The Florida agriculturist. [volume] (DeLand, Fla.) 1878-1911, 1907-07-31
Oil for Cattle Ticks.

1t is possible, by the use of crude oil,
to get rid Of ticks even in unfenced
pastures. This is good news and we
hope will help our stockmen to get
rid of this pest The article is as
follows:
The Bureau Of Animal Industry in
circular just issued has this to say of
crude oil for cattle ticks: In South
Carolina, as in many other Southern
States, where on most plantations no
land is fenced except few acres for
pasture, and where in many places ten
ants and hired hands use the pasture
in common with the landowner for
their mich COWS, driving these COWS
to their individual lots and barns at
night and back to the pasture in the
morning, without making any change
in the pasturing, feeding, or milking
of the COWS, the conditions demanded
a method of tick eradication that
could be applied and it was determined
to endeavor to formulate such
method, if possible Texas crude pc
troleum of a certain grade, having up
to this time given the best and most
certain results in destroying ticks on
cattle when used in the form Of dip
or bath, and it having been demon
strated in one case that cattle treated
in this manner could remain on tick
infested ground for Fl days without
becoming reinfested, it was decided to
try the effect of applying this sub
stance to the cattle by hand while they
continued to use the tick-infeSted lots,
barns and pastures in the usual man
ner, and to determine the best time
to begin the applications and how
often and at what intervals it would
be necessary to reapply the oil in or
der to free the cattle and premises
from ticks.
To obtain information on the va
rious points it was arranged for the
South Carolina Agricultural Expert
ment Station, in cooperation with the
Pathological Division Of the United
States Bureau of Animal Industry, to
carry out series of experiments on
a number of plantations in Oconee
County, S. c., beginning in the fall
of 1905 and continuing until the spring
of 1907. In one series of experiments
the first application of the oil was to
be made in the fall at the time the last
crop of ticks Of the year was maturing
on the cattle, and the oil was to be
dppuCO again Ill IAO oP1AAS do OWN
as ticks appeared on the cattle. from
the life history of the tick it seemed a
reasonable conclusion that nearly all
the ticks could be disposed of in these
two applications. The first application
in the fall would dispose of the ticks
on the cattle that would otherwise de-
post most of the eggs that would
hold over during the winter and con-
tribute most largely to the first crop
of ticks in the spring, while the seed
ticks on the ground at this time would
be kept off the cattle until the weather
became cold enough to render them
immovable or to kill them. The ap-
plication in the spring would dispose
of the seed ticks Matched from the
eggs laid by the ticks dropped from
the cattle Immediately before the oil
was applied in the fall. AS there was
no certainty that the winter tempera-
ture would fall low enough to kill
these seed ticks and as there was a
probability that they would become
active enough to attach themselves to
the cattle, or that the eggs on the
ground might be Matched during a
prolonged period of mild weather,
the cattle were to be kept under OBJ
servation during the winter and the
oil applied should ticks appear on
them. They were also to be kept I'm
der observation after the first applica-
ton in the spring, because it was too
..o1, ~ av0ect that all the seed ticks