The Pagei and journal l Vol. 4 NO. 32 PAGELAND. S. C., WEDNESDAY MORNING, APRIL 22, 1914 $1.00 per year The Life Cycle of Cattle Tick*. I A n;..~ :? * ' Columbia, April 17?Clemson college and the federal bureau of animal industry are making preparations for going gunning after the cattle tick in the 29 counties in South Carolina still infested with the pest and consequently below the quarantine line. The cattle tick is admit, tedly the greatest obstacle in the way of the development of the cattle raising industry in South Carolina. W. K. Lewis of the bureau of animal industry will marshal the forces of Clemson college and the federal department of agriculture in the war which is to begin soon against the tick. The general assembly of South Carolina appropriated $30,000 for tick eradication work which will be supplemented by funds from the federal department. The tick which is making all this trouble is a parasite which transmits the germ, causing Texas fever, into the blood of of cattle in precisely the same . manner as the malarial Plasmodia are transmitted into the human circulatory system by anopholes mosquitoes. The fully developed and fertilized female, being engorged with blood and ready to lay her eggs, loosens her hold on the bovine animal and drops to the ground. Upon reaching the ground she may lie quietly for several days before depositing her eggs, which may consume from four to eight days in summer and two weeks or even longer in the fall. The number of eggs laid by a fully developed female varies from 1,500 to 3,000, j while flra anmmura leiflaieg'aiso ' layyeggs, but in much smaller numbers. After laying is finish ed the female is small and shirveled up and, having fulfilled her mission, socn dies. The eggs, which are light brown and waxy in appearance, proceed to, develop the larvae, or seed ticks, the time require for which varies from 13 days to six weeks, de pending on the conditions of temperature, moisture, soil, etc. These eggs, however, are very tenacious of life, and under unfavorable conditions may remain dormant for several months, especially in the early spring. The larvae, or seed ticks, are minute six-legged parasites of a brownish waxy color, and about 1-32 of an inch in size. They crawl quite actively about on the ground and among leaves bunching in large numbersupor grass blades, shrubs, weeds and fence posts, to await an oppor4 tunitv for attacnment to their passing host. The parasitism is so perfect that in case no cattle or horses are present no further development occurs, and death finally results. It is known however, that these larval forms can live for three or four months on the ground in warm weather independent of their host, and from late September until April during an open winter. When they find cattle, however, they fasten themselves to the soft skin inside the thighs and flanks, on the escutcheon, along the belly and brisket, around the root of ( the tail, and inside the forelegs. They obtain their nourishment by drawing blood from the host, and can cause the fever at this stage,although so small as scarcely to be detected bv the naked eye. A (tnr 1 1 ltciuk uu me animal about one week the seed lick casts its covering (molts) and appears as the eight-legged, nymph stage of the parasite, having added one pair of legs posteriorly, During the nymphal W loapjjcai lllg LittKC. An unusual occurrence that has much interested to scientific men recently happened at Fumone, Italy. The picturesque little lake of Canterno suddenly disappeared. All the water retreated into a bottomless pit in the middle of the lake, and left the whole area absolutely dry. It appears that tins same phenomenon has occurred several times in the history of the place; the last time was about 220 years ago. At that time the farmers had begun to till the bed of the lake, and had brought it to a hiirh Stlltl* nf r-nltii-ntinn ...l.-r.? ? vuiu vdllV/llf W UUll suddenly the water returned; and as if to recompense the people for the loss of their crops, the fish came hack also. There is an ancient legend that the lake disappears whenever its water claim the life of a human being. That was the case at the last previous disappearance of the water. On a certain Shrove Tuesday, nine young boys were drowned in Canterno Lake. Their distracted parents cursed the waters of the lake, and then a crater fifteen feet in diameter swallowed up the water with fearful and unearthly gurgling. Fire spout ed from the hole, and from the depths of the earth came a mysterious rumbling, The entire lake bed was strewn with fish, and the boat which h id gone down with the hoys was swallowed up by the crater. The Split Log Drag It is part of the duty of a good farmer these days to join with his neighbors in.,the use of the split-log drag, say Clemson College authorities. This is the opportune time and the time when the judicious use of the split log drag will produce the most visible and immediate results. stage the sexual organs develop, and at the second molting, from the nymphal to the adult stage, sexual organs are complete. The male and female at this stage are about the same si/.e, as the female does not become very large until after she becomes fertilized, which occurs about two weeks after the six-legged seed tick reaches its host, or after the second molting. After intercourse with the male the female slowly enlarges for six to 2<> days in summer, and then rapidly increases in si/.e in the course of a day or two before dropping from the animal. In fall and winter development occurs more slowly, the tick not falling off for six weeks or more. After reaching