though so
mischievous. Put all the cattle of Florida through the dipping vat once
a fortnight for five or six months, and there would be no more ticks
left in this State than there are snakes in Ireland. Let us consecrate
ourselves here in this meeting to the doing of this thing, and doing it
_soon_.

Hog cholera is not so simple and manageable an affair. In the
micro-organism which causes this disease, we face an enemy far subtler,
more cunning, more elusive, more persistent and more swiftly fatal than
is the tick. It escapes observation by the most powerful microscope; it
laughs at quarantine lines; it flows in the stream; it lurks in the
pool; it rides upon the foot of beast and bird, the shoe of man, the
wagon's wheel; it soars aloft on the buzzard's wing; you can not catch
and dip it.

I earnestly advise the formation of local live stock associations
throughout the State, at least one in each county affiliated with the
State Association, and having special committees on Tick Eradication and
Hog Cholera Control, composed of the ablest, the most energetic and the
most influential men in the various communities. Let these associations
hold meetings at regular intervals for the free exchange of views and
experiences; let expert and interesting speakers from abroad bring to
these meetings fresh information and impetus; let there be added such
social and entertaining features as may be available--music, barbecues,
moving pictures, boat excursions, what-not--to attract the multitude,
relieve the monotony of farm life, and increase neighborliness and good
community feeling. Let the co-operation of the banks of the region be
secured, for the generous financing of pig clubs and corn clubs. * * *

There is one other matter of prime importance to which I invite your
attention. If the live stock industry of Florida is to be put on the
most stable basis and developed with reasonable rapidity, immense sums
of money will be required. Fences must be built; drainage canals and
ditches must be dug; improved and more nourishing grasses must be
introduced over vast areas; other great areas must be planted with
forage crops; silos must be built; plows, harrows and other expensive
implements must be purchased; horses, mules and tractors, herdsmen,
farmers and laborers must be secured and put to work in great numbers; a
multitude of pure-bred bulls and cows, boars and sows, rams and ewes,
stallions, jacks and mares must be imported for