The purpose of Mr. Collett's paper was to bring stockowners to see the necessity for the institution of compulsory dipping in the Middelburg district. In his opinion the day would come when dipping would be made compulsory, and he wanted them to forestall the Government and ask for it. "Gentlemen," he said, "I believe in compulsion. A compulsory Act is easy for the man who wants to do right; the law is not going to enforce an Act upon us that we cannot stand. Had it not been for compulsion we would still have been dipping our sheep. My chief reason in endeavouring to get the Tick Act enforced is that I believe we have really got the seab under." Scab and Ticks. Mr. Collett's idea is that they should save themselves the eventual necessity of installing dips by beginning at once with hand-dressing. He pointed out that, while they dipped their sheep at frequent intervals for scab, ticks were kept under, but that, as scab lessened, the ticks increased until now they are worse than scab. He believes that ticks are worse on his farm to-day than on most farms in the district, on account of the fact that he was one of the first to get rid of scab, for in twelve years Mr. Collett has only dipped once (through a sheep that he had purchased). In confirmation of his opinion that scab eradication may be accompanied by increased tick infestation, Mr. Collett quoted the following letter from Mr. J. R. Ivy, of Fauresmith, in the Orange Free State: "Having noticed several of my sheep' scratching as though they had scab, I examined them and found them infested with ticks. In some cases I took nearly a score from one sheep; several sheep died, and I believe it was from the ticks. The next day I went to the top veld, and my boy called my attention to swarms of ticks on the ground. I have been on this farm five years, and this is the first time I have been troubled this way." These two instances-the one from the Karroo and the other from the Orange Free State-would seem to show that ticks are becoming more numerous, and to point to the advisability of farmers keeping a sharp lookout for any such signs of increasing tick-infestation. Mr. Collett's advice to the farmers in his own district may be summed up in his own words: "Since prevention is better than cure, why not let us ask the Government to enforce a modified Tick Act here, and let us save ourselves the expense of dipping cattle by starting in time. with crush kraals and hand-dressing. Although I have not done it I can well believe and see the force of building a small room with cement floor, and with a spray pump (instead of a dip) spray the cattle. In these parts where we only have a few cattle I am sure we will never be forced to build cattle dips; the difference here is the ticks are located in two or three very get-at-able places, and not all over the body like down-country or Natal." Horse-sickness and Immunization. Judging from the accounts which have appeared in the Press and from reports received by the Veterinary Research Division, the present season appears to have been a particularly virulent one for horsesickness all over the country. From the point of view of the scientist the season has been of interest on account of the severity of the test it has afforded of the immunizing process which has now for several years been undertaken by the Director of Veterinary Research. There have been several instances in previous years where inoculated horses have succumbed to horse-sickness, the virulence of the veld infection breaking down the immunity conferred by the inoculation. This, after all, is not surprising, for the process of immunization in the case of horses does not claim to confer a higher immunity than is provided by a natural attack of the disease; and, as is well known, the latter does not give absolute protection against every strain of horse-sickness. For example, a horse can "salt" naturally in the Pretoria district, and though he has thereby acquired a high degree of resistance he is not necessarily absolutely immune to horse-sickness at Delagoa Bay. This is a consideration upon which particular stress is laid by Dr. Robertson, the Acting Director of Veterinary Research, and it should be carefully borne in mind by all who are watching the experiments of the Veterinary Research Division in the immunization of equines against horse-sickness. We know that Dr. Theiler regards the immunization of horses against this disease as still in the experimental stage; the results at present are good, but they are at the same time uncertain. For example, at the Onderstepoort Station, nearly a hundred horses have this season been immunized, and the mortality has been 8 per cent.; and yet at Potchefstroom three horses were inoculated with the same vaccine, and all three died. There was absolutely no difference in the vaccine, the results being simply due to the differing susceptibility of the animals in question to horsesickness. At present the immunizing vaccine consists of three strains. of the disease, and endeavours are being made to increase the polyvalence of the material used in order to meet the differing susceptibilities of animals. A Virulent Discussing the work which the Veterinary Research Division is performing in connection with the immunization of equines against horse-sickness leads us