1901 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
21 
NORTHERN CATTLE FOR THE GULF 
STATES. 
Dangers from Texas Fever. 
We have a reader in Michigan who 
wishes to take a herd of Holsteins into 
one of the Gulf States. He asks us 
whether it would do to take these cattle 
to Texas, Mississippi or southern Illinois, 
and at what season of the year would it 
be best to go south. There has been a 
feeling among northern stockmen that it 
is not safe to take full-grown cattle into 
the Gulf States, since a large proportion 
of them die from Texas fever. The recent 
investigations regarding this disease, how'- 
ever, seem to show that there is not so 
much danger now as formerly, and we 
would like very much indeed to know for 
the benefit of this man and others like 
him just how much risk a man will take 
by carrying a herd of Holsteins into the 
Gulf States. What precautions would you 
take, when would you go, and would you 
prefer to take young animals, and not 
attempt to carry the older ones? 
Ans.— Until recently the man who 
shipped cattle into the Gulf States from 
portions of Tennessee or from States 
north of Tennessee, ran the risk of los¬ 
ing from 30 to 80 per cent of his herd, 
according to the age of the animals. Af¬ 
ter many failures the veterinarians of 
this country and of Australia have found 
means of reducing the loss from Texas 
fever to an insignificant percentage. The 
most approved method consists in in¬ 
oculating the northern animal, either in 
its original home, or after arrival in the 
South, with the fresh blood of a south¬ 
ern animal that is infested with ticks, 
or has recently been so infested. The 
blood is drawn from, the jugular vein of 
the southern heifer, the skin, instru¬ 
ments, etc., being first sterilized. It is 
caught in a bottle or other vessel which 
can be kept stopped with sterile cotton, 
and in this vessel the blood is beaten 
with a sterilized glass rod, or other 
beater, until the fibrin clots can be re¬ 
moved with the rod. Then from one to 
two cubic centimeters of this defibri- 
nated blood are injected by means of a 
hyperdermic needle, into the shoulder of 
the northern animal. The result is a 
mild form of Texas fever. To make the 
immunity more certain or intense, an¬ 
other inoculation is made several weeks 
after all signs of the first fever have 
disappeared. With detailed directions, 
which will doubtless be cheerfully fur¬ 
nished by the veterinarians, who have 
worked on this matter, any physician 
familiar with the usual means of keep¬ 
ing his instruments sterile, or any very 
intelligent and careful farmer will be 
able to do this work. In some cases the 
veterinarian of a southern experiment 
station offers to make the inoculations, 
and the time is doubtless near at hand 
when simple and detailed directions will 
be available for all in the form of a bul¬ 
letin. The stations that have published 
results of acclimating cattle are those of 
Missouri, Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana, 
Arkansas and Alabama. This inocula- 
letin. The stations that have publisued 
either in the North or in the South. If 
done in a cool climate it may begin in 
late Summer. In the South inoculation 
is best begun in late Fall or early Win¬ 
ter. Special care as to food and shelter 
are necessary during the prevalence of 
the fever induced by inoculation. In¬ 
deed, this special care should continue 
throughout all the following Summer. 
The above outlines the best means of 
treating cattle to prevent serious losses 
from Texas fever. The method has 
given most gratifying results with ani¬ 
mals under 18 months old; and in the 
few published instances where it was 
used on mature cattle, the results were 
also satisfactory. However, there is 
doubtless more risk in inoculating ma¬ 
ture animals or pregnant cows than in 
the case of young animals. In cases 
where this inoculation seems imprac¬ 
ticable, otlipr less certain means of 
avoiding loss from Texas fever may be 
pursued. For instance, the calf or year¬ 
ling, after arrival in the South, prefer¬ 
ably in November or December, may be 
inoculated by placing 25 to 50 ticks on 
it. Or, in cases where there is no ex¬ 
pectation of inti’oducing southern ani¬ 
mals into the “imported” nerd, or of 
selling animals from the nerd in the 
South, Texas fever can be permanently 
kept out of the herd by eliminating the 
ticks on the cattle and on the entire 
farm. In this latitude the cold of Win¬ 
ter is sufficient to free a pasture of ticks, 
making it safe for northern cattle, pro¬ 
vided no infested cattle run on it and re¬ 
infest it after cold weather is past. From 
pastures intended for this purpose, 
southern cattle should be fenced out af¬ 
ter January. Possibly near the coast 
the cold may be insufficient in some 
Winters to free the pastures of ticks. 
When pursuing this system the few ticks 
that may accidentally find lodgment on 
the cattle may be removed before they 
have done any harm, by the use of a 
mixture of kerosene and oil or lard. It 
is more convenient and in every way 
more practicable to immunize northern- 
bred cattle by gradually inoculating 
them, either with defibrinated blood or 
with a few ticks, than to attempt the 
task of entirely excluding the tick. In 
the herds under the writer’s care we 
rather small. Rome Beauty has been 
considered worthy of trial in the Bald¬ 
win country and may prove very desir¬ 
able there, as it has shown such signs. 
“Ox Noble” I do not know. 
II. E. VAN DEMAN. 
PLAIN TALKS ON PLAIN TOPICS. 
National Investments for Agriculture. 
You do not seem to favor the National 
bill granting subsidies to American 
ships. 
