The Tucumcari news and Tucumcari times. [volume] (Tucumcari, N.M.) 1907-1921, 1917-12-13

wccvll invasion. prevailed upon The United States
congress 10 make an appropriation IN 1906 to
empower the United States secretary Of agricul-
ture 10 lnaugurate 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 It was stated: En-.
couraging progress has been made In the cradica-
ton Of cattle ticks from the southern states.
This work, which was begun in the summer 81
1906 under IN appropriation by congress OF
$4,000 Is no longer an experiment. The results
already accomplished demonstrate that the "X-
termination Of his costly pest + no, only possible
but practicable, though several years may be re-
quircd for the completion of the work.
The years since that report have been wears ~
meeting and overcoming obstacles until now,
when the real magnitude Of the task can be mp.
preciatcd, It Is certain tina, nothing can rcrmu.
nontly hold up the work.
Tick Fever and the Manner Of It's T~rarsmission
to Cattle.
The story Of the cattle tick Cknown sclcnf!ncal.
~ as Margaropus snnulatuS), in relation To the
part II plays ms carrier Of the tiok.fcyor organism,
Is one of the most Interesting IN the annals Of
scientific Investigation. II has been described 10y
one writer as n "romance in pathology" II may
be recalled that In the early days Of our cattle
exporting trade the Texas longhorn was most
prominent. II 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 unsupported. Hence the disease acquired the
name of Texas fever. The tick, however, Is no
respector OF localities so long as they are suitable
for It's propagation, and tick fever occurs whcr-
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 was organized In 1854, and n few
years later the epocl-naklng discoveries OF the
bureau scientists led to the true cause OF the dis.
ease being found.
The discovery that ticks can 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 new procedures In preventive sanitation.
Since then the noXlous roles Of various other In
sects have been learned. For example: Mosqui-
toes carrying malaria and yellow fever; the rat
flea. bubonlc plague. the house fly, typhoid fever.
Formerly no attention was paid 10 the curriers';
only treatment of the patients was considered
necessary. Now mosquitoes ARE screened ont ~
buildings and cxtermlnated rats nro killed and
house flos arc screened, starved, aud "sVattes :"
nil Of which has greatly reduced the number Of
victims of the mentioned diseases. The discovery
~ tick incubation was made through The joint
efforts of several members OF the bureau stan,
4 systematic study Of southern cattle fever,
begun In 1855, developed that the disease, very
similar TO malaria Ia man, was cnuscd by a minute
protozonn parasite that invaded the red corpus
clcs NJ the blood, and In acute cases destroyed
them so fast that the spleen became ClOggCd with
debris from the blood, the liver flied with bile.
and the red colorinG mHtter Of the blood was
passed of with Tho urine, Intense fever de-
vclopcd and the animal usually died In from one
10 -four days after first appearance Of symptoms
~ Illness, The death rate was usually low In
herds with many young or Iususccutihlc animals;
among old cattle 1t ran as high rs so To 30 per
cent. II wag further found that the disease was
acquired soon after the young Of the cattle tick
called seed tlcks-u;'achah Ia the cattle. Acqui-
.IIipu az tho ticks yyug found "a hc pBVprupl lV
their life history, on which IS based the science Of
tick eradication and also tAc rules of quarantine.
The life history Is as follows:
Adult ticks carried by cattle fall 70 the ground
and In about n week each female lays from 1000
to 1000 eggs. each OF them carrying fever germs,
Matching In about three weeks OF warm weather
but requiring n much longer time In cold weather,
The seed ticks remain on the ground or on grasses.
hungry and waiting for n chance to attach them.
selves to Il COW or steer. Attaching themselves,
the ticks hunt for places In the hide they can
penetrate and. finding them. Immediately begin
10 suck blood and to grow. Two immature stages
Of development precede the adult stage. when the
males fall OF the animal and die. and the females
also fail Off, hut lay their eggs on the ground
before they die.
Arsenieai 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 u
county OF ticks In n single season. II 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 ~clnging to the cattle are killed by
the a~rsenlcal bath. Those that attach themselves
before the next bath are killed In that immersion
before they have time to lay eggs. Those forced
to remain In the grass die OF starvation. Tn
arsenical bath used In dipping cattle for tick,
was developed by federal inspectors In Texn,