DISEASES OF CATTLE 329 



as is used by orchardists to spray fruit trees, or by placing the solu- 

 tion in a barrel upon a wagon or on a platform above the animals 

 and allowing the fluid to gravitate through a hose, to the end of 

 which is attached an ordinary sprinkling nozzle. The solution is 

 then allowed to flow over the skin of the animal, especially upon the 

 legs and under portions of 'the body. If the cattle are on tick-in- 

 fested pastures, this treatment either smearing or spraying must 

 be continued through the whole season, and if thoroughly done it 

 will leave the fields free from ticks the following year. 



Dipping in a Vat. Many efforts have been made to discover a 

 practical method for dipping cattle to destroy ticks without injury to 

 the cattle, and the bureau has experimented for years with this object 

 in view. Numerous kinds of dips have been used and many failures 

 have been recorded, but apparently a successful one has been found 

 in the crude oil so-called Beaumont oil obtained from certain 

 Texas wells. This oil has now been used on a rather large scale, and 

 it has been very successful in killing ticks without at the same time 

 materially affecting the health of the cattle when the proper pre- 

 cautions have been observed. In fact, it is distinctly superior to any 

 of the other dips that have been tested. In these experiments it was 

 found that a light oil heavily charged with sulphur is the most de- 

 sirable for dipping cattle, as the heavy oils injure the animals dipped 

 in them. An oil with 40 per cent of its bulk capable of boiling be- 

 tween 200 and 300 C., having a specific gravity between 22% 

 and 24% Beaume, and containing li/4 to IMj per cent of sulphur 

 is most desirable, and these requirements should be stipulated before 

 purchase. In a recent dipping of 57,000 head of cattle on the Kan- 

 sas and Qsage Indian reservations the results were very highly satis- 

 factory, both as regards the eradication of the cattle tick and the 

 after results of the dipping, since the loss from all causes was less 

 than 0.75 per cent. This loss represented in dollars and cents would 

 amount to a very small portion (about one-twelfth) of the loss in- 

 curred by the sale of these animals as ticky cattle in the stock yards 

 of the North. Other cattle dipped in the same oil, but under condi- 

 tions that can not be considered parallel, suffered more severely. In 

 order to obtain the best results, the animals, after dipping, should 

 not be unduly exposed to the hot sun nor driven any considerable dis- 

 tance, but should receive plenty of food and good water. They should 

 be allowed to stand for four or more days after dipping and prior to 

 shipment. Dipping should not be attempted until after they shall 

 have shed their winter coats, as a large percentage of all cattle dipped 

 before the heavy coat is lost suffer from a severe irritation of the 

 skin. The method usually adopted in dipping cattle is to construct 

 a narrow swimming tank with a chute at one end for the entrance of 

 the cattle and a sloping exit at the other end where the cattle emerge 

 after getting a uniform coating of oil in passing through the vat. A 

 drip chute is connected with the exit where the excess of oil is allowed 

 to drip off the animals and to drain into the vat. It is relatively 

 more expensive to dip cattle in the South, where the farms and plan- 

 tations contain a small number of cattle, than in the range country 



