The Lafayette advertiser. [volume] (Vermilionville [i.e. Lafayette], La.) 1865-19??, 1907-03-27
BURN OVER ALL PASTURE LANDS
NOW,
Great Numbers of Cattle Ticks are
Feared This Summer as a Result
of thu Mild Winter.

OeptlOnally mild one, n the weather
conditions have been such as to favor
the survival unframed of a large per
cent of the tick eggs in pastures and
fields where tick-infested cattle roam
ed or we're pastured last summer and
autumn.
1t is we'll known that the adult fe-
male ticks, when they have completed
their growth and have become fully
engorged with blood, drop from the
cattle to the ground and there lay
many hundreds of eggs which event.
ually hatch into SEED ticks or baby
ticks. These latter get onto the cattle
and grow rapidly.
During a winter of normal severity the
eggs lie on the ground all winter with
out Matching, and seed ticks which
have Matched before cold weather
zones on also remain in a dormant
condition during the winter months.
During the winter just closed, owing
to the warm weather, cattle in central
and southern Louisiana (and perhaps
in northern Louisiana also) have been
constantly infested with ticks, the
seed ticks being active on warm days
and getting onto the cattle. Ordi-
narily the cattle in the vicinity of
Baton Rouge do not have ticks on
them during February, but this year
they were quite heavily infested all
winter. The progeny of these Feb
ruary ticks" will therefore augment
the usual number surviving the winter
and we entertain the gravest fear for
a;summer and autumn in Louisiana
which will witness the death of hun
dreds of cattle from excessive tick
infectatioD, and incidently the death
of hundreds of calves from Texas
fever or murrain, the disease which
is transmitted by the cattle ticks.
In the pasture lands where there
were ticky cattle last fall and during
the early winter. there are now
thousands upon thousands of tick
eggs on the ground, snugly hid away
in the grass and rubbish, waiting to
hatch out and infest the cattle within
the next month or SO. There are
also thousands more of minute seed
ticks, lying s~emi-dormant, ready to
get upon the cattle at the first OPP
portunity.
If the pastures and uncultivated
fields be burned of now, before the
nee grass becomes too green to pre-
vet the burning, q very large per-
centage of these eggs and seed ticks
will be destroyed by the fire; and the
coming summers losses from the tick
will be materially lower than if these
eggs and ticks are allowed to remain
in the pastures nnharmed.
We do not hesitate to say that we
view the situation with no little alarm
and we therefore urge every farmer to
ct once burn over every pasture and
every field that is not going to be in
cultivation this year. This burning
should be given as soon as possible,
and by all means by April LIST.
In the boil weevil infested section
this burning of che pastures and
grassy lands will catch a goodly
number of alternating boil weevils
not yet out of their winter quarters.
The number of boil weevils killed in
this may cot greatly reduce
the prospective damage by this pest,
bat it will help.
In this connection it should be said
THAT the Experiment Stations and the
State Crop Pest Commission are act
lively advocating the complete exter.
limitation of the cattle on every farm
lin Louisiana. The methods by
(which the ticks can be extermin ated
will be gladly explained by
Ietther of the undersigned, upon re-
Quest from any cattleman or farmer.
In cooperation with the U. s. De-
bartment of Agriculture, the complies
eradication of the cattle tick in q
portion of Louisiana will be shortly
Undertaken. and will be extended into
new territory a S rapidly as State and
Government appropriations are pro
kided for the work. While it will
hbubtless require many years to
eradicate this costly parasite from
The entire State, the farmer should
hot now neglect the simple measures
Which will help keep down the number