BUREAU OF ANIMAL INDUSTRY. 205 



value of the work being done for the extermination of cattle ticks 

 becomes more apparent and the people of the tick-infested territory 

 are sho^Ying greater interest in this undertaking. Much has been 

 done in the way of developing the hog, sheep, and poultry industries 

 in the South and the introduction and breeding of a better class of 

 animals, and hog raising especially has been demonstrated to be suc- 

 cessful aijd profitable there; but the important industries of cattle 

 raising and dairying can never be brought to a high degree of suc- 

 cess as long as the South remains under the heavy handicap of the 

 cattle tick. These ticks not only keep the cattle in poor condition, but 

 spread the infection of the disease known as Texas fever, which makes 

 it necessary to quarantine the cattle of tick-infested regions and to 

 allow them to be marketed only under certain restrictions which lower 

 their selling price. The presence of the ticks also makes it imprac- 

 ticable to introduce a better class of cattle from noninfected sections. 



For the past four years the United States Department of Agricul- 

 ture, through the Bureau of Animal Industry, has been engaged in 

 cooperation with state and local authorities in an effort to exterminate 

 these ticks; and although this is a diiScult undertaking, which will 

 require many j-ears for its successful conclusion, the progress so far 

 made has alread}^ brought great benefits to the portions of the terri- 

 tory that have been freed from the ticks and has demonstrated that 

 it is practicable in time to eradicate the ticks from the infested region. 

 During the past fiscal ^'■ear there have been released from quarantine 

 as a result of the eradication of these ticks 57,518 square miles of 

 territory, which is the largest area released in any year since the be- 

 ginning of the work in the summer of 190G. The total area so re- 

 leased since the beginning of the work amounts to 129,611 square 

 miles. 



The rapidity with which this work can be carried forward depends 

 on the amounts of money appropriated by the federal and state gov- 

 ernments and upon the cooperation of the people of the affected 

 region. The federal appropriation for the past fiscal j^ear was 

 $250,000, and a like amount has been appropriated for the succeeding 

 year. In order to use this money to the best advantage, the policy of 

 the Department is to operate only where state and local authorities 

 are prepared to offer substantial cooperation and where public senti- 

 ment is favorable. During the calendar year 1909 the States and 

 counties expended about $130,000 in this work, as indicated by re- 

 ports received by the Bureau ; and as the work advances and its bene- 

 fits become more obvious there is a disposition to increase the appro- 

 priations from year to year. 



Besides the field work in exterminating the ticks by such methods 

 as dipping, spraying, hand treatment, and pasture rotation, the 

 Bureau has continued the dissemination of infonnatiou as to the 

 nature of the ticks and the disease which they spread and as to advan- 

 tages and methods of getting rid of them. Literature has been dis- 

 tributed, material has been furnished to newspapers, and lectures and 

 addresses have been given at farmers' institutes and other meetings. 

 A Farmers' Bulletin on ■" Methods of Exterminating the Texas-Fever 

 Tick " was issued during the fiscal year and has been extensively dis- 

 tributed. 



