The Common Farm Operations. 193 



who half kneeling on the near side places his left arm in 

 front of the sheep's breast, his right hand. at the same 

 time passed under the belly grasp the off leg just above 

 the hock, pulling steadily with his right hand the sheep 

 is placed on its rump, on which it is revolved, the shep- 

 herd rising to take the position at the animal's back, its 

 head between his knees. Lambs are held in a similar 

 position to that described for small pigs, for such opera- 

 tions as docking, castrating, etc. 



There are certain operations that the stockman is fre- 

 quently called upon to do; simple though they are cer- 

 tain precautions are necessary to ensure the greatest 

 amount of success, the animals usually affected are not 

 of sufficient value to justify the expense of a veterinary 

 surgeon. The principles governing the healing of wounds 

 should be understood, with the changes that go on in a 

 part during repair; such an understanding will prevent 

 the injudicious use of drugs such as caustics, irritants, 

 etc., and will impress on the stockman that no materials 

 he may apply will heal a wound, but that Nature heals, 

 and that his treatment or that of the surgeon is only in 

 the nature of assistance. Once that fact is thoroughly 

 appreciated, wounds can be scientifically and therefore 

 successfully treated. The inflammatory process has been 

 described; following that he will often find that pus 

 (matter) is present in wounds, the bacteriologist will 

 tell him that pus is the result of germs that have 

 obtained entrance to the wound, and when one remem- 

 bers that pus is made up of dead cells, destroyed by those 

 germs, the methods of wound treatment are simplified 



and the stockman has also mastered the principles of 

 13 



