however, the disease is strongly centred upon the
metropolitan area, more than half of the outbreaks
being reported from the county of London alone.
The rabies order was passed in 1886, and the number of counties
in Great Britain in which cases of rabies in dogs were reported
in each subsequent year is shown in Table XXIII. In addition
there have been some cases of rabies in animals other than
dogs. The disease was very rife in 1895, but the extensive
application of the muzzling restrictions of the Board of
Agriculture was accompanied by so steady a diminution in the
TABLE XXIII.--Cases of Rabies in Dogs in Great Britain,
1887-1902.
Year. Counties. Cases. Year. Counties. Cases.
1887 28 217 1895 29 672
1888 19 160 1896 41 438
1889 20 312 1897 30 151
1890 20 129 1898 10 17
1891 17 79 1899 4 9
1892 12 38 1900 2 6
1893 18 93 1901 1 1
1894 17 248 1902 4 13
prevalence of the disease, that it was thought the latter had
been extirpated. The entire revocation of the muzzling order,
which accordingly followed, proved, however, to be premature,
and it became necessary to reimpose it in the districts where
it had last been operative, namely, certain parts of South
Wales. No cases were reported in 1903, 1904 or 1905.
Pleuro-pneumonia in Great Britain was dealt with by the
local authorities up to the year 1890. Between 1870 and
1889 the annual outbreaks had ranged between a minimum
of 312 in 1884 and a maximum of 3262 in 1874, the largest
number of cattle attacked in any one year being 7983 in
1872. The largest number of counties over which thin outbreaks
were distributed was 72 in 1873. On the 1st of September
1890 the Board of Agriculture assumed powers with respect to
pleuro-pneumonia under the Diseases of Animals Act of that
year. Their administration was attended by success, for
from 192 outbreaks in Great Britain in 1891 the total fell
to 35 in 1892 and to 9 in 1893. In the four subsequent
years, 1894-1897, the outbreaks numbered 2, 1, 2, and 7
respectively. In January 1898 an outbreak was discovered
in a London cow-shed. This proved to be the last case in
the 19th century of what at one time had been a veritable
scourge to cattle-owners and a source of heavy financial loss.
Between 1879 and 1892 inclusive, administration with regard to
swine-fever was entrusted to local authorities. The largest
number of outbreaks neported in any one of those years was 7926
in 1885, and the smallest 1717 in 1881. In 1893 the Board of
Agriculture took over the management, and Table XXIV. shows
the number of counties in which swine-fever existed, the number
of outbreaks confirmed and the number of swine slaughtered
by order of the board in each year since. The trouble with
this disease has been mainly in England, the outbreaks in
Wales and Scotland being comparatively few. What are termed
``swine-fever infected areas'' are scheduled by the board
when and where circumstances seem to require, and the movement
TABLE XXIV.--Outbreaks of Swine Fever in Great Britain,
1894-1905.
Swine slaughtered as
Outbreaks diseased, or as having been
Year. Counties. confirmed. exposed to infection.
1894 73 5682 56,296
1895 73 6305 69,931
1896 77 5166 79,586
1897 74 2155 40,432
1898 72 2514 43,756
1899 71 2322 30,797
1900 62 1940 17,933
1901 71 3140 15,237
1902 67 1688 8,263
1903 63 1478 7,933
1904 64 1196 5,603
1905 58 817 3,876
of swine within such areas is prohibited, much inconvenience
to trade resulting from restrictions of this kind. Frequently,
moreover, the exhibition of pigs at agricultural shows has to
be abandoned in consequence of these swine-fever regulations.
The Trade in Live Stock Between Ireland and Great Britain.
The compulsory slaughter at the place of landing does not
extend to animals shipped from Ireland into Great Britain,
and this is a matter of the highest importance to Irish
stock-breeders, who find their best market close at hand
on the east of St George's Channel. Table XXV. shows the
number of cattle, sheep and pigs shipped from Ireland into
Great Britain in each of the fifteen years 1891-1905, the
numbers of horses similarly shipped being also indicated.
On the average rather more than half the total of cattle
is made up of store animals for fattening or breeding
purposes, the fattening of Irish stores being a business of
considerable magnitude in Norfolk and other counties. Calves
constitute about one-twelfth of the total number of cattle.
TABLE XXV.--Imports of Live Stock from Ireland into Great
Britain, 1891-1905.
Year. Cattle. Sheep. Pigs. Horses.