the ground the female soon commences to de posit eggs, thus completing the life cycle, which requires from six to ten weeks in warm weather, or a much longer period during the cold season. It will thus he seen that these females transmit the infection through their eggs to their progeny, and the latter have the power 10 infect any susceptible nnimnl ' uiuiiKii i*/ which uiey attacn. The disease, therefore, is not conveyed by the same ticks which take tip the infected blood but only through the generation descending from them. Although your ticks are very active neither they nor the adult ticks are capable of crawling very far, but they may be transported long distances by animals by rains, by winds, cattle cars, hides and on clothing of man. Hence the constant danger that tick-free pastures below the quarantine line may become infested with ticks at any time. iTrf A Heroine. . |A Monroe Enquirer. , ] In the cemetery at Mt. Harmony church, in Mecklenbqp: i county, near the Unionl^Hl ' Mecklenburg line, there i^pa i massive and beautiful monu- ? ment which cost several hun- i dred dollars. "To Our Mother" 1 is the inscription in large letters s on the top stone of the monu- 1 ment. This memorial in granite was erected by Messrs. S. T.,^J. < T, B. A. and J. E. Sustar to i their mother, Mrs. Elizabeth Sus- < tar. If ever a mother deserved < a monument that good woman i is worthy of one. Here is the 1 story of her herosim: In 1862 i Mrs. Sustar was living with her i husband, Mr. H. R. Sustar, and < their four little sons and a little i daughter in a cabin home in the, ] pine lands of Lancaster county,!] O. Ivnrlv in 1 SAO I ' ... luvb iiiisimiiii I and father joined the Confeder- i ate army and went to the front, s He never returned. In a few weeks the news came that the husband and father was dead < and had been buried in Virginia, i The mother looked upon her ! five little orphaned children, the < two youngest, B. A. and J. E., i twins but six months old, and ] then and there she resolved to 1 keep her family together and to 1 make a living for them. She 1 had nothing and not a child was 1 large enough to make a living. But she went to work, hiring herself to the neighboring far- < mors and although she wasnurs- < ing her twin boys she went, to the field and many has been the day when she plowed all dayjfor < only twenty-five cents, and dfter her day's work was done w, night she had bread for her ' children. After the war she < fought on and on to keep the wolf from the door?and she i i,~~? ' ? * " 111111 iii nay?anil ncr cnildren never suffered for bread. As her children grew they joined their great hearted mother in the battle for bread. The twins when hut ten years old were spinning cotton at night w'lth whch to make their clothing and were working for neighboiing farmers for only twenty-five cents a day for the two. In 1876 Mrs. Sustar moved with her children to Mecklenburg county rented a small farm and instead of hiring out they made cropsof their own. Just a few days ago the writer stood by the monument at Mrs. Sustar's grave and then he went over the spledid farms of the twin sons of this heroine?hundreds of acres there are on which are two beautiful homes, and the farms are itmioH with neat, well-kept tedfllrit houses, good barns and otHer out buildings, and the land is in high state of cultivation. The stock, the modern implements and everything about the fnrms indicates prosperity and the application of brains to business. Long before that good mother! died she saw her children's prosperity and she shared it. With the Sustar hoys there was nothing too good for their mother to have and her last days were i spent in the midst of abundance, not ? n!y in material things, but I ? Curing Oat Hay. Progrcssve Farmer. A reader asks us to advise the method of curing oat hay, at what stage to cut and rake, and if it can be baled within three lays after cutting? Is the feeding value of oat hay as good as when cut with binder and fed in sheaf or threshed? What is the ( market value of oat hay? It is generally advised to cut oat hay in the "dough stage" of the grain. It is probable that it contains more nutriment at this stage than earlier we believe it is more palatable, is eaten mote readily and with less waste. We therefore, advise cutting oat hay rather earlier than the "dough stage" of the grain, or when the . straw is thoroughly green. It is , probably best to wait as long as r\/\roi l\1rv " ?-? * b ? ?A * ' ' 11 days after cutting. What say i Dur readers on this subject? i Since the straw will contain more nutriment and will be eaten with much less waste if cut green, we believe the animal < will get as much or more out of an oat crop cut in the early "dough stage" or in the "milk stage" of the grain than they will i when the crop is allowed to ] ripen. The market value of oat hay _..:n a i win uepenci on ine stu^e at which it was cut, the method and conditions under which it was cured and the knowledge of its value at the market where it is sold. Down in South Carolina they caught an old Negro roost rob her "with the goods on him," as the saying goes, and forthwith haled him into court to stand trial for chicken-steahng. When old Rastus was placed in the dock the judge said: "Now, Uncle Has, I suppose you reali/.e that you're in a court of law, on/I \TO i 1 - ^ 1 4 .Tx?n xjiniu i caii/.f wiim a court is? 'Why, shore, boss," came back Knstus, "a co't? Why, a co't am shore a place where dey dispenses wif justice!"?Argonaut. Distressed Damsel?Oh, sir catch that man, he wanted to kiss me. Pedestrian?That's all right, there'll be anotlnr nlc?n