518 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Suggestion as to danger — The arsenical formulas given above are 

 copied from the writings of men who have had wide experience in dip- 

 ping, but this department assumes no responsibility for the efficacy of 

 the dips given or for their correct proportions. Furthermore, as long 

 as efficacious nonpoisonous dips are to be had there is no necessity for 

 running the risks attendant upon the use of poisonous dips. 



CARBOLIC DIPS. 



A carbolic acid dip may be made at home or may be purchased as a 

 proprietary article. This class of dips kills the scab mites very quickly, 

 but unfortunately the wash soon leaves the sheep, which is consequently 

 not protected from reinfection in the pastures. If, therefore, a car- 

 bolic dip is selected, it is well to add flowers of sulphur (1 pound to 

 every 6 gallons) as a protection against reinfection. 



The advantages of carbolic dips are that they act more rapidly than 

 the tobacco or sulphur dips and that the prepared carbolic dips are very 

 easily mixed in the bath. They also seem, according to Gillette, to have 

 a greater effect on the eggs of the parasites than either the sulphur or the 

 tobacco dips. The great disadvantages of this class of dips are, first, in 

 some of the proprietary dips, that the farmer is uncertain regarding 

 the strength of material he is using; second, the sheep receive a greater 

 setback than they do with either lime and sulphur or tobacco. 



Gillette reports most excellent results from the use of a certain pre- 

 pared carbolic dip. The department purchased the same dip upon the 

 open market and tested its effects upon the sheep in the proportion recom- 

 mended by the manufacturer on the label of the package and also in one- 

 half and one-third that strength. In the first and second tests the dip 

 was severe both on the sheep and on the operators. In one case it 

 caused a considerable, though temporary, eruption on the hands and arms 

 of an operator. In all three cases the dipped sheep were almost over- 

 come in the dipping tank and upon recovering themselves ran around 

 the field in an excited manner, bleating loudly and shaking their heads 

 and tails. The eyes were more congested than the writers have ever 

 seen them to be after a lime and sulphur or a tobacco dip. 



An objction to some of the proprietary carbolic dips is that the manu- 

 facturers themselves aparently are little acquainted with their own 

 mixtures. Their claims are extravagant and their directions often con- 

 tradictory. It may be admitted that the carbolic dips are promising and 

 that they may have a brilliant future, but they have not had a very 

 brilliant past and this department is inclined to be extremely conserva- 

 tive in regard to them ih a guaranteed strength with more explicit direc- 

 tions for use than are to be found in the present circulars. The dip 

 just referred to was certainly more severe in its effects on the sheep than 

 can be justified by its quick action in killing the scab parasites, consid- 

 ering that other equally effective but milder solutions are to be had. 



It was also found in the tests (which are not yet fully completed) 

 that the sheep gained less in weight when dipped in certain two of these 

 washes than when dipped in lime and sulphur or in sulphur and to- 

 bacco, or in tobacco. 



