46 THE SHEPHERD'S MANUAL. 



notwithstanding all possible care, some weakly lambs are found 

 to require treatment, the simple purgatives already mentioned in 

 this chapter, viz : a teaspoonful of castor or raw linseed oil will be 

 found effective, after two or three doses, in removing the trouble- 

 some matter from their intestines, and restoring the bowels to 

 healthful action. If in any case, a stimulant seems to be needed, 

 as when great weakness and prostration are present, the safest is a 

 teaspoonful of gin, given in a little warm water with sugar. A 

 still more gentle stimulant and anodyne, but one very effective in 

 prolonged diarrhea, is prepared by adding to a pint of peppermint 

 water, one ounce of prepared chalk, a teaspoonful each of tinc- 

 ture of opium and of tincture of rhubarb ; it is worthy of the 

 name given to it by shepherds, viz : " lambs cordial," and at the 

 lambing season no shepherd should be without a supply of it. 

 The dose is a teaspoonful for a lamb of a few days old, up to a 

 tablespoonful for one of a month. Exposure to cold rains should 

 be specially guarded against, and if by inadvertence a lamb is found 

 chilled and rigid from such exposure, it may generally be restored 

 by means of a bath of warm water and a teaspoonful of warm sweet- 

 ened gin and water. After the bath the lamb should be gently 

 dried, wrapped in a warm flannel, and placed near a fire or in a 

 wooden box in a gently heated oven of a common stove. Where 

 the flock is large, and the kitchen is not within reach, the shepherd 

 should have the conveniences of a shed and an old cooking-stove 

 in which he can keep a fire sufficient to heat a water bath, and pro- 

 vide a warm bed in the oven for any lamb that may need such 

 attention ; if the flock numbers several hundred head in all, 

 there will seldom be a day in our changeable spring seasons when 

 there will not be one or more patients to be treated. The specific 

 diseases to which lambs are subject will be found treated of at 

 large in Chapter VII. 



As the season progresses, and shearing time for the ewes has 

 passed, the lambs will be found covered with ticks, unless care has 

 been exercised to free the flock from this tormenting pest. These 

 ticks are wingless, broad, plump, dark red insects, about a quarter 

 of an inch in length, and covered with a very tough and leathery 

 integument. They are known scientifically as Melophagus ovinus, 

 and produce a puparium which is nearly round in shape, red in 

 color, and as large as a radish seed or duck shot. The legs of the 

 tick are short and stout, and it adheres with great tenacity to the 

 wool. By means of a proboscis as long as its head, it pierces the 

 skin and sucks the blood of its victim to such an excess that when 

 numerous, they have been known to almost entirely empty the 



