Okolona messenger. (Okolona, Miss.) 1900-current, 1910-04-21
THE COW TICK.

Mr.. Editor-Because we know ths
the COW tick can be utterly eradicate
and atamped out, as the $4,000 squar,
miles OF Southern territory which hav,
IN the past two years been utterl,
cleared Of the peslience most ampI,
proves. and because Uncle Sam re
cognizes the evil as a national caIam
ity and Congress has, by an unani
nous vote. set aside $250,000 to aid
the work Of eradication this year, and
will no doubt vote 100000 Tor the
work next year, OF which great sums
Mississippi must pay her share,
whether her citizens get any benefit or
DOT, will not you allow me space
wherein for the beno6t Of its readers
and Chickasaw county. may set out
the rue cause, the immense yearly
cost OF, and the sure remedy for the
deadly contagion?
THE CAUSE.
About the cause there is now no
room TOR doubt or debate. The one
true cause is a microscopic germ
which is alone transmitted by that Pc
cuiar tick which is known to science
as margaropus annuatus. This tick
is Just cattle parasite. and the very
rattlesnake Of the entire tick tribe,
and these parasites have alone been
carried and scattered all over and
all through the South. from Mexico to
Maryland, by the careless handling
and shipment OF tick-infected cattle
and especially by suffering them to
freely run at large. and in no other
way in the world. Such is the stern
verdict Of exact science.
THE IMMENSE COST.
But the great yearly cost Of these
poison. bearing ticks is matter Of ap-
palling magnitude!
The Hon. James Wilson, our really
great Secretary OF Agriculture, esti-
mates this great loss to be not less
than SIS per capita for all the 10000
600 horned cattle now owned in the
entire South. which aggregates the
enormous sum Of S100,000000! And
his is yearly loss-and sheer waste.
But how can these figures be posi-
bly, true? How can this estimate be
justified? Well. first, there is the i'm
nensc loss in the value Of all the cat
lie which do each year lie down from
he dire contagion. and this aggregates
many millions Of dollars. Next. there
s the still greater number of cattle,
which do not actually die. but are on
Y rendered worthless, or very nearly
10, and this loss, too. amounts to mil
ions more! And again, there is the
apid deterioration OF stock all The
ime going on. and which is fast re.
|ucing the entire stock of Southern t /
red cattle into a race Of runts and
crubs. and this is an immense loss; t
nd then. too. there is the great loss Of I
mix and butter from the 10000 I.
southern mich cows. Estimate this at =
My one quart Of milk per day for {
ach COW. and we have an aggregate d
ally loss Of 10000 quarts Of milk. Q
Io,,. multiply this by 300, the num- =
er OF days in year that a COW 2
hould give milk. and we have an az f
reGate Of 225,000.000 quarts-worse a
ian wasted and thrown away, and Z
lis easily amounts to $10,0OO,O0O =
early. /,
But there is one loss which easily :
lrpasses and overtops all the rest, =
I'D this is the great fall of and :
,rinkage in the sale price Of all q
outhern-bred cattle. II rs cold fact q
at in all the great markets, which Ak :,
e price OF cattle, all Southern cattle :"
e under suspicion and under the -
ln. They can in all such markets =
lily be received into gnat-placarded
title pens. and can only be sold for
mediate slaughter, and this fact does
slaughter the price Of
,uthern-bred cattle. Only those or
hich can stand rigid inspection can trt
sold at all. And this fact shuts
ousands OF Southern cattle out Of
y market. And it further has a re.
x effect. and sends down the price Al
home of all cattle to the lowest ~
inland this from the Potomac to an