836 THE AMERICAN FARMER. 



Give, as soon as possible, an ounce of epsom salts, dissolved with warm water, mixed with 

 an even tablespoonful of ginger (in powder), and a teaspoonful of the essence of peppermint. 

 A dose of the salts alone will often effect a cure; so will also a good dose of castor or linseed 

 oil, or even melted lard; but the first prescription recommended is to be preferred. For a 

 half-grown lamb one-half this dose will be sufficient. 



Diarrhea. This is frequently induced by taking cold, or by the general derangement 

 of the digestive organs, caused by improper food. It is also frequently caused by a sudden 

 change of food, such as from dry hay and grain to grass. Sometimes a change to dry food for 

 a time, followed by a gradual change to grass, will remedy the evil. Lambs are more liable to 

 this trouble than sheep, and it more frequently proves fatal with them than with the latter. 



For lambs, especially if mucus is passed with the evacuations, a gentle cathartic is 

 advised, such as a half drachm of rhubarb, or an ounce of linseed or castor oil, or a half 

 ounce of epsom salts, either of which are good for the purpose. After the physic has taken 

 effect, follow it immediately with one-fourth of an ounce of prepared chalk in half a pint of 

 warm milk. This will usually effect a cure, but if it does not, repeat it once a day for two 

 or three days. 



Some sheep-owners use a little ginger or essence of peppermint mixed with the chalk 

 preparation; a half teaspoonful of each would be sufficient for a half -grown lamb. 



Dysentery. This disease differs from diarrhea, as it is accompanied with fever, and 

 the evacuations are bloody and offensive; there is also loss of appetite. We would recom 

 mend first, a couple of doses of the linseed or castor oil (of one ounce each), the one to be 

 taken at morning, the other at night, which in a few hours will be followed by one-half an 

 ounce of prepared chalk in a half pint of warm milk, adding from twenty to thirty drops of 

 laudanum, and the same of Jamaica ginger, or a teaspoonful of ginger in powder. If 

 checked too suddenly, a fever or inflammation of the bowels will be the result. One-half of 

 the above will be an ample dose for a half -grown lamb; if younger, the dose should be pro 

 portioned accordingly. 



Garget. This usually occurs from the ewe either losing her lamb, or when the udder 

 has not been properly relieved of milk by the lamb. Whenever there is a tendency to 

 inflammation of the udder from loss of lamb, the ewe may be suckled by another lamb, or 

 milked a few times, never taking quite all of the milk, and increasing the intervals between 

 milking. The udder will usually, with this treatment, become soft in a few days. A few 

 doses of saltpetre of about twenty grains each will assist by exciting the action of the 

 kidneys. 



Bathing the udder in cold water is also a good remedy when much soreness and inflam 

 mation exists. If there are any feverish symptoms, a dose of epsom salts (one ounce) will 

 generally give relief. 



Grub in the Head. The bot fly of the sheep does not deposit its eggs in the locality 

 of the animal chosen by the bot fly of the horse or ox for this purpose; the bot of the horse 

 being usually found in his stomach; that of the ox beneath the skin on the back and 

 quarters. 



The bot-fly of the sheep ( Oestrus ovis), sometimes called the gad-fly, lays her eggs about 

 the nasal opening, and the larvae or young at once make their way up the nostril and finally 

 reach the cranial sinuses, where they attach themselves by means of two little hooks growing 

 out of their heads; they remain in this manner until they become full-grown larvae, when 

 they again make a passage by way of the nostrils, down from the head, and penetrate the loose 

 eoil, if they chance to drop upon the ground where the soil is sufficiently porous to admit 

 them. They remain in the ground, going through a series of changes similar to the bot of the 

 horse or ox, and after a few weeks emerge from the ground a young bot-fly. It can readily 



