358 SCAB IN SHEEP. 



ingredients they are composed of, and many practical stock- 

 owners consider they weaken the constitution ; other stuffs can, 

 however, be obtained free of poison, and equally as good for 

 destroying vermin. Mr Gardner, Traquair Knowe, has been in the 

 habit for many years of bathing his sheep annually with a 

 mixture of rough turpentine and butter, and has found it more 

 effectual in destroying the vermin than any of the common dip- 

 ping mixtures in use, and being of an adhesive nature, it mats 

 the wool together, which tends to keep the animal warm, and has 

 no injurious effect whatever, but, on the contrary, it promotes the 

 growth and quality of the wool. In proof of this, Mr Gardner 

 has been in the habit for some years of sending his wool to the 

 Leith sales, and for three years it brought the highest price for 

 white Cheviot wool. 



Although it is a point generally conceded by practical stock- 

 owners that scab will not break out spontaneously in sheep if 

 properly managed, still it is equally as clear that scab abounds 

 in certain districts. Thus an important question arises, How is 

 it to be prevented from spreading ? for whilst no law exists to 

 compel negligent stock-farmers to clean their sheep, it is clear 

 that the most careful and cautious run great risk of their stock 

 catching the disease, especially those that buy largely at market. 

 So much is this the case, that I am informed by a large stock- 

 farmer and dealer of thirty years' experience, who is in the habit 

 of buying annually at Falkirk, that for many years scab always 

 broke out amongst some of the lots he purchased after they were 

 brought home, and even spread amongst his home-bred stock by 

 coming in contact with each other. To prevent this evil, he has 

 been in the habit in latter years of pouring every sheep he pur- 

 chased at Falkirk with the spirit of tar immediately on their 

 arrival home, and every sheep that shows the least symptom of 

 disease is kept apart and receives a second dressing. Thus, 

 although a great deal of trouble and expense is incurred, it is the 

 only sure preventative for the disease spreading. Although this is 

 a successful preventative in bought-in stock, a more difficult point 

 presents itself; for example, scab is allowed to prevail amongst 

 a flock of sheep in some of the pastoral districts where there are 

 no march fences, and where the flocks on various farms are daily 

 intermixing, In such cases it is a matter of impossibility to pre- 

 vent scab from spreading, and the only remedy is to get a law to 

 compel the owner of the diseased sheep to get them cured, or to 

 keep them apart from neighbouring healthy stocks under a severe 

 penalty. If some stock-farmers are so careless and negligent 

 as to allow their stocks to be overrun with scab, there is no reason 

 they should be allowed to bring trouble and expense on their 

 neighbours ; and until some stringent law of this nature is passed 

 scab will never be totally eradicated from amongst our sheep. 



