St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1912-01-31

yellows in peaches, black know of
grapes, etc. The beginning OF the
| forestry division, which fully ma
terialized several years later, was
made possible through his efforts.
He was the first to recommend that
a portion of the agricultural docu-
ments be turned over to the public
printer for sale.
William G. DeLuc of Minnesota,
was appointed commissioner of ag-
riculture by President Hayes, and
took charge July I, 1877. He quite
thoroughly oYerhauled, fumigated
and placed on a clean basis the de-
partment of seed distribution, and
arranged that no cheap and common
seeds should be sent out under its
auspices. Under his direction the
diseases of hogs and other domestic
animals were investigated, and the
life, histories and habits OF econo-
mically important insects were
studied. Experiments with artesian
wells for irrigation water we're al
SO started.
Diseases of Domestic Animals.
DIR. George B. Loring of Massa-
chusetts took charge of the depart
ment on July 1, 1881. He paid
very great attention to the diseases
of domestic animals, and with the
Organization of the present bureau
of animal industry, work was COM
menced along this line in several
states. Special studies of inocula-
tions and the use of vaceines, and
the control of quarantine, were
made under his direction Large
quantities of seeds and plants were
distributed, which reached in 1883,
total of 2,467,O 900 packages of
seeds and more than 100000 plants.
The next commissioner of agricuI-
ture was Hon. Norman J. Colman of
Missouri, who took his place on
April 3, 1885. Under his direction
many new departments were organ
lied, including the Office Of expert
ment stations, which had oversight
of federal funds expended under
state experiment station man
agement and which issued a period
zeal giving the main results of exper-
iment station investigation, the
division of ornithoIogy and mamma
logy, which investigated the damage
done to crops and fruits by birds, es-
pecially the English sparrow and
bobolink, and the division of pomo-
the care and handling and nomen-
clature. of fruits were studied. A
section of vegetable pathology was
formed, the irrigation inquiries
were continued, and the study of
public highways was begun. Sew
eral important discoveries of the
differences between the crystals of
lard, beef fat and butter were re-
ported by the miscropist, which
proved to be important factors in
determining the genuineness of but
ter offered for sale.
The department of agriculture was
raised to the same rank as the
other departments of the govern
ment service on Feb. 8, 1889, and
this was largely due to the efforts
of the national Grange. This
change raised the title Of commits
sioner of agriculture to secretary or
agriculture, and placed the secretary
at the presidents council table on
the same footing as the other cab
met members.
Disseminating Information.
Hon. J. NJ Rusk was appointed
secretary of agriculture on March
A, 1883, by President Harrison. He
at once urged the necessity of plac-
ing the information gained by the
department more generally in the
hands of the farmers of the country,
and for this purpose established
what is now the division of publ
cations, and started the publication
of the farmers bulletins, which
have become so popular He also
planned the publication Of advance
reports on publications of the de-
partment by newspapers, press as
sociations and agricultural journals
over the country, that the valuable
information gained through the in
vestigations of the department
might be readily available for the |
agriculturists of the nation.
Inspection of Meats.
Under Secretary Rusk's admins
tration the work of the bureau of |
animal industry grew steadily. He
inaugurated the system of inspect
ing all meats exported from this
country, as some foreign nations
had prohibited the importation of
American meats on account of their
frequently coming from diseased |
animals. The fight against infectious
diseases was energetically continu-
ed, and in 1892 the announcement
was made that the country was free
from contagious pleuro-pneumonia.
The work of putting the Texas few
er of cattle under control was con-
tinued efficaciously. (The Texas few
er of cattle is a disease caused by \
a protozoan which infests the body /
of the cattle tick The tick buries
its head in the skin of the animal
and usually finds connection with |
some blood vessel. AS the digestive /
system of the tick conforms to a
circulatory basis, the blood Of the
animal is taken in through the /
mouth organs, circulates the ticks /
digestive apparatus and is exuded /
the opposite opening of /
the double valvular mouth organ. |
In this operation any bacterial or
protozoan organisms in the body Of 1
the tick are transferred to the /
blood of the animal on which the /
tick is a parasite.)