St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1915-11-27
1888 MORE SQUARE MILES
FREED FROM TICKS.

Washington, Nov. 25th.-Areas
amounting in the aggregate to 49,
313 square miles ana situated in the
States of Alabama. Arkansas, Lou
isiana, Mississippi. North Carolina,
and Virginia, will be freed from the
tick quarantine on December LIST.
Previous releases bring the total for
the years work to about $4,000
square miles-the greatest area re-
leased in any one year since system
attic tick eradication was begun In
1906. At that time there were
741,515 square miles under Quaran-
tine; after december / there will be
465,733, or less than two-thirds OF
the original area. ....-
The new order releases the whole
Of five counties in Alabama. one in
Orkansas, one in Louisiana, three in
Mississippi, and three in North Caro-
lima. In addition. parts OF two
counties in Alabama and one In
Mississippi are freed, together with
those portions Of two counties In Ala
bama, one in Mississippi. and one
in Virginia which were formerly un-
der quarantine. All told, twentq
counties are affected In whole or In
part.
More territory-5,345 square miles
lis freed by the new order in Ala
bama than in any other State. The
success OF the seasons work there Is
attributed by Federal inspectors to
the hearty cooperation Of the States
authorities, the county authorities,
and the people 1r the communities
concerned. This occupation, It is
said, sprang from . definite purpose
to raise more and better cattle and
eradication of ticks has been eccom-
plished in several instances by the
importation Of pure bred stock and
the erection Of silos.
In Lowndes county, for example.
two brothers built Ave concrete ST.
los Of $50 tons capacity each, and
brought in from Kentucky a $1,000
Hereford bull and IS Hereford cows
for the purpose of raising pure bred
Herefords for ne market. In Dali
las county 81 registered bulls had
been brought in by September ~,
and Is silos built. ..,
As the work Of eradication pro-
crossed, It became possible to ship
the open market cattle which had
been federally inspected and found
to be free Of ticks. The higher prices
which these cattle brought demon
strated conclusively the value of the
campaign. In Limestone county
which was freed in Septembs..
about 100 head Of cattle that wcrs
shipped out In this way brought al
average Of $40 q head more than tn,
prices prevailing belof the Quaran
tine line. The cost to this county
of freeing its $1,000 cattle from
ticks is estimated at approximately
55 cents head.
In counties with a greater number
OF cattle, the cost Of tick eradication
per head has been considerably
smaller than this. Thus, the $4,000
cattle In Marengo county were
cleaned for less than 80 cents
head. the cost Of each dipping being
less than three cents. In this coun-
ty, 103 watts we're built between
March Is and May !, and IA more
at odd times thereafter. These, to-
gether with the IS watts which had
been in existence before, were suff1-
cient to clean up the 978 square
miles in the county in one season Of
systematic work.
Experience has shown that such
work IL possible only when the peo-
pie themselves realize its import
ance. In the counties in which the
has been pushed to q sue
cessful issue this year, work was be-
bun after the q"estion has been sub
mitted by these counties to the peo-
pie at the polls and eradication car
ried by majorities of from 1 to |
TO 9 to l. Thereafter. the whole in
fluence Of tn emore progressive ele-
ments in the community was brought |
10 bear upon the few recalcitrants
who refused to dip their cattle. In
The majority of cases this was suf-
icient to bring them into line with
'ut resort to legal proceedings, but
where these were found necessary
he local judges took pains to i'm
press upon the defendants the fact
hat their individual preferences
would not be permitted to thwart
he will of the entire county.
This marks q distinct advance over
years. when In some coun.
les eradication had to be abandon
d because the people we're not suf-
lciently united In the matter to
make effective work possible. No
were imposed upon those
Who refused to dip and, in conse-
uence, those who did dip found the <
ask Of getting rid OF the tick an
ndless one. Tick eradication" re,
orts one federal inspector, sis a
FORK Of the people," Ii
Additional evidence on this point ID
afforded by the experience Of one
.labama county which voted 9 to
or tick eradication In 1914, carried
n preliminary work that summer