56 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Jan., 



\-ou want on your farm then go into the market and buy lambs. 

 If you find a man that has saved his best ewe lambs and wants 

 to sell them, of course, that is the best thing. The probability' 

 is, if that man knows his business, you will not be able to get 

 them. But if you find a fellow that is poor and has perhaps 

 got to sell, buy them so as to have a stock to start with. Xow 

 the next thing, of course, is to maintain them. That is one of 

 the main points. They must be properly taken care of, and, 

 as a part of that, diseases and troubles incident to sheep must- 

 be taken care of. Of course, for ticks and lice, vermin of that 

 kind, that can be met by dipping. Every successful man will 

 do it regularly. He will make it his business to dip his lambs 

 and dip his sheep in the spring of the year as regularly as he 

 will make it his business to spray his potato \"ines. Then he is 

 sure that there is no unseen foe that he can discover, except 

 what I am going to speak about in a moment, to interfere with 

 the flock. The best time to kill off lice and ticks is right away 

 after shearing. That should be done along late in the spring. 

 If you shear as we do in Xew York, it w^ll be usually about 

 May. Some wait until along into June, but quite rarely. 

 Usualh- from the latter part of April to the first of May is the 

 best time. There is no better time in the world to get rid of 

 lice and sheep ticks than there and then. A sheep has a long 

 fleece and a lamb has a little short fleece, and I believe by far 

 the greater part of such things can be gotten rid of by the right 

 kind of treatment at that time. I have experiniented upon it, 

 and I believe almost ever}' one of them can be gotten rid of. 

 There are a number of good sheep dips advertised on the mar- 

 ket. The carbolic sheep dips are good because they are non- 

 poisonous. They are non-poisonous to the sheep but they 

 are poisonous to all such insects. Some of the other dips, 

 such as arsenical dips, have got to be handled with care. 

 They will easily kill a sheep. They will kill sheep tick, 

 but they have got to be handled with care. Any one that 

 has had experience knows that it is impossible to dip a 

 sheep without getting his head under some of the^time. 

 In the straggle the sheep will go under, and if it swallows 

 any of the arsenical dip or gets it in its mouth it will be 

 apt to make the sheep sick even if it does not kill it. Now 

 wh}' is it there can be dips used which are poisonous to 

 the sheep tick and not to the "sheep? The cold tar or carbolic 