naturally to a consideration of other of the many interesting and useful activities of this Division, under the temporary charge of Dr. Robertson. We may take, for example, the work that is being done in connection with blue-tongue immunization. A number of sheep farmers have complained that the blue-tongue vaccine which has been supplied this season has failed to secure immunity of their flocks against the disease, yet the material is prepared from the same strain of infection in the same way and by the same assistant is in the past; and Dr. Robertson can only explain its failure in some instances by the fact that this year has been a very severe one for blue-tongue, and that the natural infection has been so strong that the immunity conferred by the vaccine has broken down— much as has occurred in connection with horse-sickness. Farmers should remember than no vaccine of any kind is infallible-a fact which, we fear, is too often overlooked. Sometimes anthrax vaccine fails to protect, and the history of any smallpox outbreak will show cases where vaccine lymph failed to protect vaccinated people. An inquiry into the alleged failure of the blue-tongue vaccine this season to yield thoroughly convincing results would have to be made upon a statistical basis; but it is always a difficult matter to obtain reliable statistics from stockowners, who are often rather loose in their remarks-e.g."heavy loss," "dying in all directions," "vaccine quite useless"-but careful inquiries often show a very small percentage of actual mortality. Dr. Robertson has been making investigations into the matter, and his report will be submitted shortly to the Secretary for Agriculture. In passing, it may be observed that the very fact of sheep contracting blue-tongue after inoculation yearly for the past three years in itself would seem to prove the severity of the disease this season. Were the vaccine to be strengthened the disease might be produced and cause heavy mortality in many susceptible flocks. Other Phases of Veterinary Research. Anthrax appears markedly on the increase, and the output of the vaccine has gone up by leaps and bounds. There appears to be some difficulty in obtaining a steady supply from Europe, and the veterinary laboratories often experience delays in its delivery. The question of its local production is now under consideration. Sponsziekte vaccine is giving uniformly satisfactory results. The single vaccine simplifies the inoculation very greatly, and it is in much favour even with the natives in the Transkeian and other reserves. Its use has been attended with best results, and there are indications that by its use the disease may eventually become eradicated from certain districts where for years it has been enzootic. Mr. Walker, in charge of the Grahamstown Station, is endeavouring to classify and investigate the common diseases of chicks and ostriches generally, and is accumulating a mass of evidence. He is also endeavouring to work out a line of treatment for some of the common ailments of birds, with a list of the doses of the common drugs generally used in medicine. Mr. Walker has also found a new blood parasite in the ostrich, a leucocytozoon, hitherto undescribed. This he suspects to be the cause of much of the anaemia and poverty amongst birds. At present a number of experiments are being carried out at Bowden Hall, in the Cape Province, in an endeavour to find out which, if any, of the biting flies are responsible as carriers of the disease. This experiment has also in view the possible rôle of mosquitoes as reservoirs of the disease. Many drugs have been tried, with negative results. Another new disease has manifested itself among ostrich chicks, a form of aspergillus, due to a fungus-a fumigatus invading the lung tissue. Attempts at infection are being carried out. In working with these diseases one must also rear the healthy chicks for the material necessary for the experimental work. This takes up much time and is full of endless disappointments, as chick rearing is by no means an easy matter even in the best of conditions, and these are not found in the laboratory yard. Progress in investigation must, therefore, be slow. These are but a few of the phases of the work which the Veterinary Research Division has now in hand. The activity of the Division is very great, and scientific investigation is being carried forward steadily. Research work, however, is necessarily slow; there are so many hypotheses to be investigated, those yielding, on experiment, negative results being eliminated and the probable ones gradually whittled down to one or two, which then remain to be proved-and they can only be proved after long and laborious experiments, requiring much patience, time, and confirmation. The New The first annual congress of the newly amalgamated farmers' organizations of the Cape Province ran through a most successful three-days' sitting at Port Elizabeth at the beginning of June. Owing to the fact that the Journal goes to press at the end of the month, we were unable to give an account of the proceedings in our last number, but the report we publish elsewhere in the present issue will give an idea of the useful work that was accomplished. The step which the various farmers' organizations of the Cape Province have taken in thus joining