The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1916-04-07
FULL BENEFITS OF TICK ERADICATION
Jersey Cattle on A J,ek.Frse P..tur. in Mississippi.

From the United States Department Of
A~griculture.)
In the e~ver>growing area from which
the cattle tick has been eliminated
demonstration agents are nov showing
the people how they can realize the
full benefits Of their ucces in the
campaign of eradication. Purebred
stock is being brought in to improve
the quality of the native cattle. farm
ers who have never paid any attention
to live stock r being instructed in
the fundamental principles of econom.
ical and efficient feeding, and cream
routes and creameries are being estab-
hshed in sections where they were IN
heard Of in the days of the ticks.
An interesting instance Of what a
creamery al do for a community is
Afforded by the history of the one es-
tablished in cooperation with Clemson
college in South Carolina. In Septem-
Der, 1914, the creamery had five pa
irons whose cows furnished sos pounds
Of butterfat that month. In October
a cream route was established and the
number of patrons increased to II.
4OutC0 o(0A ~ON AOA INK ~
time, each new one bringing In more
patrons, until IN August, 1915, after a
years work, 227 farmers were send
ing in the cream from S33 cows. The
total mount of butterfat delivered to
the creamery that month was 14,S15
pounds. For it the farmers received
S3,851.SS, an average Of approximately
SIT each.
The significant feature Of this cream
amount of money that it brought in,
but the fact that it opened up an alb
solutely new source of income to the
community. Before it's establishment
dairying was unthought of. If there
was a surplus Of milk on a farm it was
usually disposed of as butter at the
nearest store in return for a little
sugar or tea. The ordinary run of
farm butter, however, was s. little
thought Of that even when taken in
trade it brought only about half of
what the creamery could afford to pay
for the butterfat. In consequence no
one regarded milk as a reliable source
of income. That it could be actually
made to bring in cash each month wa
a revelation. So new to the people
a. the idea, indeed, that the checks
from the creamery were frequently
stored away instead of being cashed.
routes and explain the necessity for
turning them in.
When the creamery opened, the
proper equipment for dairying was
practically unknown. The people had
to be instructed in the use of the sep
arator and in practically every detail
connected with the handling Of cream
Furthermore, the available cows were
all native scrubs which received little
attention and gave in return little
milk. All this has been changed very
materially already and is being
changed still more. OF the A dairy
houses built in South Carolina during
the fiscal year ending June 80, 1915
40 were built by patrons Of the cream
cry. On one Of the cream routes the
farmers united In the cooperative pur
chase of a good bull and o five others
live stock associations have beer
formed for general improvement. Thu
number Of COWS is also being in
creased, one man distributing a car
load among his neighbors. Anothe,
farmer is described in a letter as trad
ing bales of cotton for cows"
The importation Of good bulls, boil
for beef and dairy herds, is of spe
icial significance, since this was prac
itically out Of the question In tn
tick days, because, Of the danger O
death from Texas fever. In conse
quence, the grading up of h herd
was impossible, and there was to-
little money in the feeding of tick.
scrubs to make it an attractive under
taking. This was also true Of dairy
ing with the same kind of stock, TO
the milk production, poor at best, wa
reduced by the ticks in cases of heav,
infestation by as much as 40 per cent
On the other hand, the possibilities o
profit in grading up herds are yer.
great. The history Of a large planta
ton in Tennessee is an instance o
this.
The place was an old cotton planta
ton which vas SO run down that mucl
of it had been abandoned altogethe
and was overrun with sedge grass an
briers when the owner determined t
make it into a stock farm. At tina
time Tennessee was not yet free from
ticks, so that he had to do his owl
dipping. In the cours Of a year b
succeeded in getting rid OF the scourge
and purebred Shorthorn bulls wer
then brought In. These we're use
with the native cows, which ranged II
value from $12 to $40 a head an
weighed from 500 to 700 pounds. TIL
calves which resulted weighed an a,
erage Of 500 pounds when they reache
the Chicago market, and sold for eigh
cents a pound. or $64 a head. The
were then from Is to Is months ole
This farm is now shipping much of it
breeding stock into the tick-free cour
ties of Mississippi and Alabama.
1t is, of course, not every stockma,
who can afford the exclusive use of
Keep Separator Clean.
It's a short-sighted man who use
q dirty cream separator. Even If tn
consideration Of the quality OF tn
cream does not affect him, it woul