serious illness, sometimes resulting in death.

No method of inspection has yet been devised by which the presence or absence of trichinæ in pork can be determined with certainty, and the Government meat inspection does not include inspection for this parasite. All persons are accordingly warned not to eat pork, or sausage containing pork, whether it has been officially inspected or not, until after it has been properly cooked.

A temperature of about 160° F. kills the parasite, therefore pork when properly cooked may be eaten without any danger of infection. Fresh pork should be cooked until it becomes white and is no longer red in color in all portions of the piece, at the center as well as near the surface. Dry-salt pork, pickled pork, and smoked pork previously salted or pickled, providing the curing is thorough, are practically safe so far as trichinosis is concerned, but as the thoroughness of the curing is not always certain, such meat should also be cooked before it is eaten.

The bureau has for distribution a circular giving information on the subject.

PUBLICATIONS AND DIFFUSION OF INFORMATION.

The results of the bureau's work are made available to the people through publications, correspondence, public addresses, and material furnished to teachers, writers, and the press.

The bureau's new publications issued during the fiscal year numbered 105, aggregating 2,891 printed pages. This is an increase of approximately 25 per cent over the preceding fiscal year. In addition to the new publications there have been numerous reprints of earlier publications. The new publications consisted of the Twentysixth Annual Report of the Bureau (for 1909), the Annual Report of the Chief of the Bureau for the fiscal year 1910, 22 bulletins, 19 circulars, 7 Farmers' Bulletins, 5 reprints from the annual report, 2 Yearbook articles, 26 orders and amendments, and 22 miscellaneous publications.

In addition to the distribution of literature, it is necessary to conduct a heavy correspondence to meet the large volume of requests for information.

THE ANIMAL HUSBANDRY DIVISION.

The Animal Husbandry Division, of which Mr. George M. Rommel is chief, deals mainly with the breeding and feeding of live stock and poultry.

HORSE BREEDING.

COLORADO WORK.

The carriage-horse breeding experiments in cooperation with the Colorado Experiment Station have, with one exception, progressed satisfactorily during the past year. The annual culling of inferior individuals is showing its results, and the foals show better quality each year. In August, 1910, the board of survey condemned 8 animals, which were sold at public auction. One mare died during the year; one was destroyed on account of injuries; one foal died, and one was destroyed on account of injuries. The following statement shows the animals in the stud on June 30, 1911:

In the experiment in the breeding of gray draft horses in cooperation with the Iowa Experiment Station, 5 out of 8 mares bred in 1910 dropped foals in 1911, and 4 of these foals are living. Two of these foals are by the Shire stallion Dapple Tom out of Clydesdale mares; the others are by the Clydesdale stallion Kuroki out of Shire mares. Three of the foals are gray in color and one is bay. One mare was purchased during the year and added to the stud. All the mares are worked regularly on the farm.

VERMONT WORK.

The Morgan horse-breeding work at Middlebury, Vt., was enlarged during the year by the purchase of the stud of the Willowmoor Farms at Redmond, Wash. There were 10 mares in the lot, 7 of them of breeding age; of the 7, 6 promise to be excellent brood mares and have been bred to General Gates. The young stock were, with one exception, by the Morgan stallion Troubadour, which attracted so much attention at the live-stock show of the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition in 1909. One of the 5 young stallions has been castrated. Five of the mares were bred in Vermont, and are good representatives of the old-fashioned Morgan lines, which have proved so valuable in mating with General Gates. The mare Maggie Gates was bought in October, 1910.

The board of survey condemned 4 horses in 1910, which were sold at auction, and 3 condemned weanlings were sold by the Vermont Experiment Station.

The 5-year-old stallion Red Oak has been leased to the Massachusetts Agricultural College, and, although sent to Amherst somewhat late in the season, has received about 20 mares of very good quality. The conditions under which the stallion was leased are of