The Mena weekly star., 1916-08-17
Tirh GSraDtcatton
 an0 tbr profits

Since seven dipping yats haNe been Installed and are ir use in P0iK county, and sentiment fayOra- ble to complete eradication 0f this cattle pest is growing rapldly The Star bel1etessiis readeE4yWlll be iE< terested In the following data. cuin1 piled by the BureauEof Animal In- dnsstry '. $. DeptRtmept of Agri-
 The cattle tick has been driven out of 2S4,52i square miles, con8id- erably more than one third of the area it once infested. Are the peO- pie in this area glad or sorry that they took the trouble to get rid of the pest? In order to answer this question the United States, Depart ment of Agriculture sent out year or two ago a circular letter to st0ckmen and farmers who had
 helped in the fight. hi this letter these men were asked to state what had been, in their ppiniona the in crease in their county in the aver age value per head of cattle, in the weight of cattle, and in the grade or quality Of cattle; approximately what losses there had been from Texas fever before tick eradication whether cattle raising had become more popular since the tick had gone; what increase there had been in pure-bred stock, and the effect upon the dairy industry. To these questions something over 1000 re-
 plies were received from Alabama, Arkansas, California, Georgia, Mis- sissippi, North Carolina. Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia.
 From these replies 1t appears that the average value of cattle in the tick-free portions of the eleven states increased after tick eradica- ti0n $97b a head In Texas the in- crease was placed at Si3.79 and in Alabama at only G70. The increase in weight ranged from fl per cent ln Texas to g per cent in Missis- sippi, the average for the entire
 tick-free territory being 1914 per cent. In other words. the cattle are
 considered to be one-fifth heavier in the counties from which the tick
 has been eradicated. The quality for the eleven states was placed at one-fourth better than when under quarantine conditions.
 The estimate of losses before tick eradication from Texas fever ranged from 9 per cent in Georgia to i5
 per cent in Mississippi and North
 Carolina. The average for the
 eleven states was placed at 13 per cent. These figures, of course, do not take into account the deprecia-
 tion in value due to stunted growth,
 discrimination in markets. shrink
 age in milk production, etc., but re- fer only to actual deaths. The in- crease in milk production following tick eradication was placed at 8 per cent per head for all the states, the greatest increase being 25 per
 cent in North Carolina. In Missis-
 sippi and Oklahoma, however, the increase was estimated at 24 per cent.
 In replying to the questions in the circular letter already mentioned, number of the farmers and stock
 men took the opportunity to ex- press in other ways their personal opinions of the results of tick erad- ication.
 One Alabama man wrote from Sumpter county: There is as
 much difference between ticks and no ticks as there is between an up-
 to-date business man and an old fo-
 gy. In fact, if we had kept the ticks we would have been knocked
 out in ten years"
 From Baxter county, Arkansas,
 another man wrote: We consider
 the eradication work has been
 worth thousands of dollars to Bax- ter county As our county is moi very good for farming. we depend
 mostly on our cattle for a living
 and we can't raise cattle and fever
 ticks in the same county with any success"
 In regard to it's effects upon the diary industry a Putnam County
 Ga, man said: Tick eradication
 and the diary industry have pro-
 gTessed hand in hand here in Put nam county. It is generally con- lceded that our creamery (the only successful cooperative one in the
 state) IS successful because of tick
 eradication"
 From Mississippi stoekman wrote Io show you an instance of what tick eradication has done for | uSs OH yesterday l SOlU 10 feeder from Kentucky a carload of feeders
 lAngus grades) for $6 per hundred
 weight, weighed up on my farm,
 This is the highest priced load of this class of cattle that I have ever
 known to be sold in the State" If
 this mans county had still been un-
 der quarantine t would. of course,
 have been impossible to have sent
 his feeders into Kentucky at all.
 An Oklahoma man brought up the matter of importing pure-bred stock " have just shipped in,n he wrote N0ne car Of pure-Dred calves and l
 have two neigfibors that have shipped in 8 car each. Before tick
 eradication we could not handle this class Of cattle as they would die of fever.Y