You are right about that. 
Why? 
We oppose the principle of taxing all 
the people to help a small body of ship¬ 
builders who are better able to take care 
of themselves than most other business 
men. 
You are not consistent; for farmers 
have more special privileges to-day than 
any other class of people. 
How do you make that out? 
Look at the immense sums of money 
spent to educate and instruct the farm¬ 
er. We have to pay for it all, but no 
business man asks the Government to 
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aim to prevent excessive tick infesta¬ 
tion, but would not willingly extermi¬ 
nate them all so long as there are any 
ticks on any southern farms with which 
we may exchange cattle. Young ani¬ 
mals can be acclimated in the South 
with much greater ease than can mature 
cattle. Yet the few published records 
of the successful inoculation of mature 
cattle lead us to believe that the man 
who has a valuable nerd of mature cat¬ 
tle can afford to bring them South rath¬ 
er than sacrifice them, and that he has 
reasonable grounds for expecting that 
most of them, if arriving in November 
or December, or even in January, and it 
treated as suggested above will survive 
even though during their first year they 
fail to make their usual record in milk 
production. j. e. duggar. 
Alabama Exp. Station. 
“Six Good Red Winter Apples.” 
E. L. P., East Paris, Mich.—l am about to 
set an apple orchard on heavy clay loam, 
and am still undecided as to what varieties 
would be most suitable for my location. 
Please name about six varieties of good¬ 
keeping, red, Winter apples, barring Bald¬ 
win and Northern Spy. My objections to 
the two latter varieties are, that there are 
now too many Baldwins set, and in ad¬ 
dition to this the tree is defective; the 
Northern Spy is too long in coming into 
bearing. Can you tell me anything about 
the Ox Noble? 
Ans. —So far as I know there are not 
so many as “six good keeping, red,Win- 
ter apples ” suitable to the climate of 
Michigan among all those catalogued, 
and especially is this so if we leave out 
Baldwin and Northern Spy, which it 
may be well to do. These latter varie¬ 
ties do have the objections mentioned. 
Wagener is a very good Winter apple 
for Michigan, having high color, goou 
size and fine quality; but the tree is de¬ 
ficient in the root. If Northern Spy 
trees were planted and then budded or 
grafted in the branches to Wagener it 
would be much better; for the former is 
a very good tree for a stock. However, 
the Wagener sometimes makes good 
trees without this trouble, as I know by 
experience and observation. Within the 
last month I have been over a part of 
Michigan, and saw a beautiful and 
healthy orchard of Wagener in Benzie 
County, which is more than 100 miles 
north of where the questioner lives. 
There is no valuable variety which will 
bear earlier and more abundantly than 
Wagener. Sutton has been tested but 
little in Michigan, hut it does very well 
in New York and Massachusetts, where 
the Baldwin has long been a favorite, 
and is now one of its competitors. It 
would be wise to plant a row or so of 
this variety. Red Canada is a well- 
tested kind of very good color and qual¬ 
ity and fair size, but it is not so free a 
bearer as we would wish it was. How¬ 
ever, it is a good kind for general pur¬ 
poses. Jonathan is exceedingly brilliant 
red and of high quality, but the fruit is 
pay for his education. 
The entire yearly cost of the Agricul¬ 
tural Department is $3,500,000. This 
subsidy bill provides for $9,000,000 to be 
given to a single industry. The tariff 
on half a dozen articles we could men 
tion puts five times the cost of the Agri¬ 
cultural Department into the pockets of 
a few manufacturers. 
But the principle is wrong anyway. 
No, because all are benefited by the 
money spent for agriculture. 
Who do you expect is going to believe 
that? 
You will when you understand about 
it. About 70 per cent of our export 
trade is in farm products. The farmers 
of America are paying principal and in¬ 
terest of our foreign debt, and building 
up a surplus abroad. 
What has that to do with it? 
The Agricultural Department is con¬ 
stantly increasing this trade. Its agents 
search the foreign markets, advertise 
our goods and introduce them. Their 
work with corn and apples alone has 
added millions to our export trade. If 
your subsidy bill would increase foreign 
trade or reduce freight rates it would 
be worth talking about, but who claims 
that it will? 
But what about the money spent for 
farm colleges, stations, etc.? How does 
that help all the people? 
By making food cheaper and better. 
The wise spending of this money has 
developed a small class of pure scientists 
and a very large class of intelligent 
farmers who combine science with prac¬ 
tice. The scientists have given the 
world new varieties of fruits, vegetables 
and grains, and have discovered new 
principles of directing plant and animal 
life, and new methods of handling the 
soil. The practical men have utilized 
this knowledge so well that there never 
was a time before in the history of the 
world when a nation was so well fed and 
clothed as are Americans of the present 
day. Money spent to encourage ship¬ 
building benefits a few ship-builders and 
a few more workmen and iron workers. 
Money spent to encourage agriculture 
benefits every person who eats or wears 
clothes. One plan takes an average of 
75 cents from every man who voted at 
the last election and stuffs it into a few 
fat pockets. The other takes about 25 
cents and will, in time, pay it oack one 
hundredfold in the ability to buy better 
and cheaper food. The money spent for 
the Agricultural Department is an in¬ 
vestment. It is the only true invest¬ 
ment Uncle Sam makes. 
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