Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1908-09-09
AS TO TICK ERADICATION.
The Work Will BE Pushed-CitiZens
Should CO-Operate


Clemson College, Sept. 6.-Editor
keowee Courier: wish to direct the
attention of your readers to the work
OF tick eradication, which is now be-
Ing conducted in your county, and
therefore ask you to give this letter
space In your columns.
During the summer and fall Of the
year 1907 an inspector was placed
in Oconee county with instructions to
locate and quarantine all cattle car
rying fever ticks, which transmit the
disease commonly known as distem-
per or Texas fever. AS q result of
this work hearty 100 infested premi-
ses, containing about 600 head Of
cattle, were located and quarantined.
The premises were visited once each
month, and the cattle owners given
instructions and assistance whenever
possible. Many owners at once be-
gan work, and about one-third Of
these places have already been freed
from ticks and released. Several
other quarantined premises are now
free, and will be released within a
short time.
In conducting the work we have
found several persons who, instead
Of assisting us, used their influence
to interfere and prevent their neigh
bors from engaging in this work.
Many Of these persons think this a
useless work because they do not
believe the cattle ticks cause this dis
ease or injure the cattle in any way.
To the first argument l can only
a make this reply: 1t has been SO
clearly and repeatedly shown that
Texas fever cannot be transmitted in
any other way that Congress has seen
tho nnpacS{fV nf nra6Jnatfno 10 -
tie tick, and has appropriated $780,
600 to assist the Southern States in
eradicating this pest, which causes
an annual loss of over SAL 100000.
To the second argument l would
say that l. any person thinks that
ticks will not injure cattle, let him
write to me, and l will forward q
photograph taken in Pickens county
IS. CO. which will satisfy the most
skeptical
We realize that our inspectors
zEeilAve made mistakes in their work
I'D also realize that there are in
tested places in Oconee county which
have never been quarantined. There
fore, we ask your readers to assist
us by reporting to our inspector, or
to this oifCe, the names Of owners of
infested premises which have never
been quarantined. We desire to
eradicate the ticks from Oconee
county this fall, and 1t can easily be
done II your citizens do their duty
and give us their support.
To show our earnestness in this
matter we have assigned an addi-
tiOnal Inspector to your county, and
supplied these men with spray pumps.
They have instructions to spray all
large herds, and as many Of the small
herds as possible, at regular intervals
of from eighteen to twenty-one days.
Owners will, of course, have to fur
nish the tick emulsion, and sufficient
assistance to handle the cattle.
This State has passed laws making
a continuation Of tick eradication
work compulsory, and 1t Is the duty
of the citizens of Oconee county to
abide by this law and assist in this
work. / believe that this assistance
will be given as soon as the people
understand tho work, and I there
fore invite correspondence from your
readers.
If I can be Of any assistance to
your readers in any way, I will be
glad to render any service that can.
Yours very truly,
M. Ray Powers,
State Veterinarian.