forces is one that is well in keeping with the spirit of the times. Rarely is the truth of the old and wellworn dictum, "Union is strength, "Union is strength," more strikingly illustrated than in its application to the amalgamation of rural forces such as has gone on steadily in the Cape Province for many years past, has been finally accomplished in Natal, the Transvaal, and the Orange Free State, in the form of Provincial Agricultural Unions, and now has reached such a successful issue in the Cape in the banding together of the several already great rural organizations of that Province. The farmer is benefited, and the country as a whole is benefited by this form of co-operation; and, what is more, the Department of Agriculture is assisted by having its attention drawn, concretely and by a reliable body of opinion, to the needs of the agricultural interests of the country. There is another aspect of the value of such co-operation as we are considering. The interchange of views, the opportunity for which is provided by the annual congresses, is distinctly educational, and must make for the gradual broadening of the views of those who might naturally otherwise be inclined to take too local, too provincial a view of affairs. For these reasons the great step which the Cape farmers have taken is to be welcomed, and those concerned are to be congratulated upon the success which has attended the inaugural congress of the Cape Province Agricultural Association. Questions at the Conference. The conference took the opportunity provided by the presence of Mr. F. B. Smith, the Secretary for Agriculture, to obtain information upon a number of points of interest, and we think a résumé of the information afforded by Mr. Smith will be welcomed by many who were unable to attend the congress. The first question that came up was, naturally enough, lamziekte investigation, Mr. S. Butler asking, on behalf of the Vryburg farmers, whether Mr. Arthur Stead, of the Department of Public Health, Orange Free State, was to have a free hand in experimenting with his suggested remedies for lamziekte--a free hand as to the place and scope of experiments, as to the funds at his disposal for carrying them out, and as to time. In reply. Mr. Smith said that Mr. Stead had been asked exactly what experiments he wished to carry out, and Dr. Robertson had been deputed to do the work on the station he thinks best or most favourable. Mr. Stead would have every opportunity, but to ask that he should have a free hand and any money he wanted was an impossible request. Asked why an experiment station had not been established at Uitenhage in connection with the investigations, Mr. Smith said that such a station would cost a deal of money, whilst they, furthermore, already had as many stations as the staff could deal with. At the time the request was made Dr. Theiler and Mr. Burtt-Davy were about to leave on furlough, and it was thought that the further consideration necessary must await their return. came The question of the subsidizing of veterinary surgeons by Government, in the same way as is done with district surgeons, up, and Mr. Smith was asked whether there was any chance of the Government's taking this step. Mr. Smith replied that the Minister had considered the matter, and that there was a good deal in the suggestion. Encouragement should be given to veterinary surgeons settling in districts not populous enough to keep them without assistance. He was encouraged in this view because there were a number of young South Africans qualifying oversea as veterinary surgeons, and as they came back it would be a good thing to get them established here and there in the country and give them a subsidy to help them make a start. Soil Surveys, Guano Depots, and Tuberculosis. In reply to a question by Mr. R. H. Struben as to whether the Government had any idea of establishing a Central Institute of Agricultural Chemistry, Mr. Smith remarked that he was unable to say what the Government would do. There was a small chemical laboratory at Pretoria with an enthusiastic young chemist in charge. and he hoped to be able to build up a strong Division of Chemistry, also strong divisions at the Agricultural Schools. Questioned as to whether it was the intention to make a soil survey of the whole Union, Mr. Smith said he hoped to be able to take up the question of soil surveys, but to extend the investigations completely over the whole Union would naturally take a very long time. In the first place geological maps would be needed and the geological survey of the Union was not nearly complete. They would take up the question as soon as possible, and particularly in the districts where the need was most pressing. A delegate asked whether, provided farmers offered labour and land, the Government would conduct manurial experiments; to which the Secretary for Agriculture replied that he thought he could promise to detach a man to supervise such experiments, though not to live on the farm. Regarding the question of reopening a guano deposit in the Eastern Province at Port Elizabeth, Mr. Smith said this was unlikely. There was only a limited supply of guano-from 5000 to 6000 tons, and there were applications for about 12,000 tons. The guano came from the various islands and was mixed and sent out as uniform in |