2l8 



SHEEP— DISEASES AND REMEDIES. 



may be enough for a lamb. A light sec- 

 ond application is sometimes necessary. 



One pound of sulphur gradually mixed 

 with half a pound of oil of tar, the mix- 

 ture rubbed down with two pounds of 

 lard, may be applied in the same way. 

 Some would prefer this, because not poi- 

 sonous, if sure to be effectual. 



Another mixture contains half a pound 

 of corrosive sublimate, three-fourths 

 pound of white hellebore, six gallons 

 whale oil, two pounds rosin, and two of 

 tallow. This is powerful, and should be 

 sparingly applied. Tobacco decoctions 

 are much used in this country and quite 

 effectually, if thoroughly applied after the 

 wool is taken off. 



A correspondent in New York, who 

 did not succeed with the tobacco wash, 

 effects cures with a mixture (well rubbed 

 in) of one ounce subcarbonate of potash, 

 two ounces lac sulphur, one ounce oil of 

 tar, and one pint of whale oil. 



Chancellor Livingston found the fol- 

 lowing a specific : A decoction of tobac- 

 co, one-third as much lye of wood ashes, 

 with as much lard as the lye would dis- 

 solve, a small quantity of tar, with one- 

 eighth of the whole by measure of the 

 spirits of turpentine, applied, after rub- 

 bing hard with a shoe-brush to break 

 down the scabs, by rubbing the parts 

 affected, two or three times, at intervals 

 of three days. 



Another Remedy. — From that emi- 

 nent agriculturist, Mr. George Geddes, to 

 the New York Tribune, is so full and 

 complete that we copy it entire: 



M. Walz, a German, was the first to 

 establish the true character of the dis- 

 ease; a minute insect (acarus) does the 

 mischief. If by any means one of these 

 insects is put upon the fibre of the wool 

 of a living sheep it at once travels to the 

 skin and burrows within it, where it re- 

 mains until about the tenth or twelfth 

 day, when a little swelling commences, 

 and by the sixteenth day a pustule breaks 

 and liberates the insect, and if it is a fe- 

 male, she comes forth with her young 

 that have hatched in the skin of the unfor- 

 tunate sheep. These at once spread them- 

 selves over the skin and bury themselves 

 and propagate their kind, and, unless in- 

 terfered with by man, go on in their work 

 until the animal is covered with sores, 

 which so torture it that it constantly rubs 



itself against posts or any convenient 

 thing, and scratches itself by using its 

 feet, or tears its flesh off by its teeth, and 

 finally dies in misery. 



There is an old and true saying : "One 

 scabby sheep will spoil a whole floc>;." 

 The disease once introduced spreads rap- 

 idly, for every post or other projecting 

 object in the field or shed or yard to 

 which the diseased animal may be con- 

 fined has very soon enough of these acati 

 to attach themselves to the wool of every 

 sound sheep that may happen to touch 

 these objects or lie down on ground that 

 has before been occupied by diseased 

 sheep. M. Walz found that while the 

 very young insects died by being long 

 kept in a dry place, the old and mature 

 ones would live when so exposed through 

 a whole winter. 



The two remedies most used by farm- 

 ers to destroy insects on their domestic 

 animals are spirits of turpentine and the 

 juice of tobacco. These two substances 

 combined and properly applied will kill 

 the acari certainly, as has been repeat- 

 edly proven by owners of large flocks 

 that had become severely afflicted with 

 scab. A letter before us from Wyoming 

 Territory says that the signers thereot 

 had a flock of 1,200 sheep that was pur- 

 chased a year and more ago, and soon 

 after purchase symptoms of scab appear- 

 ed. Six hundred pounds of damaged un- 

 manufactured Wisconsin-grown tobacco 

 was purchased, and the sheep dipped in 

 the juice soon after shearing, without 

 good result, "for our sheep are troubled 

 worse with the disease now than a year 

 ago." This is a hard case, and the cure 

 a big job, but it is practicable. To show 

 that it is possible, we will give the history 

 of a case, all the facts of which I have 

 taken some pains to learn : Fifteen years 

 ago Major Davis Cossitt, of Onondaga 

 Hill, New York, well known as a wool- 

 grower and sheep-breeder, allowed a pass- 

 ing drove of sheep to be confined in his 

 yards during one night, having no suspi- 

 cion of danger from disease. The follow- 

 ing winter his own sheep, to the number 

 of six hundred, were kept in these yards 

 that the drove had for but one /light oc- 

 cupied several months before. Sickness 

 kept the owner confined to his house 

 during the early part of the winter, 

 and when at last he was able to visit his 



