6 EXTERMINATING THE TEXAS-FEVER TICK. 
It is hardly necessary to emphasize the important fact that the 
tick is something more than a simple parasite drawing blood from its 
host, it being the carrier of a dangerous micro-organism or germ, 
which it transmits to the blood of cattle, thus causing a disease 
known by many names, among which are Texas fever, tick fever, 
splenetic fever, and murrain.? Without the tick there can be no Texas 
fever, and it is by preventing the spread of the tick beyond its natural 
bounds that the fever has been prevented from waging destruction 
among northern cattle, which are especially susceptible to the disease. 
In order to restrict the distribution of the tick the National and 
State governments maintain a quarantine line extending from the 
Atlantic to the Pacific coast, marking the boundary between the 
States or portions of States harboring this pest and those that do not. 
Cattle of the quarantined area can not be driven across this line, and 
may be shipped only in accordance with the regulations of the Suere: 
tary of Agriculture to prevent the spread of splenetic fever of cattle. 
The more important losses for which the tick is responsible are as 
follows: 
1. Deaths from tick fever among native cattle and purebred cattle 
imported from the North for breeding purposes. 
2. Deaths of cattle north of the quarantine line from fever following 
the occasional accidental introduction of the tick. 
3. The temporary and permanent arrest of growth and develop- 
ment resulting from attacks of the fever. 
4. The decrease in weight and the lessened rate in putting on flesh 
in the case of beef cattle, and the decrease in the amount of milk 
produced by dairy cattle, as the result of the irritation and loss of 
blood occasioned by great numbers of ticks. 
5. The prevention of southern breeders from exhibiting their stock 
in the North. 
6. The decreased price that southern cattle bring on the market 
on account of the restrictions placed upon them. 
7. The considerable expense incurred each year by the Federal 
Government and the infested States in establishing quarantine lines 
and in enforcing regulations to prevent the spread of Texas fever. 
Various writers have estimated the annual loss due to the tick at 
from $40,000,000 to $100,000,000. These figures should be ample 
argument, even to the most conservative, for the eradication of the 
tick. 
The South needs more and better live stock and a larger and better 
dairy industry, and these objects would both be greatly promoted 
by the destruction of the tick. Furthermore, the increased produc- 
a For information as to this disease and how it is transmitted by the ticks the reader 
is referred to Farmers’ Bulletin 258, ‘‘ Texas or Tick Fever and Its Prevention.”’ 
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