68 



THE COMMON SHEEP-SCAB. 



prise can be a success unless proper pains are taken to make 

 it such. Herding together large numbers of sheep belong- 

 ing to a number of farmers has the very dangerous tendency 

 to rapidly spread any disease which by separating the large 

 flocks into smaller ones would not occur. If, for instance, 

 one farmer is careless and allows the scab to enter his flock, 

 his animals, grazing together with others w^ell taken care of, 

 will soon spread this disease, and thus force all his neighbors 

 to go to a heavy expense to exterminate it. Concerted ac- 



Fig. 38. -Scab-mite o sheep, male; 

 a, head; b, b, legs; c, c, suckers. 

 Geatly enlarged. After Curtice. 



Fig. 39. —Scab-mite of sheep, 

 female. Greatly enlarged. After 

 Curtice. 



tion is absolutely necessary to prevent this disease from en- 

 tering any region, or to stamp it out if once found among 

 the sheep. Most countries have stringent laws, well en- 

 forced, to prevent the introduction of sheep that are not per- 

 fectly healthy. We have as yet no such laws and therefore 

 it behooves each farmer so much more to be on his guard. 

 "An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure" is 

 an old truth, and exceedingly well apphable to sheep hus- 

 bandry. 



Of the three distinct species of scab-mites found upon 

 sheep the above one is the worst and the losses caused by 

 it are very great in some of our western states, and as the 

 pest has found a lodgment in several parts of our own state, 



