320 THE INDIAN JOURNAL OF VETERINARY SCIENCE AND ANIMAL HUSBANDRY [ I, IV

thorough trial and an 1 in 60 solution of it was found very useful in destroying
ticks when sprayed or mopped at least twice.

CONTROL MEASURES.
Grazing areas are the most prolific centres for the dissemination of tick infes-
tation. Unfortunately the individual stockowner barely possesses any grazing area
of his own and for this purpose he utilises the reserved and minor forests which
are under the control of the Forest Department; so that it is incumbent on the
Government authorities to apply such control measures as have been found by
scientific experimentation to be the best for combating ticks.

As the majority of cattle sheds in these tracts are infested with ticks, the ideal
course would be to discard preferably many old sheds and to disinfect the remain-
ing as follows:—

Clean them from all litter, debris and other loose things lying on the
floor and walls; remove a foot or more of earth from the floor and burn it
along with grass and litter, preferably in and open area; leave the shed
unused for at least 45 days, during which period flame the inside and outside
surface of the walls and pillars with a small torch or with a blow lamp. The
application of the fire should be repeated every three days up to the 45th day
within which period all the ticks undergoing metamorphosis in the crevices will
gradually come out and be burnt in the fire.

The shed should generally have a hard rammed or cement floor or floor
covered with stone slabs. The pillars and walls should be plastered smoothly with
lime and mud. Manure should no longer be prepared under the feet of cattle and
cleanliness of the shed and cattle should be scrupulously attended to. The head,
the neck and under surface of the body of all cattle should receive a thin applica-
tion of any bitter viscid oil containing kerosene and sulphur before they are sent
out for grazing, especially during the month of June to October.

The present mode of preparing manure in the shed should be stopped and
the manure pit itself should be used for this purpose. People are under the
erroneous impression that a good manure cannot be prepared without allowing the
dry and green leaves to rot under the feet of cattle. A manure of very good
quality can be prepared by spreading alternately layers of dry or green leaves
and layers of cow dung and urine collected from cattle sheds, sprinkling a few
gallons of water on them and covering the stuff with straw or cudgeons in order to
prevent evaporation and exposure to sun and rains. When the pit becomes filled
up it may be covered as above along with earth in order to keep the contents of the
pit airtight. By this process not only does the manure improve considerably in
quality but it also causes any tick lurking in the material to perish.