399 
1HE EX IERMINAT. ION OF THE CATTLE TICK 
may be kept from cattle by picking off those on them at the time 
and then turning the latter on to unaffected pastures, hitherto un¬ 
used by cattle. Thorough greasing of the hairs by cotton-seed 
od, lard or kerosene will prevent the little ticks arriving at the 
skm. Destruction of the ticks by burning the land in spring 
or by plowing will also assist the hand-picking. In Virginia and 
most other States I believe that there is little economy in dip¬ 
ping cattle. Nearly all herds are too small to permit the outlay. 
Where it must be resorted to, those practicing it must know 
that the operation must be carried on regularly as often as need 
be until it is quite sure that the cattle pick up no more on the 
pastures. 
To restrict the advance of the disease northward in summer 
time the United States annually quarantine the cattle from cer¬ 
tain southern states or portions of them, not permitting their 
transportation northward, excepting under regulation, which 
keeps them from other cattle. This quarantine, if as effectually 
carried mu m other States as it is now in Virginia, is very effi¬ 
cacious.^ But the United States should not seek to perpetually 
quarantine, but to contract the quarantine and thus lessen the 
menace at every point. It has shown that the means of trans¬ 
mission is a remediable one. Uet it do its part in applying the 
remedy. It is clearly within its province to continually investi¬ 
gate the border line between the quarantined and free areas and 
proceed to learn the exact condition of infection, to study the 
effect of local laws and customs upon its spread, to instruct the 
cattlemen at certain points as regards the suppression of the 
ticks, and to change the line in accordance with the facts and 
needs arising-. 
o 
Wnatever the future may show as to there being another 
means of producing the disease in the South, the Bureau of 
Animal Industry has shown that as soon as the ticks are re¬ 
moved from sections of country, the cattle from these places are 
no menace to others and, therefore, that the quarantine line 
must be, in so far as it is practical in being compatible with po¬ 
litical boundaries and natural barriers, coincident with the edge 
