294 WESTERN GRAZING GROUNDS AND FOREST RANGES 



the rush of doing the work the needle can very readily 

 be stuck through a fold of the hide in such a manner 

 that it will come out on the other side of the fold un- 

 noticed in the hair, and the dose never enter the ani- 

 mal's body at all. 



I have vaccinated my thumb at least twice, and jabbed 

 a dose into one man's leg through accident, with no 

 harm, except a close call for a good drubbing at the 

 hands of the enraged cowboy. There are several patent 

 remedies on the market for blackleg, the most of them 

 being some form of administering the powdered muscle 

 without going to the trouble of mixing up a liquid and 

 injecting it through a hypodermic syringe. Doubtless 

 those manufactured by responsible firms are as effica- 

 cious as the powders furnished free by the Govern- 

 ment. The main thing to be looked after in them all 

 is that they are fresh. Most of them are dated, show- 

 ing the day they were made and the extreme length of 

 time which they may be kept and still be effective. 



Texas Fever. While this disease is not general over 

 the West, it is well that the grazier should know some- 

 thing about it. Broadly speaking, it is confined to all 

 the coast country of thd -United States which lies below 

 the 1,500-foot level, south of Cape Hatteras and clear 

 around to the Gulf Coast. This level is not an exact 

 line but the ticks do not survive very cold weather, and 

 above the 1,500- foot line the winters generally kill them. 

 Texas fever is found in nearly all of the southern states 

 and along the coast counties of southern California. 



Many years ago when the Texas trail was in full 

 swing the cattle grazing along the trails followed by the 

 Texas herds died of some mysterious disease. The out- 

 breaks seemed unaccountable. The disease did not 



