60 Journal of the Departmknt of Agriculture. 



4. Supervision over Cattle owned by Native Tenants. — In many 

 instances an outbreak of East Coast fever on a European-owned farm 

 first occurs amongst tiie cattle owned by native tenants. Farmers 

 would be well advised to keep a count of all sucli cattle and to see that 

 the full number is brought to the tank on each dipping day, also to 

 insist that no cattle are brought on or taken off the farm without their 

 consent being first obtained. 



This point requires emphasizing. It is my experience that 

 farmers rarely know the number of cattle owned by their native 

 tenants. In two outbreaks amongst native-owned cattle recently 

 attended by me the farmer in one case thought his tenants had about 

 thirty head, but when they came to be counted he was surprised to 

 find there were seventy. In the other case one hundred and fifty was 

 the number given, and there were found to be two hundred and sixty. 

 Owing to this slackness, especially when the cattle are rarely seen, it 

 is impossible for a farmer to know whether any cattle have been taken 

 o& or brought on his farm without his knowledge. It is a direct 

 encouragement to natives to evade the permit system, besides being a 

 grave danger. Natives often have cattle at kraals in widely separated 

 parts of a district, and if disease breaks out at a particular kraal the 

 various owners want to get their cattle away. If they can take them 

 to a farm where they know the addition will not be discovered the 

 chances are they will do so, the result being a fresh infected centre. 

 If practicable, it is an advantage to segregate the native cattle to a 

 given part of the farm, fence them off, and give them a separate 

 dipping- tank. Under such conditions it would often not be necessary 

 to place the whole of the farm under quarantine. 



Methods for Eradication of East Coast Fever, 



1. Short Inter cal Dipping and Hand-dressing . — As previously 

 mentioned, the dipping of cattle every seven days will not prevent an 

 outbreak of East Coast fever ; therefore as a means of eradicating the 

 disease it is almost useless. Short interval dipping must consequently 

 be introduced immediately an outbreak on a farm is discovered. This 

 means the immersion of cattle in an arsenical solution containing ^ lb, 

 arsenite of soda to each 100 gallons of water every five days, or in a 

 solution containing 1 lb, of arsenite of soda per 100 gallons every 

 three days. Either appears to be equally efficacious; the former 

 method is rather severe on milch cows, working oxen, and calves; the 

 latter being less severe, apparently having no ill effects, but it 

 probably interferes more with the ordinary routine of the farm work. 

 A compromise between these two dipping periods is a bi-weekly 

 dipping, viz., every third and fourth day. This answers well, pro- 

 viding the arsenical strength is increased 25 per cent, and, as the 

 cattle get used to it, 50 per cent., viz., 1| to 1^ lb. of arsenite of soda 

 per 100 gallons of water. I might here mention that in several 

 instances where gross infection existed better results were obtained 

 by the use of the full " laboratory" mixture, which, in addition to 

 arsenite of soda, contains soft soap and paraffin, although I prefer 

 adding to the dip, in the proportion of 1 gallon to every 1000 gallons, 

 one of the soluble carbolic dips, such as kerol. This has the effect of 

 keeping the dip sweet and the carbolic odour probably prevents ticks 

 attaching themselves as quickly as they otherwise would. Although 



