20 



herd, so that by this method it would require at least from five to 

 ten years of concerted effort to bring about a marked and permanent 

 increase in the number of cattle marketed. 



BKKI" PRODUCTION IN TIIK SOUTH 



The early extensive beef production followed the lines of least 

 resistance or of greatest profit with least expense of labor and 

 capital. It remains for the present stockmen to develop to the 

 fullest the latent possibilities of land once passed by for greater 

 opportunity elsewhere in so far as beef production was concerned. 

 Some sections of the country have not raised large numbers of cat- 

 tle because other farming pursuits offered greater temporary in- 

 ducements. This is especially true of the South, meaning those 

 states regarded as the cotton states. 



Formerly, cotton offered such enormous profit that it was 

 continually produced upon the same land without rotating with other 

 crops, but of late years, the invasion of the boll-weevil has demanded 

 a system of diversified farming. The boll-weevil cannot withstand 

 intelligent systems of crop rotation. To meet the present needs, 

 therefore, it is necessary to find crops that will fit into the ro- 

 tation and yet be utilized. With the natural climatic conditions 

 and the thriving forage crops which will furnish feed the entire 

 year, many advocates of stock raising have arisen. A few years 

 past all argument in behalf of cattle raising was balked by the 

 question, What about the tick? 



The Texas fever tick has been the ban to cattle raising in the 

 South. In 1906 the United States Department of Agriculture 

 inaugurated a movement to stamp out this pest. Strict quarantine 

 of cattle was established over fifteen states or parts of states where 

 tick infection was prevalent. During the seven years that the fight- 

 has been in progress, 10,0,000 square miles of the original 740,000 

 square miles of infected area, or about 2$ percent, have been freed 

 of tick infestation. 



Tust what this war on the tick has meant to southern stockmen 

 is shown in the following digest of over one hundred replies re- 

 ceived to questions addressed to farmers and stockmen in Missis- 

 sippi : l 



1. What were the approximate annual losses of cattle from tick fever in 

 your county from IQOO to TQOQ inclusive? Ans\\er: 18.5 percent. 



2. What was the approximate value of all cattle that died annually? An- 

 swer: $2,132,370. 



3. What has hcen the annual loss of cattle from tick fever since the tick 

 eradication he.^an? Answer: i.i percent. 



4. What was the average value of three-year old steers in your county from 

 1900 to 1909 inclusive? Answer: 2.y\ cents per pound. 



5. What is the average price now? Answer: 3^/2 cents per pound. (An in- 

 crease of 35 percent.) 



ij. A. Kiernan, Breeder's Gazelle, Feb. 7, 1912, p. 318. 



