The Port Gibson reveille. [volume] (Port Gibson, Miss.) 1890-current, 1909-12-02
CATTLE TICKS.
r1ust be Eradicated Before Mis-
sIppi Prospers as it Should.

sIppi Prospers as it Should.
Following is the address of Prof.
Archibald Smith, secretary of the
state live stock sanitary board, on
the Importance of tick eradication
to the live stock interest of the
south:
The progress of agriculture is
entirely dependent upon education
and cooperation, the one being in
separately associated with the other
Before improved methods can be
introduced or great changes can
be made, the farmer must under
stand clearly the results of such
changes and the benefits to be de-
rived from adopting new methods.
Cooperation, or unity of pur-
pose, is essential in order to obtain
more desirable conditions and to
solve more rapidly the problems
with which the farmer has to deal.
In taking up the work of tick e.
radication In new districts or in
presenting the matter to the state
legislature in an effort to secure
cooperation or liberal appropria-
ton 1t is first necessary to start a
campaign of education by means of
public meetings and the press in
order that the people and their rep
resentatives may be given a clear
conception of the benefits to be de-
rived from the expenditure of the
tick. While it may be true that
only the cattle industry is serious
-ly affected by the ravages Of the
tick, yet we find that the breeding
of farm animals is SO closely relat-
ed that whatever retards the breed
ing Of one kind also retards the
breeding of others
Few farmers make praclict Of
breeding only one kind "f stock for
.tl.e.reasnn thai ~ asl aHeragr :arm
different kinds pi stock are requir-
ed TO ulillze th-. land and available
feed to the hes advantage
Therefore, the cattle tick has not
only prevented the increase in num-
bers and Improvement of southern
cattle, hut has, 10 large extent,
retarded the breeding Of other
kinds OF stock.
1t requires no argument ON my
part to prove that grass and live
stock are the basis of successful
agriculture, and that cattle utilize
more grass in this country than all
other animals combined. There
fore, until we create conditions
that will enable the farmers of the
south to utilize the grass pro6tably
that should be grown on every
farm, and is now growing on large
acres of land that are unsuitable
for other proposes, we cannot hope
to permanently increase land val
ues, or develop more profitable
system of agriculture.
That the tick has been allowed
to remain so long after a practical
and inexpensive means of destroy
ing it has been devised is due to
the fact that the people of the va
rious states have failed to appre-
ciate the enormous loss sustained
and lis effect upon the agriculture
of the country; and the process of
educating them in order to secure
their cooperation must necessarily
be slow.
While it is true that other fac
tors have TO some extent been re-
enonsible for the system of farming
usually practiced in the south, we
must all admit that in a country
possessing all the natural advan-
tages for profitable stock-raising as
we do here, that the cattle-tick has
been one of the most important
factors in developing system of
agriculture that is about as ruinous
as could be devised; and, in study
ing this matter further, We will see
clearly that this system OF agricul-
ture having been firmly established
is largely responsible for the tick
being allowed to remain.
The unfortunate conditions ex-
isting In the districts infested by
the boil weevil makes 1t especially
important that the tick be EXTERN
mated at the earliest possible date.
Had the boil weevil districts been
freed from ticks and the farmers