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THE “ MURRAIN TICK.”’ 
Chattanooga county, Georgia.—The murrain has been prevailing here to a 
considerable extent. But few cattle recover. A great variety of remedies. are 
used. A strong tea of peach tree leaves receives most favor. Some say that a 
peculiar tick, called the murrain tick, infests the cattle. Whether the disease 
produces the tick or the tick the disease, others must determine. If the latter, 
it may account for the manner it is communicated by droves to other cattle 
crossing the roads or running in lots where such have been. 
[The tick above referred to is probably one of the effects and not the cause 
of the murrain, in the same manner that sickly trees are more liable to be infested 
with wood-boring insects than those which are sound and healthy. Parasitic 
insects, however, may carry contagion in many cases by crawling from diseased 
to healthy cattle, as it has béen repeatedly stated that during the late prevalence 
of the rinderpest in England, instances were known where the contagion was 
carried from field to field by sheep, hares, rabbits, &c.] 
4 
HEAVY RAIN STORM. 
Esmeralda county, Nevada.—During the showery months of July and Au- 
gust we have in this State occasional water-spouts or rain clouds bursting. On 
the 7th of August, as two teamsters were taking a boiler and engine to Colum- 
bus district, in this county, and when ten miles, about six p. m., they saw two 
clouds coming up from opposite directions, whereupon the men concluded to 
stop and dig a hole to catch some water for their cattle, they not having had any 
during the day. The rain commencing to fall, the five yoke of oxen were un- 
hitched, by which time the two clouds had met and burst, and the water came 
rushing down the gulch from four to twenty feet deep, carrying rocks that would 
weigh a ton, and everything in its wild course was taken. The wagons, boiler, 
and engine weighing 7,000 pounds, were carried about one hundred rods and 
landed on the side of the gulch. The wagons were a total wreck, only one 
wheel being left of the two wagons. 'I'wo holes were knocked in the boiler 
and one of the engine bars bent, and all their provisions, blankets, &c., lost. 
The lightning was so constant that the boiler appeared as one sheet of fire, 
and after night it was light enough to count the cattle on the hills. Several of 
these storms occur every year, and those familiar with them are careful to get 
upon high ground when the clouds are seen rising. Several lives were lost in 
one of them in 1865. 
TROPICAL PRODUCTS IN FLORIDA. 
Manatee, Manatee county, Florida——The whole citrus family grow very 
thriftily—mangoes, lemons, limes, shaddocks, &c. I think I never ate a real 
good orange until I came to South Florida. We have but few of the many 
varieties, but hope to get more by and by. Figs produce well, but do not 
grow with quite the ease that they do in the upper portion of the State or 
lower Georgia. The Smyrna is our best variety. Bananas produce well, but 
are set back in bearing by the frosts in winter unless they are grown in situa- 
tions where the frost does not injure them. The guava is our staple fruit ; the 
trees have now become acclimated so that they stand the few frosts of our 
winter withot injury. Pineapples have been grown here, but not much effort 
has been made and they have almost run out, but will be renewed again. 
Dates grow, and one pair of trees are in bearing. Olives would do well, but 
have réteived no attention. The same may be said of the cocoa palm and the 
anona genus. The India tamarind is in bearing at Mr. Campbell’s place on 
the north side of the Manatee river. 
