Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1911-03-10
TICK ERADICATION.

The State Of Mississippi can IN
doubtedly raise other things of use
and value besides cotton alone. This
has been demonstrated nv it's great
corn crop of 1910, amounting to more
then ~siXty-one millions Of bushels;
1t is further demonstrated by the
achievement Of Jas. Elliott, a 16-year-
old boy, who raised 152 bushels OF
sound corn on a single acre OF upland
Mississippi soil. And the capacity OF
Southern soil was further SHOWN by
jeremiah Moore, who raised, tle past
year, 228 bushels by himself, on a
single acre in South Carolina. Inc
bread Of the South is secure. But what
about its meat supply Well, an aDun-
canoe Of corn all over the South means
L vast meat supply. 1t means a great
increase in the God supply OF all 1--we
etock-hogs, saeep, cattle, horses,
mules; and a great increase in live
stock in every section, the prosperity
Of southern agriculture is absolutely
dependent. Reliance on any separate
crop is sure to break down as was the
fai,h Of Ireland by the great potato
ret which brought famine to Ireland In
l&4&.
Now the Texas cattle fever is today
the great ban and evil to the cattle
industry, not only in Mississippi, but
to all the states Of the South. The
annual loss from this pestilence is not
less than seventy-fye millions of dol
lars: and for Mississippi alone. not
less han three millions. 1t has caused
e United States quarantine line 10 be
enacted against all these states, and II
will stay as long as the cattle ticks
remain, which it is now demonstrated,
ire the sole cause of the Texas lever.
This evil has put all ~SOuthern-bred
cattle under suspicion and under the
ban. 1t has snt the price Of Southern
cattle to the very bottom, at a time
when in all the rest OF the naiOn the
price of cattle was never so high as
now and today. But can this mon
strOus evil be stamped out and eradI
Gated? Yes. indeed, and absolutely.
During the last fOur years, 100000
square miles of southern territory has
been entirely cleared of cattle ticks
and Texas fever. This has been done
almost wholly by the free use OF any
OILY grease. and local quarantine. Yes,
ANY oily grease when fully and freely
applied, will kill all ticks on COW, calf
" xteer, which it is honestly made TO
reach and fully to cover. And local
quarantine will surely kill, by sheer
starvation, after a few months, all
ticks which infect the ground, if all
cattle are rigidly kept of such ground
and are prevented from running at
large, for so the ticks and Tex
fever have been spread and in this
use OF Craze and local quarantine,
they have beer e~radicated from $780,
coo square miles of southern terri
tory. Now they can be utterly
stamped out: but the old process has
now been almost superseded by the
use Of dipping tanks, filled by a sOlu-
tion Of arsenic, soda and nectar. n
solution is strong enough to kill all
injecting ticks almost at once: and
vet not strong enough to do the cattle
the slightest harm. 1t is a great
benefit to the cattle by freeing them
at once of the curse and misery OF
the injecting ticks. And by dipping
the cattle once in two weeks, for a
time thereafter. all ticks which they .
may meantime pick up from the
ground. will also be killed. And i'll a
few weeks all ticks. both on cattle
and on the ground. will be poisoned
and extinct. These watts are being
rapidly introduced and used with
splendid results. The cost of the
tanks is from SO to $4O-generally
about $50; and. the cost of dipping in
the solution is less than one cent per
animal. II so jefferson county
Miss, has already sixty-one tanks in
operation, both public and private
community tanks set up by the coun-
~ and the private tanks of the large
cattle owners Adams county mas
now ffty-five OF such tanks and fifteen
more counties of Mississippi are fast
Introducing these tanks. In Alabama.
Sumter county has ffty-fve tanks
in use and Dallas county has forty
four; and they are being introduced
al over Alabama.
The ticks must go. Now. The secre-
tary Of agriculture. Hon. James Will
son. whose department has taken and
is taking such interest in tick eradi-
cation, is armed with ample means to
aid in the work and is anxious to do
so. He will send trained experts
and inspectors free Of cost to the citi-
zens to oversee and supervise the
work. if only the people and their
county authorities will assure their
cooperation; otherwise he will not
trouble them and the quarantine will
remain to prevent the further spread
Of the peStilence.
A. II. PETTIBONE.
Q. S. Department of Agriculture.
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