306 ARID AGRICULTURE. 



tice to cut off the tails of lambs when they are a 

 few weeks old. 



THE WAY TO The lamb is caught and thrown upon its back. 



The attendant sits across its neck, grasping the 

 hind legs of the lamb and holding them far for- 

 ward, while the operator grasps the tail about 

 three inches from the body with his left hand, 

 pushes the skin up on the tail, and with one 

 downward sweep of the knife cuts off the tail at 

 the joint. Now, if the operator is not on his 

 guard, the blood from the severed artery will 

 spurt into his face. One of the difficulties of the 

 operation has been the excessive bleeding which 

 follows. Various methods have been adopted to 

 check this loss of blood, such as burning the stub 

 of the tail with a hot iron, the use of caustic, 

 tying the end of the tail with a string or cloth, 

 ete. 



Here is a suggestion which, if adopted, will 

 make this matter of hemorrhage a thing of least 

 importance. Go into the drug store, or to a 

 physician, or send away to some instrument 

 house and get some artery forceps, which will 

 cost a dollar or two. Having these little forceps 

 at hand when the tail has been cut off, you sim- 

 ply grasp the bleeding artery that protrudes and 

 can always be caught at the first attempt. Close 

 your forceps on the artery, twist the instrument 

 once and a half around, remove the forceps, and 

 the bleeding has stopped. 



