DISEASES OF SWINE 517 



old can be caught and immersed in a barrel. If a large number 

 are to be treated, it is best to have a dipping tank. The tank 

 should be sunk in the ground and contain enough solution to 

 cover the hog when it jumps into it. Crude oil is the cheapest 

 material to use as a dip. The tank is filled with water to the de- 

 sired depth, and one inch of the oil poured on the top of it. The 

 hogs are then driven through, and a thin layer of oil deposited on 

 every part of the animal. (Ind. B. 100.) 



Hogs often suffer very much from vermin. Lice are intro- 

 duced from neighboring herds, and the losses in feeding are often 

 severe, especially among young pigs, when death is sometimes a 

 secondary if not an immediate result. When very numerous, lice 

 are a very serious drain on vitality, fattening is prevented, and in 

 case of exposure to disease the lousy hogs are much more liable to 

 contract and succumb to it. Newly purchased hogs should be care- 

 fully examined for vermin, and they should not be turned out 

 with the herd until they are known to be free from these pests. 



When the herd is found to be badly infested with lice all bed- 

 ding should be burned and loose floors and partitions torn out. 

 Old boards and rubbish should be burned. The quarters should 

 then be thoroughly disinfected by spraying with one of the solu- 

 tions mentioned. After disinfection, as in the case of a disease 

 outbreak, everything about the place, inside and out, should be 

 thoroughly whitewashed. 



Vermin are most common around the ears, inside the legs, 

 and in the folds of the skin on the jowl, sides, and flanks. In light 

 and isolated cases they may be destroyed by washing the hogs with 

 an emulsion of crude petroleum or of kerosene, or with a stock dip 

 properly diluted, applied by means of a broom. In severe cases, 

 however, especially where the whole herd is affected, thorough 

 spraying or dipping should be resorted to. In this case a dipping 

 tank will be a great convenience. (F. B. 205.) 



If the pigs are lousy when weaned, dip them twice, ten days 

 apart. Put up short posts in the feed lot and pastures. Wrap 

 these posts witn old sacks, and once a week saturate the sacks with 

 crude oil or kerosene. The pigs will rub on these and the oil will 

 kill the lice. (Colo. Cir. 2.) 



For lice in winter use kerosene squirted with a small can 

 along the back and behind the ears. If used in hot weather keep 

 hogs out of sun to prevent blistering. It is better in summer to 

 dip the herd every month. A running stream is good for hogs, but 

 filthy mud holes are not. (Mo. Cir. 28.) 



It has been known to the intelligent hog breeder that the 

 presence of insects on the hog is a very serious matter. It is a fact 

 that very few hogs are free from lice, and that breeders have been 

 accustomed to use various remedies for the destruction of the pest. 

 The favorite seats of lice on the hog are back of the ears, along 

 the neck and under the breast. These vermin are 'bloodsuckers, 

 and they produce in a short time a very weak, debilitated condi- 

 tion of the animal, making him far more susceptible to other dis- 



