Ch. XXXIX.] ON SHEEP SALVING. 475 



not only weighs heavier, but it also feels more softly towards the bottom 

 of the pile. He should also be very careful ; for if, by any mismanagement 

 of the shears, he cuts the skin, the flies will immediately attack the spot for 

 the purpose of depositing their larvae, and, if not prevented, or afterwards 

 remedied by the watchful attention of the shepherd, they will infect the whole 

 carcass with maggots, whicli if they do not eventually destroy the animal, 

 will render it so restless as to prevent its thriving. Tiie effects of the acci- 

 dent, however, if it occurs, may be guarded against by smearing the cut with 

 a little turpentine, or any healing kind of salve. 



The flock should therefore be carefully examined repeatedly after shear- 

 ing, and if the flies have deposited any of their eggs, the tumours should 

 be opened and rubbed with mercurial ointment, the smallest portion of 

 wliich is fatal to the insect. The following unguent is, indeed, recom- 

 mended in the Shepherd's Manual, to be rubbed on every part of the animal 

 with a currying brush, in order to kill the lice and ticks, with which it is 

 commonly infested ; namely — 



Train oil, 4 gallons; oil of tar, J do.; oil of turpentine, 1 pint. 



Tobacco juice has been attended with a similar effect. Another mode 

 is also sometimes adopted with lambs for the same purpose. A pound of 

 arsenic is dissolved in boiling soap-suds, and then poured into a tub with 

 a large quantity of warm water. In this solution, which is sufficient for 

 about twenty lambs, they are immersed singly, and then dried as well as 

 possible by squeezing the wool by hand. One dipping destroys the lice, 

 and preserves the animals during the summer from the fly and maggots ; 

 but care should be taken not to dip them over-head, lest they should 

 swallow the water*. This latter mode is the most eft'ectual ; but it is wholly 

 unnecessary to dip any of the sheep which have been shorn, and, therefore, 

 the lambs only are dipped. There is no shelter for the ticks on the sheep 

 which have been shorn, and if they are killed in the lambs, by this process 

 of dipping, immediately after the ewes have been cleared from them by the 

 shearing, the flock will be secured from their annoyance during the whole 

 succeeding year. 



The smearing of sheep with oil, tar, butter, and other ingredients, is a 

 practice much followed towards the close of autumn, with regard to flocks 

 in the Highlands of Scotland ; it being generally considered necessary by 

 the store-farmers of that country, both for the purpose of protecting the 

 animals from cold, remedying the scab, improving the growth of the wool, 

 and destroying the vermin which may be lodged in the fleece. The latter is, 

 however, thought by many persons to be its chief, if not its only, use. They, 

 indeed, admit that it prevents the wool of very old ewes from growing 

 coarse and hairy, but insist that it is rather injurious than otherwise to the 

 animal to open its wool at the commencement of the winter season, when 

 it needs all the warmth of its natural clothing ; and the application of 

 salve occasions a chill throughout the frame, which is not recovered for 

 ten days or a fortnight, or until the growth of the fleece has, in some 

 measure, removed it from immediate contact with the skin f. 



This effect of the salve during a few days, may, perhaps, be correct ; 

 but, although alluding to it, out of respect to the authority on which it is 



* Leicestershire Report, p. 275. 



■\ Harkness, on the Smearing of Sheep, Prize Essays of the Highland Society : 

 N. S., vol. iv. p. 129. 



