Southern Cattle Tick 337 



Ticks are very resistant to ejfforts made to destroy 

 them; it is with diflSculty that they can be killed with- 

 out injuring the animal to which they are attached. 

 In case there are only a few, they can be scraped off 

 with a knife -blade. When thej" occur in large num- 

 bers the most effective treatment is to dip the animal. 

 In Australia, where the ravages of the tick cause serious 

 loss, the following preparation, known as Christian's dip, 

 is the most effective one known to-day. The formula 

 for this dip, as recommended by Dr. Hunt, is as follows: 



Arsenic 10 pounds 



Soda 28 pounds 



Soap • 5 pounds 



Stockholm tar 7% pounds 



Water • . . 400 gallons 



The arsenic, soda and soap are boiled together in a 

 small quantity of water. The tar is then added; then 

 the remainder of the water. Some persons boil the 

 whole of the liquid in the dip, and by that means the 

 tar is well mixed. 



Although many experiments have been made and 

 remedies devised in this country to remove ticks, none 

 has so far proved perfectly effective in removing the 

 danger of infection. Dipping-tanks containing water 

 and certain kinds of crude petroleum called dynamo -oil 

 afford the means for destroying many of them. 



It should be remembered that the cattle get ticks from 

 infested pastures, and that to prevent their having ticks 

 or becoming reinfested after dipping, they should be 

 kept from such pastures. The discussion of the Texas 

 cattle fever itself will be found in Chapter XVI, 



V 



