THE AGEICULTURAL NEWS. 



Various Methods 



OF 



Tick Destruction 



in the compilation of these notes, reference has been made to many sources of informationy but particularly to an 



article which appeared in the "Bulletin of the Jamaica Department of Agriculture ** Vol. I, Number '3^ from 



which much of the following matter is quoted, almost textually. 



CATTLE TI'-- 



... ^ V 



HAND PICKING. This is a primitive method and absolutely ineffective, on a large property, for keeping down ticks. Only the engorged females 

 offer themselves as objects for removal by the hand of the operator. A certain proportion of engorged females drop off in the pastures, or the road- 

 side, or in the cattle pen. A certain number fait to be destroved by the fingers or heel of the picker, and the result is that a great many more ticks 

 survive than are picked off the bodies of the cattle. This method is largely responsible for the lick pest retaining its most virulent form. 



TARRING- This was the remedy recommended by Professor Williams as a result of his mission to Jamaica in 1896. One pari of Tar to three parts 

 of boiled linseed oil was recommended. In many instances the result of its loo thorough application was that the animals so treated became 

 asphyxiated through a blocking of the pores of the skin. This tar remedy, however, or variations of it containing sour orange juice, carbolic acid, 

 kerosene oil and other fearsome remedies, are still widely used in Jamaica. A boy with ihe paint pot daubs a smear of the lick-dressing only 

 on such portions of an infected animal as appear to him to be in pressing need of treatment; but to cope properly wiih the lick pes;, every spot 

 on the surface of every animal must be reached by the tick destroying agent. While a few score of engorged licks are hastily brushed over on a 

 cow's flank or thighs, there may be hundreds of larval licks all along the spinal region, on the poll, and in fact on all parts of fhe body, undevgomg 

 development. Unless all these ticks are killed, and not merely 60 or 70 per cent., the complete eradication of the ticks is out of the question. 

 So long as Catlle breeders keep to the tar brush, so long will the tick plague wax fierce and flourish. 



CRUSHING. Brushing with a lick-destroying wash represents a fairly efficienl means of treating tick-infeslcd cattle, but is attended with some 

 risk. The bulk of the remedies used for " brushing " are coal-tar emulsions of the type of jeyes* Fluid. None of these preparations will kill licks 

 unless used at a strength that is very liable to strip the skin of the cows under treatment ; in no case do'they give a high efficiency of tick-destruction. 

 It is perfectly certain that brushing is not a good melhod. and will not solve the lick problem so as completely to abolish ticks on a properly, 

 because it is not capable of complete or perfect results, nor is it free from risk of injury to the animals treated. Manv pen-keepers are entirely 

 satisfied with their results from brushing, because they have not really made accurate observatior.s of ihc lick mortality resulting from their operations. 



STARVATION METHOD. This is a sure and inexpensive method, but can only be applied by the owner of a large herd who has a 

 permanent pasture and two or three other fenced fields which have not been pastured by catlle lor a year or so. Il consisis in keepmg the callle 

 off ihe infested pasture for a period of twelve months or more, until the > oung ticks are starved out. The cattle are taken from the tick-mfested pasture 

 and placed on tick-free land ; before young licks hatch from ihc eggs laid :n tins first tick-free field by the female ticks on ihe cattle when moved 

 from the tick-infested pasture, the cattle are moved a second lime on to another tick-free field. 



GRASS BURNING. If burning is done at the right lime, it cannot fail to kill immense numbers of the young " seed " licks ; but it is the common 

 experience ihal " burnt " pastures very quickly again become heavily iick-mfested. This is due to the fact that the lick-eggs on the ground are not des- 

 troved. and no doubt many female ticks escape ihe effects of the fire by hiding in cracks and crevices, or under stones, or logs of wood, etc. Grass- 

 burning, even when carried out at the proper time, will not completely eradicate licks, it will only reduce their numbers, and that only temporarily. 



