PREVENTION AND TREATMENT OF SCABIES. U5 



absence, it is quite possible to insist on the effectual washing 

 and purification of cattle and sheep trucks, and even of other 

 means of conveyance, such as the steamers which trade be- 

 tween Ireland and Britain, or between Britain and the Dutch 

 or Danish ports. 



I have on several occasions shown that it was impossible 

 to prevent any widespread malady, by adopting means such 

 as inoculation to render the animals insusceptible of taking 

 the malady. To prevent scab, farmers have only adopted the 

 plan of smearing their sheep. The practice is a useful one, 

 and year after year farmers acquire some additional informa- 

 tion which tends to prove the necessity for the protection of 

 their flocks by destroying the many parasites which infest 

 the fleeces, and preserving them from wind and rain, sleet 

 and snow, by means of applications which render the woolly 

 covering somewhat impermeable to air and water. In our 

 northern counties nature modifies the fleece. It is firm and 

 kempy. It is coarse and harsh, and contrasts strongly with 

 the delicate wools of warmer latitudes. By cross-breeding, 

 sheep bearing fine fleeces are distributed widely ; but losses 

 are sustained unless special attention is paid to make up for 

 the wants of these animals in trying climates. Unfortunately 

 this department of husbandry has not been studied sufficiently 

 by men of science. Valuable items of experience lie scattered 

 without applying them to the profit of the flock-master, and 

 at no time has there been a greater necessity than at the 

 present for properly-conducted investigations on the subject. 



Few persons are so situated as to be enabled to compare 

 results, and we have had occasion from time to time to con- 

 duct experiments, and note the effects of a number of 

 materials used for smearing, pouring, or dipping sheep. 

 All substances used contain active principles which are 

 intended to destroy the vermin which live and breed on the 



