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sheep, and preventing their return for some months after each dip, even in an 
infected range ; healing and cleansing to the animal; harmless to the operator ; 
increasing the growth of wool, rendering it at the same time soft and without 
discoloration. 
“ Much more was claimed for this acid which would need confirmation by ex- 
periment here. Cresylic or carbolic soaps are made of various qualities, for 
different uses. The coarsest is this sheep-dip, being made of crude or undeodor- 
ized acid, and is used upon dogs in the kennels and elsewhere, driving off and 
preventing fleas, curing mange, &c., to prevent ticks on cattle, horses, &. A 
hard brown soap in bars, partially deodorized, is required to be used in hospitals, 
infirmaries, jails, barracks, on ship-board, &c. ; being, at the same time, a pow- 
erful disinfectant. A better quality is coming into general use in families for 
washing clothes, bedding, &c. It is asserted that neither fleas, bed-bugs, nor any 
other vermin will touch clothing so washed ; and more wonderful still, that mos- 
quitoes will not touch face or hands washed with the cresylic hand-soap before 
going to bed. The acid is found to be a complete preventive to the destruction 
of all wooden structures in the East Indies by the white ant, and is also said to 
be the basis or active principle in all the preparations offered for preventing the 
fouling of the bottoms of iron ships. The British government requires the free 
use of McDougall’s disinfecting powder on board of all emigrant and troop ships, 
in barracks, &c. Altogether, it would appear that science has discovered in this 
acid a great boon to man, and especially to the agriculturist in the country. 
“'To us, in Texas, it will prove of great value. ‘The greatest trouble, and al- 
most the only one which the energetic and systematic stock-breeder here has to 
contend with, is what we know as the screw-worm, the maggots of a large gray 
fly, which are deposited instantly upon a fresh wound, or even a drop of blood 
following a mosquito or fly-bite. The maggots quietly penetrate the skin and 
eat rapidly into the flesh. Horses and sheep, if not attended to at once, suffer 
terribly ; cattle are more easily cured, and swine cure themselves by wallowing 
in the mud. Calomel, put in the orifice, is the most common remedy. Chero- 
kee liniment is also used.largely. But both are costly, and the latter is severe 
in its effects. From what I have seen of its application in like cases, I shall 
use the cresilic sheep-dip as a sure and cheap remedy. I learn that the value 
of this acid had been discovered by chemists in the United States, and a com- 
pany has been formed in New York for the manufacture of soaps, sheep-dip, 
&c. If so, it is important that the fact should be made public and thus save the 
trouble and cost of importation. The sheep-dip, as used in Europe, is a black 
and stiff soft soap, put up in tin cans, kegs, barrels, &c. ; smells strongly of coal 
tar; is dissolved in soft water until about the consistency of rich milk, into 
which the sheep are dipped immediately after shearing, and again in the fall. 
Ten pounds of the composition, costing five shillings, are sufficient for fifty sheep ; 
that is, the large, heavily fleeced English sheep. Each animal is kept in the 
bath a full minute, and where scab is present, some of the dip is rubbed well 
into the infected spots. 
‘‘Sheep-dipping is largely followed as a business. A light wagon to carrya 
barrel of the composition, with a nest of three or four oblong tubs of galvanized 
sheet iron, is all the stock in trade. These dippers, buying the article*in bulk, 
get a liberal discount; and charging about twopence a head, make a good 
business of it at five shillings for enough to dip fifty sheep ; the cost is about two 
and a half cents, coin, per head. Wages, &c., being higher here, the charge 
would be somewhat more. 
“Every flock-master with whom I conversed claimed that the increased 
growth of wool was greater than the cost of dipping. As the obnoxious effect 
to insects continues for months, the animals are not again infected even though 
the causes might still exist in the range or upon an occasional sheep.” 