HAND SPRAYING. Spraying by means of one or other of the many types of hand-pumps or syringes is, if very carefully and thoroughly done, 

 a very effective method of treating tick-infested catlle : bul it is slow, unpleasant work. and. moreover, very wasteful of the wash. The efficiency of 

 hand spraying may be said to be in direct proportion to the care and thoroughness with which the operation is conducted ; for this reason, it should 

 ne\er be entrusted to natives or negroes without effective supervision. ' 



MACHINE SPRAYING, The principle of machine spraying is the passing of the animals through a short tunnel, lined with piping, through holes 

 or jets in which, a lick-destroying fluid is sprayed at them from the floor and from all possible angles by means of a pump. There can be no doubt 

 (hat. next to dipping, machine spraying is by far the best method of treating tick-infesied stock ; but it is not by this means absolutely certain thai all 

 licks will be destroyed, as. however ingenious the arrangement by which ihe wash is sprayed from "all points of the compass." licks deep down in 

 the ears, or under the tail, or in the " brush " of the tail may not be reached. But where expense, or some other obstacle, precludes ihe employ- 

 ment of a dipping bath, a spraying machine is by a long way the most efficient substitute. The machine manufactured by William Cooper 6c Nephews 

 is the latest and cheapest form of Spraying Machine. / 



DIPPING. The only really completely effective method of treating licky cattle, horses, &c., is to pass them through a swim dipping bath ; the process is 

 absolutely automatic ; it is quick ; it is economical ; it is absolutely efficient, as, at the first plunge at the entrance, or during the process of swimming 

 through the tank, every single lick is brought into contact with the lick-deslroying fluid, even it deep down in the ears, or under the eyes, or beneath 

 the root of the tail. Dipping is very 'economical of wash, as. with a proper draining floor or pen, every drop of surplus wash flows back into the tank 

 and is used again. The first-cost of a tank is comparatively high, bul its low cost of operation, ils simplicity, its efficiency, and its permanency, more than 

 compensate for the extra initial expenditure. The great advantage of dipping over spraying or hand-dressing lies in the fact thai the ihroroughnejs of 

 the treatment under all conditions is practically assured, as il is not dependent, to any degree, on the care exercised by those in charge of fhe work ; 

 the cattle dip themselves. No other method can approach dipping in efficiency, and in this connection it should be remembered that. e\en if. by 

 some other method, you kill 75% of the licks, great and small, on your animals, you are only " suppressing" ihe ticks, and are still far from solving 

 the problem of complete eradication. A method that will kill lOOfo of the ticks is worth to a Cattle owner ten times as much as a method (hat 

 will kill only 90%. The truth of this will be apparent after two years of faithful and systematic operations. With dipping, the efficient trtatmeni 

 of tick-infested Cattle becomes a verv simnlfi n\aii*»r ^nA crimrJ*>to ticL «.raJi*-aj.*i»» kao-%ov^ , »^....j-;lii.. 



COOPER'S CATTLE TICK DIP 

 Htu ncaived the official approval of thm following Coantriet: 

 llilon oi South Africa. Nortbern Rhodesia, Brazil, Basutolaad, 



Nyasalaad. Swazilaod, Sonthern Rhodeala, Madagascar, 



Britisb East Africa, Qermaii East Africa, Portufoeae Eaat Africa, 



Fortuguese West Africa, Egypt, Arceatine Repabllc, Qaeeaaltid. 



United Statea of America, New So«th Walea, 



Northers Territory of AlMtralla. 



Manufacturers : WILLIAM COOPER & 



BitANCHES: Tcmlo, Ckicagt, SjiMtj, MdkMOM, 



WEST INDIAN AGF.NTS ; 



ST. KITTS : 3. I.. Horsfnrd & Co. ANTiau A : Hennf t». U,-T«"n * C*.. 



JAMAICA: D. Henderson & Co.. Kincston. 



(IRHNAnA: Thomson, Hankey & Co. 



BARBADOS: Barbados Co-operative Cotton Co.. Ltd. 



KAHAMA5: W. N. Twynam. Nassau. 



TRINIDAD: T. Qeddes Grant, Port of Spain. 



BRITISH GUIANA: Sandbach, Parker & Co. 



ST. VINCENT: Corea & Co., Kingstown. NEVIS: 5. D. Malone. 



DANISH WEST INDIES: A. Schmlegelow, St. Croix. 



M0NT5ERRAT: W. Uewellyn Wall. DOMINICA: Hon. H. A. Frampla*. 



ST. LUCIA: Barnard Sons & Co., C«strl«». 



NEPHEWS, Berkhamsted, England. 



Aim, Monte Video, Poata Areaaa, Eut UaJan, (M«*aL 



