CATTLE-FEVER TICKS AND METHODS OF 



ERADICATION. 



\V. r. Ellenbebgeb aud Kobekt M. Chapin, Bureau of Animal InduHtnj} 



CONTENTS. 



I'agc. 



Progress in tick eradication 3 



Reasons for eradicating tlie cattle 



ticls 4 



Life history of tlie ticli 6 



Development on tlie ground G 



Development on cattle ]1 



Summary of life history 11 



Methods of eradication 11 



Dipping 12 



Pasture rotation 17 



Page. 



Arsenical dips 21 



Properties of substances used in 



malting arsenical dips 21 



General composition of dips 23 



Making the S-B dip 24 



Making the boiled dip 26 



Diluting the dip to form a batli_ 27 

 Replenishing the bath and cor- 

 recting its strength 29 



Precautions in the use of arsenic 



and arsenical dips 31 



PROGRESS IN TICK ERADICATION. 



THE Bureau of Animal Industry, in cooperation with tlie State 

 authorities, is conducting tick-eradication work in the region 

 infested by the cattle tick, as shown in the map (figure 1). From 

 1906, when this cooperative work was first undertaken, to December 

 1, 1919, a total of 509,084 square miles was released from Federal 

 quarantine which had been established to control the situation, and in 

 considerable additional aiea the work is well under wa3\ The terri- 

 tory already released from quarantine is nearly equal to the combined 

 areas of the following block of States: Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, 

 North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Missis- 

 sippi, Ai insas, and Louisiana. This record alone should be ample 

 proof of the feasibility of eradicating the tick from the entire infested 

 area, and is evidence of the effectiveness of the methods adopted. 



The methods of eradication have been improved upon from time 

 to time as new facts became known, and it may be stated that the 

 methods have reached such a degree of perfection and have had 

 such a wide, practical test, that the question of how to eradicate ticks 

 is no longer an essential part of the problem. The main part of the 

 task is to secure hearty, vigorous, and conscientious cooperation of 

 the people. In other words, the work will progress just as rapidly 

 as the people desire that it shall. 



^Author's note. — Much of the information in this bulletin relating to the life history 

 of the tick and methods of eradication has been taken almost verbatim from Farmers' 

 Bulletin 408, by II. W. Graybill, with slight revisions by B. II. Ransom, chief of the 

 Zoological Division of the bureau. Robert M. Chapin, of the Biochemic Division, pre- 

 pared that portion of the bull(>tin relating to arsenical dips. 



3 



