BUREAU OF ANIMAL INDUSTRY. 



Ill 



ERADICATION OF SOUTHERN CATTLE TICKS. 



As the result of the work done in cooperation with authorities of 

 various Southern States for the extermination of the ticks which 

 spread the infection of splenetic fever in cattle, areas aggregating 

 37,255 square miles, as shown by the following table, were released 

 from quarantine during the fiscal year. The total area released since 

 the beginning of this work in 1906 amounts to 253,163 square miles, 

 being a territory greater than the combined areas of Mississippi, 

 Alabama, Georgia, Florida, and South Carolina. The work is also 

 far advanced in a large additional territory. 



Areas released from splenetic fever quarantine as a result of eradicating cattle 



ticks, fiscal year 1915. 



State. 



Alabama 



Arkansas 



California , 



Georgia , 



Louisiana 



Mississippi 



North Carolina 



Square 

 miles. 



1,129 

 6S2 

 6,007 

 3,216 

 1,197 

 2,063 

 2,872 



State. 



O'dahoma 



South Carolina 



Texas 



Virgiuia 



Total... 



Square 

 mUes. 



2,385 



3,995 



13,516 



193 



37,255 



During the year 11,268,668 inspections were made of cattle for 

 ticks, as against 7,276,240 in the preceding year. There were in 

 operation 6,678 cattle-dipping vats where cattle were dipped under 

 Federal or State supervision to rid them of ticks. 



In addition to the large number of inspections made and dippings 

 supervised, a great deal of educational and demonstrational work was 

 conducted by bureau employees to teach cattle owners the desira- 

 bility and importance of eradicating the cattle ticks and to show 

 tliem the best methods to pursue. This work is done in cooperation 

 wdth State authorities and is being pushed forward as rapidly as 

 possible with the means at hand. Very effectual cooperation has 

 come from transportation companies, commercial clubs, bankers, 

 and other business men who are far-sighted enough to realize that 

 the eradication of the cattle tick and the subsequent development 

 of the live-stock industry means an increase of business for all 

 interests concerned. 



INTERSTATE TRANSPORTATION OF LIVE STOCK. 



The number of cattle shipped from the area quarantined for 

 splenetic or tick fever to market centers outside of the quarantined 

 area was 845,059, as compared w^ith 963,560 during the fiscal year 

 1914. This was a decrease of 12.29 per cent in the number of tick- 

 infested cattle shipped from the quarantined area for immediate 

 slaughter. There were reshipped from the quarantine pens at market 

 centers to points where southern cattle are permitted to be shipped 

 for immediate slaughter 224,589 head, being a decrease of 31.64 per 

 cent from the preceding year. 



The number of cattle of the quarantined area dipped and certified 

 for movement as noninfectious during the year was 147,035, a 

 decrease of 10.99 per cent. Of this number 89,799 were dipped a 



