The Port Gibson reveille. [volume] (Port Gibson, Miss.) 1890-current, 1910-10-06
$780, 100000 YEARLY
is What the Cattle Tick Is COST
ing the South.


Nashville, Tenn, Sept. 2o, 10.
Editor Reveille:
That the splenetic or Texas fe'
yer in domestic cattle is a most
grevous and malignant nuisance is
a fact known to all intelligent farm.
ers and cattle owners. But the
extent of the evil, and that it can
be utterly stamped out and eradi'
Gated, is not so generally known
But now that Uncle Sam has taken
a hand, and Congress has armed
the Secretary of Agriculture with
ample means to aid the people to
eradicate the cattle pestilence, will
not the Reveille allow me space
wherein, for the benefit of its read
ers, l may set out the true cause,
the immense yearly waste and cost,
and the sure remedy for this great
bane to Southern Agricultural
THE CAUSE
The only cause is microscopic
germ which has always been trans
mitted by that peculiar tick which
is known to science as MARQyRoPUs
ANNULUTUs. Aud these poison
bearing ticks have alone been car
ried and scattered all over and all
through the South, from Mexico
to Maryland, by the careless hand
ling and shipment of tick infected
cattle, and especially by letting
them run at large, and in no other
way in the world
THE COST AND WASTE
By the enormous yearly cost and
waste caused by these pestilent
cattle ticks is a matter of great
magnitude. The Hon. James Will
son estimates the annual loss in the
entire South at not less than IS for
each head of the 10000, 900 OF
horned cattle now owned in all the
South. But this makes an aggre-
gate loss yearly of 500. .ooo,oool
But how can tnIs great sum be
possible9 How can these great
figures be lustiaedf Well, first
there is the cash value of all the
cattle which do each year lie down
and die from the pestilence. And
this, in all the South, goes into the
millions of dollars. And next
there is the dead loss from still
greater number of cattle which do
not die, but WHICH are only rem
dered worthless by the fell poleonl
And this, too, is vast loss. And
then, too, there is the great loss
from the deterioration of the stock
of Southern bred cattle which is
constantly going on, and is fast re-
ducing our Southern herds into a
race of runts, and stunts, and
scrubsi
And then the great loss of milk
and butter from the $4,000 South
ern milk COWS must be seen and
understood Estimate this loss at
only one quart per day for each
COW and we have aggregate loss
daily of 100000 quarts, worse than
thrown away. And now multiply
this by 900, the number of days in
which a cow should give milk each
year-and hundreds either die or
are permanently dried up. And we
have the enormous sum of 225,-
900, 900 quarts which are utterly
wasted. And the value of this is
worth easily $4,000, ,oool
But there is one great loss which
easily overtops any other separate
loss. And this is the shrinkage II
the sale price OF all Southern bred
cattle. The cold fact is that in all
the great markets all Southern
bred cattle are under suspicion anc
under the ban. They can, in these
great markets, only be received in
to great placarded cattle pens, anC
can thence only be sold for imme
date slaughter. And this fact doe:
at once slaughter the price. AMI
as only those cattle which car
stand a rigid inspection can b
sold at all, this fact shuts thou
sands of Southern bred cattle ou
of any market. And this when cat
tie never sold in America for sucI
high prices as now and to-day
But how great is this shrinkage
Well, the experience of Tennessee
tells the whole story. Now Ten
nossee ;e far advanced in tick erad