EDITORIAL. 319 



the cattle until fully engorged and ready t<> drop t«. the ground for the 

 deposition of eggs. It has been shown possible, therefore, to free 

 infested animals of their ticks by placing them upon tick-free pastures 

 in November, December, and January, during which time all ticks 

 drop to the ground; and since the eggs will not hatch in winter, there 

 is no risk of reinfestation during that time. 



The seed ticks ma\ live without animal hosts from September until 

 April, hut survive a much shorter time in summer. They ma\ . there 

 fore. l>e starved out by keeping stock off the infested pasture for suf- 

 ficient time, or they may be destroyed by plowing the land. The 

 cattle are then placed on tick-free pastures. 



Morgan and other investigators have pointed out a way by which 

 both animals and land may be freed of ticks in midsummer by means 

 of the feed lot system, the animals being excluded from the main por- 

 tion of the pasture from dune 1 until late autumn. Two feed lots are 

 employed, the animals being kept in each twenty days, and the lots 

 then plowed. Without discussing the details of this plan, which have 

 been published by the experiment stations of Louisiana and Tennes 

 see. it is claimed, on the basis of practical trials, that by the feed lot 

 method the stock on a given farm may be freed of ticks within a 

 period of forty days, even in midsummer. 



The importance of these methods to the cattle industry of the South. 

 and to traffic of cattle between the North and South, was uever more 

 clearly set forth than at the recent meeting of the commissioners of 

 agriculture of the Southern States at Richmond. Ya. In connection 

 with this meeting, about thirty veterinarians, entomologists, and oth- 

 ers interested in the South, held a conference on the subject of tick 

 extermination, notice of which had previously been sent out.'' 



It appeared during these discussions that the cattle tick is a serious 

 pest aside from its agency in carrying Texas fever. It was said, for 

 example, to be impossible to produce a high quality of beef in tick- 

 infested regions. The presence of ticks stunts the growth of cattle 

 so that they are from 200 to 300 pounds short in weight at maturity. 

 as compared with northern-grown cattle. In some instances the 

 presence of ticks is reputed to influence the fecundity of dairy 

 cows to such an extent that they fail to breed until the age of 5 or ''• 

 years. Cattle are also reduced in condition from excessive infest- 

 ation to such an extent as to lead to death from starvation and 

 irritation. In addition to these annoyances which the southern cattle 

 raiser must sutler, the packer- oiler from one-fourth to one-half cent 

 per pound less for southern than for northern animals of the same 

 quality. Southern animals must be kept in separate pens, and are 

 considered as tainted and dangerous, and therefore of less value. 



According to statistics furnished by the Census of L900, of the 



«E. S. R., 17, p. 311. 



