State Agricultural Society. 565 



Some advocate rubbing or scarifying the parts with a currycomb until they 

 bleed. This looks cruel, but I would do it if I had any doubt that the 

 liquid was thoroughly penetrating every part of the wool clear to the 

 skin. 1 found it convenient to use an ordinary mechanical oil can tilled 

 with coal oil. With this the oil can be squirted into sued) places, and 

 then a slight kneading or rubbing in with the fingers will cause it to 

 penetrate all parts. And, in tact, for "spotting" sheep, coal oil, if not 

 considered too expensive, is one of the very best applications that can 

 be used in cases of scab. 



From this account of the process it will be seen that "spotting" is at 

 best only a halfway plan for doing the work. I have seen open-wooled 

 sheep do quite well when treated by this method; still, one is always in 

 doubt as to its thoroughness. When scab has once appeared, it is better 

 to "dip" the sheep each Spring, continuing it for a season or two after 

 the infection appears to have been eradicated from the flock and from 

 the range. Hence it is best to prepare at once for dipping, just as one 

 prepares shearing pens, etc.; for the new hand wants to bear in mind 

 that, no matter how " lucky " some of his older neighbors may appear 

 to be in keeping down scab in their flocks (which, perhaps, are of com- 

 mon and open wool sheep), still, as the new flock goes on improving 

 each year, and particularly of breeding up in either of the merino vari- 

 eties, the owner is liable to become disgusted at times with the imperfect 

 success of his efforts to keep down scab by "spotting." 



DIPPING. 



"Dipping" sheep, as the term would imply, consists in submerging 

 the whole animal in the liquid or " wash " used for the scab. For this 

 purpose a trough or box of appropriate size is required to contain the 

 liquid. After being dipped, the sheep is to be taken out and placed on a 

 shelf or platform near at hand, set at such an inclination that the liquid, 

 as it drains off the animal, shall flow back into the dipping trough. 



Where a large flock is to be dipped, a platform or pen is usually ar- 

 ranged large enough to accommodate fifty to one hundred sheep at a 

 time., the floor so inclined that the liquid which drains off them shall 

 flow back into the dipping trough. The trough is also so arranged that 

 the sheep may be driven through it, thus obviating the necessity of 

 catching and holding each animal. Each shepherd has, of course, his 

 own ideas of a pen and dipping trough, and 1 shall give my own for 

 what they may be worth. 



TROUGH AND DRAINWAY. 



Construct of two inch plank a tough twenty feet long, four feet deep, 

 and sixteen inches wide, with the floor at each end so inclined that a 

 sheep can walk into it and out again. This is to be sunk in the ground, 

 its top level with the surface. At the end where the sheep are to come 

 out, build a long lane rising as an inclined plane — sa y fourteen inches 

 wide. The floor of this is to be of twodnch plank, and before laying it 

 run a carpenter's plow, or grooving plane, along each edge of the sur- 

 face that is to be uppermost, and on which the sheep are to walk. Lay 

 the first plank with the depressed end projecting enough into the dipping- 

 tough to let the liquid falling on it flow back into the trough, and let it 

 be inclined, rising from the trough at the rate of say one foot to the rod. 

 Lay the next plank in the same manner, " end on " to the first, and lap- 



