Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1909-08-20
ERADICATION OF CATTLE TICKS.

ment is granting $3.50, 900 per year
TO aid in graduating this great pesti-
lence and most costly nuisance, will
you not grant space wherein | may
set forth for the benefit of your
readers the cause, the remedy FOR,
and the immense cost OF, the dire
contagion?
THE,ChUSE.
About the cause there is no room
for doubt OF debate. The one and
only true cause is "a microscopic
lgerm which is alone transmitted
from animal to animal by means of
that peculiar tick, cattle parasite,
and the very rattlesnake of all the
tick tribe, which is known to science
as Margorophus Annulatus. And
these pestilence bearing ticks have
alone been carried and scattered all
over the South, from the Rio Grande
to the Chesapeake, from Mexico to
Maryland, by countless driving,
handling and shipment of tick in
fected cattle, and in no other way in
the world. This is the verdict of
absolute science.
THE REMEDY.
But is there safe and sane rem
edy for the. great evil? Yes, indeed,
and the remedy is so simple it can
be stated in four simple words
viz, GREASE AND LOCAL QUARANTINE.
Yes, any oily grease will kill, and
speedily any and all ticks on COW,
calf, or steer to which it is honestly
applied, and which it is really made
to reach out to cover And the
best and by far the cheapest way to
use the grease. is an emulsion of
crude petroleum or common black
oil, For the emulsion take one quart
of common lye soap and mix or dis
dissolve this in two quarts of hot
water. Mix this with the two gal
Ions of hot water Mix this with
two gallons of the black OIL And of
this emulsion use for each animal a
half pint, and one pint of water
mixed, aud it will kill every tick
which it envelopes and covers. 1t
always has and always will But
quarantine and why? Well, by
quarantine the spread of contagion
/ has been arrested And an iron
quarantine now cuts off the further
spread of the pestilenee. And it has
come ty stay while the ticks remain.
And just so long as ticks remain,
and they will remain just so long as
the ticky cattle are permitted to
run at large, just so long will Texa S
fever curse the South, or such parts
as the ticks infest Hence the neces-
sity of quarantine. These ticks
never lay their myriad of eggs on
COW or steer. But when the female
is ripe to lay her eggs she always,
by instinct. falls off and lays from
II, 800 to 5000 on the ground-and
then she dies. But these eggs will
in from Is to 30 or 40 days say,
nearly all hatch out and crawl up on
the grass and lie in wait for COW
brute. When one comes along they
will at once crawl upon 1t by hun
dredS; will infect and breed again,
and will and always do bite into it
the germs of the Texas fever. Now
if all cattle are by local quarantine
kept off such pasture these young
seed ticks will in a few weeks starve
TO death, and leave that pasture
disiniected 10 a word grease and
quarantine will do the work. Up to
last fall $4,000 square miles were
utterly clean of ticks-an area al
most twice the size of Mississippi,
by the use. of grease and quarantine,
but now,
THE COST.
II the cost is a mere bagatelle ii
need give 40 uneasiness, But the
IN ~ 70
caused by the cattle ticks reaches
appalling figures. Mr.. Wilson the
great farmer Secretary of Agricul-
ture, discloses that the cattle ticks
are the great bane and curse of
Southern Agriculture. 1t takes the
enormous sum of at least 800, 900, 900
yearly. And he gives the proof.
There are in the United States about
81, 900, 900 head of horned cattle. Of
these about Il, 900, 900 are owned in
the North and West, and about
20, 900, 900 head are owned in the
South. Next Years census will
show the exact figures. Now, he
estimates the annual loss on these to
average S. per head. And the proof
is this A vast number do each
year lie down and die of the eonta-
gion. A still greater number which |
do not actually die are yet so in
jured and stunted by the poison as
A vast deterioration of stock caused
by the ticks, as fast converting the
herds into a race of runts and |
stunts. And then the immense loss
of milk and butter from about
1000, 600 milk cows must be con-
sidered. And this not only in guam
tity, but especially in quality No
cow covered with ticks and sick with
the Texas fever can give milk fit for
human food. And yet thousands of
children are fed on such milk But
then is our loss so clear and certain
that the dlllest can see it If he
knows the difference qetween 10 cent
and 5 cent cotton, in price and
profit. The fact is that in all the