THE AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 729 



Queensland Cattle, 



AN INTERVIEW WITH MR. BOOKER. 

 By Ergates. 



IN the recent shipment of cattle for Mr. 

 J. Baynes, M.L.A.., and for the Gov- 

 ernment, were som<3 fifty head of stock, 

 the property of Mr. 0. J. Booker. Mr! 

 Booker, whose address is Wollongbar, 

 Queensland, at the suggestion of Mr. 

 Philp, the Prime Minister of Queensland, 

 who, as it will be remembered, had been 

 visiting South Africa, accompanied the 

 shipment for the purpose of practically 

 studying the whole of the conditions in- 

 volved in shipping cattle from his country 

 and disposing of them in this. A very 

 short interview with Mr. Booker is 

 sufficient to convince anyone that he is 

 exceptionally qualified for the object he 

 has in view. He is both a " squatter " 

 and a "grazier"; the first signifies a 

 breeder on a vast leasehold, and the 

 second indicates one who fattens oflf on 

 rich grass, freehold land, steers for the 

 butcher which he has obtained from the 

 " squatter." Every year Mr. Book'^r " turns 

 off" three or four thousand head of 

 cattle. " Farmer," in Queensland, means 

 a grower of crops only. Queensland, as 

 regards bovine sickness, seems to be as 

 unfortunate as the worst parts of South 

 Africa. LungsickQess,which Queensland- 

 era shortly call " pleuro," they have had 

 since 1863, and redwater, which appeared 

 30 years ago, is now endemic in prac- 

 tically the whole of the north west half 

 of the colony. Redwater. which is 

 called "tick fever" by the Australians 

 was never associated by them with ticks un- 

 til eight years ago. Readers of the Journal 

 will remember that the disease conveying 

 faculties of ticks were discovered by 

 American investigators. The news 

 reached Queensland, and the Agricultural 

 Department of the colony despatched 

 their pathologist, the late Dr. Hunt, and 

 their bacteriologist, Mr. C. J. Pound, to 

 America, to study the discoveries on the 

 spot. Since that investigation, according 

 to Mr. Booker, redwater in Queensland 

 has been under perfect control. In reply 

 to my questions about dipping, Mr. 

 Booker said : — " About four years ago the 

 advantages of dipping became generally 



recognised, and I may now say the 

 practice Is univei-sal. Of course I am 

 referring to only the redwater division 

 of the colony. Apart from the infection, 

 the ticks, by their numbers, are a curse to 

 the cattle-owner. The beasts are so bled 

 as to suffer from anasmia, and in cases 

 they eventually die of what we call ' tick 

 worry.' So far as I have seen in Natal 

 you do not seem to be so plagued with the 

 pest as we are. The cattle just arrived 

 were all badly covered with ticks when 

 they were taken on board at Bo wen. One 

 of the stipulations of Mr. Baynes was 

 that the cattle for him should be tick in- 

 fested — that they were purchased in red- 

 water country would not be enough. 

 Before we bring cattle from South 

 Queensland, or other clean parts of Aijs- 

 traUa, into our redwater country, we in- 

 oculate them with recovered blood, and 

 in many cases re-inoculate them with 

 virulent blood. After a second inocula- 

 tion with virulent blood they can be 

 safely said to be thoroughly immune. 

 Cattle-owners, who systematically inocu- 

 late as I have described, and dip every 

 six weeks afterwards, experience no losses 

 from redwater." 



" What do the ' dips ' cost ?" 



" They vary greatly ; all depends on the 

 local circumstances. We very commonly 

 use wood. Stone and cement would pro- 

 bably be the best and cheapest here. I 

 expect the cost with dripping yards 

 would work out at about £40." 



"At what rate do you put them 

 through ? " 



" About 300 an hour." 



" And the formula ? " 



" Practically we all use what is called 

 Christian's dip. The price, of course, 

 varies, according to the distance and 

 facilities of communication with the 

 nearest shipping port. It works out, 

 however, at from ;^d. to id. per head. 

 Here is the formula : — 



Water 400 galls. 



Arsenic 24 lbs. 



Common soap ... 24 „ 

 Stockholm tar ... 5 galls. 



