TEXAS FEVER. 481 



especially in liot weather, become so pronoimced that the animal will 

 lose flesh in spite of good pasturing, thereby reducing the vitality 

 and rendering it more susceptible to the inroads of disease. More- 

 over, if the infestation of ticks is not controlled, the cattle may be so 

 reduced in condition that growth is retarded, and, in the case of 

 young animals, they may never become fully developed, but remain 

 thin, w^eak, and stunted — a condition that has been termed " tick pov- 

 erty" — and easily succumb to other diseases as a result of lowered 

 vitality. In milch cows this debilitating influence of the numerous 

 ticks is shown in a greatly reduced milk supply. This should not 

 appear strange when it is considered that some animals harbor several 

 thousand of the bloodsucking parasites. If these parasites are 

 crushed, it will be found that their intestines are completely filled 

 with a dark, thick mass of blood abstracted from the animal host 

 and containing nutriment that should go to the formation of milk, 

 flesh, and the laying on of fat. In some rare cases the large number 

 of bites on a limited area of skin may be followed by infection with 

 pus-producing organisms, giving rise to small abscesses which may 

 terminate in ulcers. The discharge from these sores, or in some cases 

 the mere oozing of blood serum through the incision made by the 

 mouth parts of the ticks, keeps the hair moist and matted together, 

 and the laying and hatching of fly eggs in these areas give rise to 

 infestation with destructive maggots, causing ulcers and other com- 

 plications that require medical treatment. These statements regard- 

 ing the secondary injurious effects of cattle ticks also apply to those 

 ticks which have been previously spoken of as harmless so far as 

 Texas fever is concerned, and, in fact, to all external parasites. There- 

 fore, it is just as important to eradicate the cattle ticks for reasons 

 other than those associated with Texas fever as it is to exterminate 

 lice, fleas, and other vermin. Furthermore, cattle ticks, aside from 

 the losses sustained by their purely parasitic effects, are the greatest 

 menace to the profitable raising and feeding of cattle in the South, 

 because they are an obstacle to cattle traffic between the infected and 

 noninfected districts. 



Loss occasioned hy cattle ticks. — The economic aspect of the tick 

 problem is unquestionably of the greatest practical interest, since 

 the fundamental importance of all the other questions which sur- 

 round it depends upon the actual money value involved. It would 

 therefore seem advisable to furnish a few statistics showing the 

 financial loss sustained by the country as a result of the presence of 

 this parasite. It is well known that those animals coming from an 

 infected district and sold in the " southern pens " of northern stock- 

 yards bring about one-half a cent less per pound than the quoted 

 market price. The handicap that is placed on the southern cattle 

 raiser as a result of this decrease in value of his stock will average 

 33071°— 16 31 



