400 
DR. COOPER CURTICE. 
of the area, infested, by these parts. If for no other reason than 
those of uninterrupted traffic, the cattlemen of the infested area 
should make haste to exterminate the tick. 
This State has in its last session of the legislature passed a 
contagious disease act, which will prove very efficacious in pre¬ 
venting the spread of the disease in the free area. It may apply 
to the uninfected territories within the quarantined area, but the 
fines are so excessive, that complaints will scarcely be made. 
For instance, in those localities cattle with ticks are virtually 
quarantined upon their owners’ farms, for there is a fine of from 
$100 to $500 for permitting them upon the highway or com¬ 
mons. 
Could the quarantine of ticky cattle upon infested farms be 
rendered effective, the great question for Virginia would be 
more than half settled, for no owner would permit his cattle on 
the highway before they were cleaned of ticks ; and being in 
constant danger from the ticks spreading from his farm, he 
would be induced to remove them. When the State is ready to 
remove the ticks, farm quarantine must be resorted to. I be¬ 
lieve that at present a light fine of from $2 to $5 per head for 
cattle with ticks found on the highways, unenclosed lands or 
commons, and impounding them until all are cleansed and the 
fine paid, would be far more efficacious than the high fine im¬ 
posed by the present law, and which is necessary to prevent 
violations of the State quarantine line. 
Fellow veterinarians, your duties in this instance are to do 
all in your power to keep up a perfect quarantine between the 
area partially infected and the free district. Those of you who 
live within the infected district owe it to your patrons to in¬ 
struct them as to how the disease is spread, to show them, even 
if it is necessary to take some farm as an experiment, how to rid 
that farm of its ticks, and more than all to keep the public 
market places and cattle ranging at large free from ticks. I 
have found that cattle owners are only too willing to fall in line 
when once they are convinced that it is of use. You are to take 
every means at your command to show its use. 
