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It is considered probable that this pest was introduced into America 

 by cattle imported by the Spaniards during the early colonisation of 

 Mexico. Circumstantial evidence points to the importation of Brahma 

 cattle from Batavia into Australia in 1872 as being the source of 

 Australian infestation. 



This bulletin deals at length with the life-history of the tick, tick 

 infestation, tick fever, its treatment, and measures of protection 

 against it. Of these, artificial inoculation confers immunity for a 

 period of 1 to 2 years, or occasionally longer in individual cases. An 

 inoculated individual, however, acts as a reservoir of infection, and 

 since all ticks are not infective, there is little doubt that protective 

 inoculation has been an important factor in the dissemination of tick 

 fever in certain centres in Queensland. In New South Wales an 

 official embargo exists against inoculation, as, with the exception of a 

 single locality on the Queensland border, infective ticks are not known 

 to exist in that State. 



The loss from mortality caused by tick fever in Queensland alone 

 is estimated at £7,000,000 sterhng, and considerable loss from this 

 cause has also occurred in the Northern Territory andWestern Australia. 

 Further, the affected States have suffered considerable direct loss 

 from deaths due to tick worry, interference with the natural increase 

 of the herds, retardation of growth and improvement of stock, and 

 from diminished production of meat, milk and dairy products. The 

 decrease in the value of leather production of Queensland amounts 

 to about £114,000 for one year alone. Apart from these direct losses, 

 the expenditure occasioned in connection with the erection and main- 

 tenance of dipping vats, and general disturbance of stock business, 

 is also very considerable. The cost to New South Wales of putting 

 into operation restrictive measures has amounted for the past 5 years 

 to £123,480. Moreover the value of land in infested and adjoining 

 areas has depreciated even up to 40 per cent., and when the extent 

 of acreage involved is considered, this loss alone becomes stupendous. 



The general methods of tick eradication directed against the pest 

 in its free existence are the " starving-out method," usually combined 

 in practice with the " pasture rotation " system. By this means 

 all possible hosts of the tick are excluded from pastures until sufficient 

 time has elapsed for the tick to die out and the eggs to perish, the 

 cattle being removed systematically to clean pastures before the eggs 

 laid by the matured females dropping from them have time to hatch 

 out. The land thus vacated is immediately placed under cultivation, 

 and is not re-stocked until it may be assumed to be tick-free. Field 

 observations in the north coast districts of New South Wales indicate 

 that this period exceeds one year. 



The most efiicacious direct method of dealing with the pest is by 

 attacking it during its parasitic existence by hand-picking and grooming 

 or by hand-dressing and spraying, or by dipping, the last being the only 

 practicable way of treating unhandled cattle and horses. It is also 

 the cheapest method for the treatment of large numbers. Experience 

 has shown that arsenic is the only reliable tick-destroying agent, there 

 being several efficient official formulae for arsenious cattle dips, such 

 as : — Queensland Cattle Dip " A," — Arsenious acid 8 lb., caustic 

 soda 4 lb., Stockholm tar | gal., tallow or oil (animal or vegetable) 

 4 lb., water 400 gals. ; Queensland Cattle Dip B, — ^Arsenious acid 8 lb., 



