The Green Forest tribune., 1917-11-30

weevil invasion, prevailed upon the United States congress to make appropriation in 1906 to empower the United States secretary of agricul- ture to inaugurate a plan of cooperation with the authorities of Southern states in tick eradication.
 In the annual report for 1907 of the chief of the bureau of animal industry 1t stated: "En- couragng progress has been made in the eradica- ton of cattle ticks from the Southern states. This work which begun in the summer of 1906 under an appropriation by congress of $S2,500 Is longer experiment. The results already accomplished demonstrate that the ex- termination of this costly pest Is not only possible but practicable though several years may be re- quired for the completion of the work"
 The years since that report have been years of meeting and overcoming obstacles until now when the real magnitude of the task be ap- preciated. 1t Is certain that nothing perma- nently hold up the work.
 Tick Fever and the Manner of It's Transmission
 to Cattle.
 The story of the cattle tick (known scientifcal- y as Margaropus annuatus), in relation to the part it plays as carrier of the tickfever organism, is one of the most interesting in the annals of scientific investigation. It has been described by one writer as romance in pathology" It may be recalled that in the early days of our cattle exporting trade the Texas longhorn was most prominent It soon became known that these cat tie, although apparently healthy themselves, caused a deadly disease in other cattle the part played by the tick being at that time unknown and unsuspected. Hence the disease acquired the name of Texas fever The tick, however, is no respector of localities so long they suitable for it's propagation. and tick fever occurs wher- ever the combination of infected ticks and cattle is present. The problem of combating the dis ease was undertaken soon after the bureau of animal industry organized in 1884 And a few years later the epoch-mahing discoveries of the bureau scientists led to the true cause of the dis being feund
 The discovery that ticks carry germs of disease from one animal to another was the first instance in which the important role of insects us carriers of disease was ascertained. From It arose procedures in preventive sanitation Since then the noxious roles of various other n sects have been learned For example: Mosqui- toes carrying malaria and yellow fever; the rat flea. bubonic plague; the house fly, typhoid fever Formerly no attention was paid to the carriers only treatment of the patients was considered necessary Now mosquitoes are screened out of buildings and exterminated; rats are kled and house flies are screened. starved and "swatted;' ;' all of which has greatly reduced the number of victims of the mentioned diseases The discovery of tick inoculation made through the joint efforts of several members of the bureau staff.
 A systematic study of Southern cattle fever, begun in 1888, developed that the disease, very similar to malaria in man. caused by a minute protozOan parasite that invaded the red corpus cles of the blood and in acute cases destroyed them fast that the spleen became clogged with debris from the blood, the liver filled with bile, and the red colorfng matter of the blood passed off with the urine Intense fever de- veloped and the animal usually died in from one to four days after first appearance of symptoms of illness The death rate usually low in herds with many young or insusceptble animals; among old cattle 1t ran high so to 90 per cent It was further found that the disease was acquired after the young of the cattle tick called seed ticks-attached to the cattle. Acqui- sition of the ticks was found to be governed by their life history, which is based the science of tick eradication and also the rules of quarantine. The life history Is follows:
 Adult ticks carried by cattle fall to the ground and in about week each female lays from 2000 to 1000 eggs. each of them carrying fever germs. Matching in about three weeks of warm weather but requiring a much longer time in cold weather, the seed ticks remain on the ground or grasses, hungry and waiting for chance to attach them selves to cow steer. Attaching themselves, the ticks hunt for places in the hide they can penetrate and, finding them, immediately begin to suck blood and to grow. Two immature stages of development precede the adult stage when the males fall off the animal and die and the females also fall off but lay their eggs on the ground before they die.
 ArsenIcaI Dipping Vat Is Effective Weapon
 The method of tick eradication found to be effective and now used almost exclusively is the arsenical dipping bath. This method will rid county of ticks in single season. it has been shown. For the method to be effective every COW and steer in the county must go through the bath once every two weeks during the season.
 The ticks elinging to the cattle are killed by the arsenical bath. Those that attach themselves before the next bath killed in that immersion before they have time to lay eggs. Those forced to remain in the grass die of starvation. The arsenical bath used in dipping cattle for ticks developed by federal inspectors in Texas