The Montgomery advertiser., 1907-06-09
Texas Cattle Feuer, Its
 Costs, Its Cause, It's Cure.

Athens Courier
 I am going to ask, by your generou courtesy. space in your columns il which to talk to your readers on topic which greatly concerns them and indeed. all the people of Ala bama, and all the Southland. I mear The Texas cattle fever. because. witt the migration and marketing of Texas cattle, 1t has spread into all the South ern States. And it is now more prop erly called the Southern cattle fever It did not originate in Texas. It came into Texas from Mexico. It came into Mexico from Old Spain. It has been In Southern Spain, and North Africa since the period of old Carthage.
 The Cost.
 The ravages of this disease are now indeed marvellous. and most deplorable A few years ago it was a mere baga- tele. But it has silently but surely spread, with the months, until 1t has become a pest and plague. and costly nuisance. which extends from San Die go, in Southern California. to Norfolk in Virginia. And its cost annually to the Southern people Is now, by facts which cannot be doubted. not less than $60 900 000 If permitted to go on un- checked. what will 1t be in ten years more?
 The fact is that the cattle raisers in all the Southland are taking the alarm. All who think now see that something must be done. SuDine indifference will not do. Now. there is by nature no section in the United States better adapted to the successful rearing of splendid domestic cattle than the mag nificent country which makes up the great valley of the Tennessee in Northern Alabama It Is a region soon to be transformed as If by an enchant- CTS wad. The enormous water power of the Muscle Shoals. which like that of mighty Niagara, has been running to waste for ages Is soon, and very soon, to be harnessed like that at Ni- agara for the uses of man. The com ing thousands, and. Mir. Editor. they are coming. will have need of milk, and butter. and beef. The Texas cattle fe- Yer is threatening the destruction of the entire cattle industry Let us first consider
 The Cause.
 If there is any fact in science which is absolutely established. one such fact is that the real, sole and only cause of the TeXas fever is microscopic germ. which is alone and only car ried a.nd conveyed by the peculiar tick known to science as boonhilus annu- latus, or the cow loving tick. I have said that this germ is microscopic. It lo' NO uHdlueu nuIlldH eye HlS ever seen this germ. And hence its very existence was long doubted. But when q few drops of blood drawn from cow or steer. sick with the Texas fe yer. are placed under the lens of great m!scroscope which maenifes 200o to 5000 diamoters. then these deadly germs arc seen, and easily seen to be alive-and to squlrm And these germs remember. are only carried and iDa hy-t TaxoS cattle ticks
 Rut says same sanient old pundit, "whv we've always had ticks, and 1t Is all stuff to say that ticks carry the Texas cattle fever"
 Yes we've always had the ticks but there are ticks and ticks, and several other kinds of ticks. There are wood ticks. ear ticks lone star ticks. net ticks castor bean ticks, chicken ticks all old settlers. And now there are these new comers-the Texas cattle ticks. There are hundreds of kinds of non Uoisonous and harmful snakes. But then there Is the copperhead. And the Texas cow tick Is the copperhead of the whole tick genus. And when we learn and remember that no animal ever vel was found sick with Texas fever. which was not first infected with thosn cow loving ticks. we see, and clearly see. the true cause Of the cat tie pcstilence. And now let us con- slider
 The Cure.
 The sure cure is to kill the ticks both on the cattle and on the pastures. Dead ticks are usually good ticks. But now to kill the ticks on the cattle? 1 And the answer is clear Apply grease 1 and sulrhur But how? And the an 1 swer is, first pick off the animal the ! big fat ticks. Burn or otherwise sure ] ly destroy these. Don't let them fall on the ground. They are fecund fe- male ticks and will each produce from l 800 to 5000 eggs and If allowed tC fall on the ground they will infes' the pasture or field or promises witf myrads of new ticks, When the biz fat ones are picked off. then. with z sponge, or horse brush, or by hand cover and rub over all the small ticks with a plenteous quantity of grease and sulphur, Do this well, so as tt reach them all. and you will Kill al thus treated as surely as arsenic will kill baby or strychnine a dog.
 Put why will grease kill the ticks and why sulphur Well. first. as t' grease and sulphur. The sulphur Is ] natural insect poison, and as for greas nH atI Ia rd