The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-01-29

1 drop of blood from crushed tick was frequently responsible for the heginv ming of an aggravated case of tnfes- l tation by screwworms.
 | The indirect losses to the South. due to the presence of the tick are proba- biy even greater than the direct loss es. Among the former are the practi- cal prohibition of shipment to the prin cipal markets during the greater part of the year, thus reducing the value or all cattle not marketed and to the extent of the difference in price be- tween the. great markets and the more glutted Southern markets.
 Another Injury to the South due to the presence of the tick, and one that will continue to grow until the tick is eradicated, Is the keeping out ot the tick-infested region of the capital that would be invested in cattle raising here but for this great handicap. If the pioneers in the business of producing fair grade of beef cattle in the South should find the tick so great an obsta- eie as to discourage them and cause them to give up and engage in other lines of farming 1t would sound the death knell of what should become leading line of Southern agriculture Is the eradication of the tick practi- cable? The answer Is yes. if done uni versally over a large enough territory.
  plain so far as concerns any one farm. in Professor Morgan's bulletin, an ab- stract of which was given in these col umns last fall Quitting details, the method consists in keeping cattle oIi of the area that is to be cleared or ticns for a certain length of time. This time will be approximately several months in summer or else continuous ly during tho winter and spring sea son. When we remember that fields Of cotton and corn are naturally free or ticks at the end of summer, we realize that the principle involved in freeing pastures, woodland, range and fields of ticks is not a complicated one. IL must be added that while the eradica- tion of the tick would be advantageous if thoroughly done over a large ter ritoyy, it would usually be unadvisable for isolated individual farms.
 The need for universal co-operation on the part of the land owners iR the country to be freed, makes 1t evident that the work of eradicating teh tick to be done under government auspices and at public expense: The secretary of agriculture is charged with the duty of establishing a Guarantine line around the tick-infested States and hence he is naturally the authority to whom should fall the leadership in this matter that affects interstate liVe- stock sanitation and interstate com merce in cattle. Hence # would seem eminentIy proper for congress to pro vide the funds for this work. At the same time 1t would be the part of wis
 same time it would be the part of to provide additional funds to the eho that the work might go on more rapid ly than would be possible with It's share of federal funds. A number of organizations have already passed res olutlons urging the pushing of this warfare on the tick by the national and State governments in cooperation.
 In the years that intervene between the present and the time when the DOH weevil shall be in our midst. our pee ple need to give much of their thought to deciding how to diversity their agri- cultural operations. The raising or live stock is the principal line of diver- stSication needed and the eradication of the tick will make this branch of farm ing far more profitable and extensive than it is at present.
 ~A r DugEar.