The Columbus weekly dispatch., 1908-07-16

A. H. Pettibone, of the department
of agriculture, Washington, D. c.,
writes to the public press as follows
on the important subject, How TO
get rid of the cattle tick. He says:
Because all honest, clear-minded
men always wish TO know the exact
truth, whether they relish it or not,
and because the United States gov
ernment is beginning a crusade and
warfare on the cattle ticks, which
alone carry, transmit and scatter the
germs of the contagion among do
nestle cattle, known as the splenetic
or Texas fever, am led to write this
letter for the information OF readers
as TO what the government is doing
and proposing to do. That we should
be greatly aroused on the subject is
no wonder, when we come TO know
that the government has learned, as
the result of a most thorough and
painstaking investigation on the part
Of the most careful experts Of the
bureau of animal industry, that the
yearly loss and cost, and worse than
useless waste, which falls on the tick
infested States of the South, is no
less than the enormous sum of one
hundred million dollars. And the
share each year which Mississippi is
saddled with amounts into millions.
And so Congress, urged thereto by
the Southern senators and represen-
tatives,, has just passed an apprO-
priatfon of s250,000, 100000 more
than last year, 10 aid the Southern
people to stamp out and utterly de-
stroy the cattle tick.
1T has been demonstrated by a
most careful investigation, made by
skilIful experts OF the bureau of ami
nal industry. that the Texas cattle
tick is as surely a contagious disease
among animals as is the smallpox or
measles among the human family.
And a sure, certain and positive
cure and remedy for the contagious
disorder has been found and proven,
which can be stated in three words,
viz, grease and quarantine. Yes,
grease, and oily grease, such as ba-
con grease, rancid butter. cottonseed
oil or crude petroleum, or any other
oily grease, viii surely kill all the
ticks on any COW which it is made TO
cover. It has been tried thousands
of times and has never once failed.
1t is also certain that IL won't kill
any ticks which it does not reach
and cover. It must, therefore, reach
and cover all the ticks on the body
of the COW or steer, or it will not kill
them. If it IS made TO do so, it will /
kill every. one in a few minutes.
Quarantine. when rigidly and hon
estly and fully enforced. viii pre-
vent the spread Of the disease. Tick !
infested cattle must not run at large /
or they will continually infect other |
cattle. They will spread the disease
because it is an established and in
fact that the real and only
cause of the contagion is a micro
scopic germ which the so-called fever
tick alone carries, transmits and scat
ters. Hence the maxim is, No ticks.
no fever
Next, the cattle must be kept of
of tick : infested grounds and pas
lures for time long enough for all
the eggs which the female ticks have
lain on the ground to hatch out and
starve TO death, because their only
food is COW blood. The female ticks,
filed with 1000 to 5000 eggs, al
ways fall of, and lay them on the
ground. and never on the COW or
steer. If all cattle are rigidly kept
off infected grounds, they viii not
get infected, and all the ticks on the
ground viii starve TO death, and this
n a short time.
How does all this concern or af-
fect the State of Mississippi? Well.
is entirely below the
United States quarantine line, and
below the line OF Tennessee. It is
Is badly ticked-infested as any State
n the South. The prevalence of the
lever tick is fast reducing its herds
20 race of scrubs runts and stunts.
All Mississippi cattle are now under
suspicion, and under the ban. Why?
Because no Mississippi raised cattle /.
ian be shipped to the great cattle !