BUREAU OF ANIMAL INDUSTRY. 131 



CONTINUED PROGRESS IN TICK ERADICATION. 



Areas ao:gregatinf? 50,555 square miles, having been freed of ticks, 

 "were released from quarantine during the fiscal year. This action 

 makes available 62 additional counties and 33 parts of counties into 

 which better-bred cattle from tick-free States may be safely intro- 

 duced, Avith consequent increase in the production of beef and of 

 dairy products. The total area released since the beginning of this 

 work in 1906 amounts to 509,084 square miles, which is 70 per cent of 

 the area originall}^ infested. The work is also far advanced in a 

 large additional territory. The following table shows, by States, the 

 territory released during the past fiscal year : 



Areas released from quarantine as a result of eradicating cattle ticks, fiscal 



year 1020. 



During the year 44,813,070 inspections or dipj)ings were made of 

 cattle for the eradication of ticks, as compared with 47,843,791 in the 

 preceding year. There were in operation 35,045 cattle-dipping vats, 

 where cattle were dipped under Federal or State supervision to rid 

 them of ticks. In addition a great deal of advance work pertaining 

 to the construction of dipping vats and preparing counties and locali- 

 ties for regulatory tick-eradication activities in the near future was 

 conducted with a view to proper organization for taking up and 

 carrying on the work in new areas. Effective cooperation in tick 

 eradication has been received from organizations of livestock grow- 

 ers, business men, and landowners, and from transportation com- 

 panies, as well as from individuals. 



In the territory already released from quarantine there remain 

 here and there a few infested premises or centers of tick infestation 

 which must be held under control until the last tick can be put out 

 of existehce. It is therefore difficult to concentrate efforts in certain 

 areas to such a degree as was done a few years ago. The cost of 

 labor, field traveling expenses, vat-building materials, and all other 

 accessories to tick eradication has advanced. These conditions have 

 greatly increased the cost of tick eradication and have made it im- 

 possible to do as much work with the same appropriations as for- 

 merly. It is for this reason that during this fiscal year, with the 

 same appropriation, fewer cattle were dipped and a smaller area was 

 released from quarantine than during either of the preceding two 

 years. 



SHIPMENTS FROM QUARANTINED AREAS. 



The numl)er of cattle of the quarantined area shipped under bureau 

 supervision to market centers for immediate slaughter was 1,127,959, 



