16 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



crop production the manner in which the cattle could be obtained 

 from the distressed sections and have greatly aided in arranging 

 for their transportation. As a result of their efforts it is estimated 

 that approximately 300,000 head of cattle were saved from star- 

 vation or premature slaughter. 



OVERCOMING ANIMAL DISEASES. 



The increasing control and eradication of animal diseases stimu- 

 lated production on a more economical basis. For years the De- 

 partment has been carrying on such work, but during the past year 

 its efforts were greatly extended and more vigorously prosecuted with 

 unusually favorable results. 



The cattle tick. — The progress made in the eradication of the 

 southern cattle ticks led to the release from quarantine of 67,308 

 square miles, the largest area freed in any year since the beginning 

 of the work in 1906. The total free area is now 379,312 square miles, 

 or 52 per cent of that originally quarantined; and the work of the 

 past summer will result in the addition of 79,217 more on Decem- 

 ber 1. The release of the remainder of the State of Mississippi 

 since my last report makes the first strip of uninfested territory 

 from the interior to the Gulf of Mexico, and the proposed action 

 on December 1 will liberate the entire State of South Carolina, 

 thus opening a broad avenue of free territory to the Atlantic 

 Ocean. 



The method of eradication employed is the systematic and reg- 

 ular dipping, throughout the season, in a standard arsenical solution 

 of all cattle in a community. The cost has been from 18 to 50 cents a 

 head, while the enhanced value of each animal greatly exceeds this, 

 one canvass having shown an estimated average increase of $9.76. 

 The eradication of the ticks not only prevents heavy losses, but also 

 permits the raising of high-class beef cattle and the development 

 of dairying in sections where neither was before economically 

 possible. 



Hog cholera. — The ravages of hog cholera, the greatest obstacle 

 to increasing hog production, were greatly reduced as a result 

 of the cooperative campaign conducted in 33 States. The methods 

 of control involved farm sanitation, quarantine, and the applica- 

 tion of anti-hog-cholera serum. Data compiled by the Depart- 

 ment show that the losses from hog cholera in the year ending March 



