Perhaps the disease which has required the greatest amount of attention in the several states is tuberculosis in milch cows. It is customary for this office to apply the tuberculin test, free of charge, under certain stipulations, to any herd upon the request of the owner and to supervise the slaughter and disposition of the reacting animals. In some states the owner is indemnified in part or in whole for his loss. The amount of indemnity as well as the general features of the law concerning the control of tuberculosis in domestic animals has been the subject of much controversy and cannot be said to have reached an altogether satisfactory solution in most states.
The young farmer should clearly understand that under no circumstances can he afford to have a tuberculous animal in his herd. The contact of a diseased animal with other animals of the herd is certain to entail a greater loss than the destruction of the diseased animal. The farmer must in his own interest rear healthy animals whether or not it is necessary for the protection of the consumer.
FISH AND GAME LAWS
The motives underlying the enactment of laws concerning fish and game are varied. The controversies over these laws in the legislatures of the several states indicate that there is a belief, whatever may be the fact, that there are opposing interests; viz., those of the hunter or sportsman on the one hand, and those of the farmer or landowner on the other. The law of trespass has been one over which has raged much bitterness, both with regard to the form of the law to be enacted and concerning its subsequent enforcement. Sportsmen have usually held that a distinction existed between wild animals occupying private property and domestic animals. The landowner has urged that others should not trespass upon his property for the purpose of shooting wild animals, although his proprietary right in them was no greater.
In like manner, laws concerning the closed season, made to protect animals during the breeding period, are the subject of extended discussion and are being constantly changed; both because there is a difference of opinion concerning the habits of the different species and because the motive varies for maintaining the supply. Some animals are protected on account of their benefit, supposed or real, to agriculture. Other animals are protected because of their gaming qualities, even to the extent of sometimes injuring farm crops. The money spent by sportsmen in the pursuit of game is an element in the varied interests involved. Humane motives and a desire to prevent the further restriction of a not too varied fauna have helped, also, to save certain species from extinction. On the other hand, in some states commercial interests are involved, as where large quantities of birds are taken for their plumage.
Some attempts have been made to introduce foreign species, as the Japanese pheasant. It is, however, with fish that the most has been accomplished in replenishment. The federal government and several of the states have been active in regularly restocking, each season, certain streams with fry of edible and game fish.
Information concerning the open season can be obtained from the proper state officer. The fish and game laws are usually under the control of a commission with a secretary as the executive officer.