The Spectator., 1915-10-15
PUSHING TICK WAR
Lost to Southern Farmers from This
 Pest Government Circular Explains Eradication Cheap

as the German Empire has al- ready been freed from the cattle tick, but twice as much still re- mains to be cleaned. To hasten the work by stimulating interest in the campaign of eradication, the department has recently is- sued large illustrated circular. supplied on request. which shows in dollars and cents the loss the pest causes every farmer in the infested territory.
 It costs the South, it is esti- mated. $5O,OOO, 900 year to board the tick.
 The results, as set forth in the new circular, leave no room for argument. The tick must go, and go at once if the South is to enjoy anything like it's legiti- mate share of prosperity.
 Ticky cattle are worth any where from $5 to $1O a head less than tick-free cattle, but because it is impossible to introduce pure bred stock into tick-infested ter ritory for the purpose of grad ing up the herds, the difference between the average value of cattle in the tick states and in the free states is much greater than this. On January l, 1915, for example, the averag price of beef cattle over 2 years old in 10 tick-infested states North and South Carolina, Geor- gia, Alabama, Mississippi, Flori- da, Louisiana, Arkansas. Okla hOma, and TeXas-was $25. go. For the remainder of the coun- try it was $4S. AT. In Georgia and Florida it was only SIS. in Alabama $2O. in Mississippi $22, in Louisiana SPA. With the ex- ception of Vermont and Tennes- see, where the averages were $39 and $35, respectively. every tick free state had an average of $40 or more. Eighteen were over $50 two over $6O.
 Tick-infested cattle not only weigh less-and therefore worth less = than tick-free cattle. but they bring less per pound. In Alabama and Mississippi on Jan uary l, the average price was 4 cents. In Connecticut it was S.4, and in no free state was it as low as 5 cents. Ticky cattle must be handled in quarantine pens and slaughtered immediate ly. They cannot be tranship- ped to better markets or sold for feeders. In consequence they receive what the local packing house cares to offer, which in practice is everywhere from half a cent a pound upward less than the price for uninfested stock.
 Another reason for the lower price of ticky cattle is the dam- age to the hide. The tick lives by sucking the blood of his vic tim. To do this he must punc- ture the hide. and every punc- ture sends down the market price, because such a hide can not be used for making fine grades of leather. From 30 cents to $l. 25 is the average loss in value of tick-bitten hides.
 Dairy cattle suffer no less than beef stock, for the tick gets the blood that should go to the mak- ing of milk. Government tests show that a light infestation of ticks reduces the milk flow IS per cent; a heavy one as much as 42 per cent. In the new cir cular this loss is translated into dollars and cents for a herd of 20 cows, which under normal con ditions should each give 8 quarts a day. With milk at 5 cents a quart a light infestation costs the owner of such a herd $290 in the course of 200 days milking. A heavy infestation costs him $670. In a county