The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-11-02
DIPPING CATTLE
 IN SOUTH ALABAMA
How Stock Raisers Are Figf<-
 ing the Tick
DIP TWICE EACH MONTH
It Is Hoped That Some Day Guar ant1ne Against Alabama Cat
 tie Can He Raised
BY WALTER HARPER

| Monday was dipping day Tn Dalias
 county
 The farmers of south Sumter dipped
 yesterday and those of Marengo will
 dip today.
 The farmers all along the black belt l region are dipping" twice a month. | The fad has spread to the cities. Mer-
 chants. bankers, business men. clerks and shop people have caught the fad, If you
 can call it a fad. and are dipping. Those
 hat have no call to dip themselves go | out to see that it is well done. | A dipping" vat has been established
 in the city of Selma for the accommoda- ton of the people at the expense of the
 own and county.
 Dipping fluid for the free use of the people is prepared in a big tank in the city of Selma for the use of other vats that have been built all over the county for the people.
 It is a great movement. It marks an epoch in the history Of Alabama. It is no senseless fad. Perhaps you do not under stand. It is a simple proposition. It has been described in this correspondence be- lore. but perhaps the item escaped you.
 As every cattle man of experience knows, it Is useless to undertake to raise cattle In Alabama as long as the cattle tick is allowed to exist A government quarantine against all Alabama cattle prohibits the raising of cattle for com mercial purposes. Cattle shipped from Alabama are discounted from 20 to 90 per cent by reason of the existence of the cattle or Texas fever tick
 It means an annual loss to Alabama of not less than s2,eO00eo, and Alabama has not been classed as cattle raising state at that. When it Is considered that this might become one of the greatest cattle raising states in the Union but for the tick. the loss is incalculable.
 The western cattle raiser would come to Alabama to engage in the business if it were not for this pesky parasite. which, really, as strange as it may seem, has been fostered by the people of the state.
 No wise man will engage extensively in the business when his neighbor is allowed or persists in breeding ticks on the ad- joining farm. Though the one intelligent farmer may keep his cattle free from ticks. the ticks on his neighbours cattle makes the general quarantine effective and he loses in the sale of his cattle
 A few years ago the agricultural de- partment at Washington sent a number of cattle tick experts into Alabama. They began campaign of education, but found rough sailing. The people could not be brought to see so much harm in the little tick that they had been used to seeing all their lives. They resented the interference of 'book farmers" from the government office
 If they had ticky cows. 1t was their business and Washington had no right to interfere.
 To make eradication effective, the county had to enforce the stock law-that is, require every man to keep his cattle under fence the year round. This aroused vigorous opposition in most. of the coun- ties, and the county officials, afraid of their political future, sided with the peo- pie, who in more than one instance held monster mass meetings to threaten the county commissioners if they dared to interfere with their personal rights" But the more intelligent farmers of the
 state began by degrees to listen to the experts. They soon aroused themselves to the vital importance of the problem and
 began to study the matter. The result was that they soon became enthusiastic tick eradicators. The move
 ment was infectious. County commission | CTS changed their positions and began to enforce the laws necessary to make erad- ication effective.
 There are still some people in all the counties that are skeptical and stubborn,
 but they are forced to follow the rules and are being benefited against their choice. Large vats are provided in almost every community where the people have adopt ed the plans of the government The cat tie of the community are driven through these vats filled with water and a small percentage of arsenic. The cattle are cleansed of all impurities and the tick is killed. The cattle are really benefited by the arsenic dip instead of injured, as some of the skeptics believed would be the result.
 The dipping is done twice a month and dipping day in the black belt counties Is holiday It is one of the most interest ing sights in the state.
 It is estimated that by September of next year those counties that have adopt ed the method will be entirely free from the pest. and the quarantine will be raised. The method Is not expensive, and most of the counties are bearing the ex- pense, though many of the vats are be- ing built by public and private subscrip- ton.
 Every enterprising cattle raiser in the state has his own vat on his farm and gives its free use to his neighbors- The building of the vat with cement costs about s35 The dipping mixture, water | and arsenic. 400 to l. Is inexpensive. | The existence of the cattle tick is the l only impediment in the way of Alabama | becoming one of the most important and
 profitable cattle raising states in the | Union.
 | The eradication movement is spreading
 to all parts of the state. and within few years a beef animal raised in Alabama
 should stand side by side with the best that is raised in the west, and will be If
 the farmers of Alabama will not stand in
 their own light and will forget the small
 prejudice they have nurtured in their
 hearts for these past years. It means | millions to the state.
 | l