IN AMERICA 



of the future. The young wife met him and to- 

 gether they drove home the little flock! Happy be- 

 ginning it proved to be, though many lessons re- 

 mained to be learned and many discouragements to 

 be fought through, yet the coming of the flock 

 meant the beginning of the upbuilding of the old 

 farm and of the fortunes of its owners. 



IMPORTANCE OF DIPPING. 



When the flock comes home the first duty is to 

 give it a thorough dipping. There are two reasons 

 for this: the one that there may be ticks upon the 

 sheep; the other because of danger from scab 

 germs. Any sheep shipped by rail or penned in 

 stock yards or railway stock pens is liable to be 

 infected with scab germs. One or two scab insects 

 on a sheep may multiply until the entire flock is 

 scabby in a few months and entail great suffering 

 upon the sheep and loss upon the owner. Preven- 

 tion is easy and cheap, though cure after the disease 

 has progressed far is harder. Another reason for 

 dipping is the sheep tick. This is a common pest 

 upon farms and greatly interferes with the thrift 

 of sheep, while it is entirely preventable, and in 

 truth upon the farm of the writer with a thousand 

 sheep there are years when not a single tick is to 

 be found. Sheep ticks so far as we know inhabit 

 no other animal and once rid of them you will re- 

 main rid of them unless you buy infested sheep or 

 carry ticks upon your own clothing or they are 

 brought by shearers. 