1891 630,802 893,175 503,584 33,396
1892 624,457 1,080,202 500,951 32,481
1893 688,669 1,107,960 456,571 30,390
1894 826,954 957,101 584,967 33,589
1895 791,607 652,578 547,220 34,560
1896 681,560 737,306 610,589 39,856
1897 746,012 804,515 695,307 38,422
1898 803,362 833,458 588,785 38,804
1899 772,272 871,953 688,553 42,087
1900 745,519 862,263 715,202 35,606
1901 642,638 843,325 596,129 25,607
1902 959,241 1,055,802 637,972 25,260
1903 897,645 825,679 569,920 27,719
1904 772,363 739,266 505,080 27,500
1905 749,131 700,626 363,823 30,723
Most of the pigs sent from Ireland into Great Britain are fat,
the store pigs accounting for less than one-tenth of the total
number. The returns from Ireland under the Diseases of Animals
Acts 1894 and 1896 are less significant than those of Great
Britain. Thus, in the year ending June 1905, they included
4 outbreaks of anthrax, 219 of swine-fever and 343 of
sheep-scab, while there were no cases of rabies. Compared
with the export trade in live stock from Ireland to Great
Britain the reciprocal trade from Great Britain to Ireland
is small, and is largely restricted to animals for breeding
purposes. Owing to the reappearance of foot-and-mouth
disease in Great Britain early in 1900 the importation of
cattle, sheep, goats and swine therefrom into Ireland was
temporarily suspended by the authorities in the latter country.
Exports of Animals from the United Kingdom.
The general export trade of the United Kingdom in living animals
represented an aggregate average annual value over the five
years 1896-1900 of L. 1,017,000 as against L. 935,801 over the
five years 1901-1905. To these sums the value of horses alone
contributed about three-fourths, Belgium taking more than half
the number of exported horses. The export trade in cattle,
sheep and pigs is practically restricted to pedigree animals
required for breeding purposes, and though its aggregate value
TABLE XXVI.--Quantities and Value of Home-bred Live Stock
Exported from the United Kingdom, 1900-1905.
Other
Year. Horses. Cattle. Sheep. Pigs. Animals.
1900 30,038 2,742 4,934 435 75,642
1901 27,612 1,648 2,761 378 68,012
1902 30,032 2,428 3,596 515 60,941
1903 34,798 2,736 5,579 776 52,095
1904 32,955 3,311 8,142 732 50,873
1905 47,708 3,938 8,378 931 50,307
pounds pounds pounds pounds pounds
1900 681,927 118,337 53,306 3032 45,241
1901 605,699 61,812 25,727 3437 45,476
1902 635,661 96,153 29,069 5053 56,691
1903 734,598 140,244 67,758 7053 48,335
1904 581,339 146,210 88,421 7850 43,868
1905 875,647 190,406 133,413 8024 41,061
is not large it is of considerable importance to stock-breeders,
as it is a frequent occurrence for buyers for export--to
Argentina, Australasia, Canada, the United States and
elsewhere--to bid freely at the sale rings, and often to pay
the highest prices, thus stimulating the sales and encouraging
the breeding of the best types of native stock. Details
for the six years 1900-1905 are summarized in Table XXVI.
Implements and Machinery.
It is the custom of the Royal Agricultural Society of England
to invite competitions at its annual shows in specified
classes of implements, and an enumeration of these will
indicate the character of the appliances which were thus
brought into prominence in the latter years of the 19th and
the early years of the 20th century. These trials taking
place, with few intermissions, year after year serve to direct
the public mind to the development, which is continually
in progress, of the mechanical aids to agriculture. The
awards here summarized are quite distinct from those of
silver medals which are given by the society in the case
of articles possessing sufficient merit, which are entered
as ``new implements for agricultural or estate purposes.''
In 1875, at Taunton, special prizes were awarded for
one-horse and two-horse mowing-machines, hay-making machines,
horse-rakes (self-acting and not self-acting), guards to
the drums of threshing-machines, and combined guards and
feeders to the drums of threshing-machines. In 1876, at
Birmingham, the competitions were of self-delivery reapers,
one-horse reapers and combined mowers and reapers without
self-delivery. In 1878, at Bristol, the special awards were
all for dairy appliances --milk-can for conveying milk long
distances, churn for milk, churn for cream, butter-worker for
large dairies, butterworker for small dairies, cheese-tub,
curd knife, curd mill, cheese-turning apparatus, automatic
means of preventing rising of cream, milk-cooler and cooling
vat. A gold medal was awarded for a harvester and self-binder
(McCormick's). In 1879, at Kilburn, the competition was of
railway waggons to convey perishable goods long distances
at low temperatures. In 1880 at Carlisle, and in 1881 at
Derby, the special awards were for broadside steam-diggers
and string sheaf-binders respectively. In 1882, at Reading,
a gold medal was given for a cream separator for horse
power, whilst a prize of 100 guineas offered for the most
efficient and most economical method of drying hay or corn
crops artificially, either before or after being stacked,
was not awarded. In 1883, at York, a prize of L. 50 was
given for a butter dairy suitable for not more than twenty
cows. In 1884, at Shrewsbury, a prize of L. 100 was awarded
for a sheaf-binding reaper, and one of L. 50 for a similar
machine. In 1885, at Preston, the competitions were concerned
with two-horse, three-horse and four-horse whipple-trees,
and packages for conveying fresh butter by rail. In 1886,
at Norwich, a prize of L. 25 was awarded for a thatch-making
machine. In 1887, at Newcastle-on-Tyne, a prize of L. 200 went
to a compound portable agricultural engine, one of L. 100 to
a simple portable agricultural engine, and lesser prizes to
a weighing-machine for horses and cattle, a weighing-machine
