434 THE DISEASES AND DISORDERS OF THE OX. 



The application should be made about once a week at suitable 

 times, by the aid of a large soft brush, along the spine to the 

 root of the tail, and about a foot downwards on each side of 

 the spine. The strong odour keeps all flies off, and it possibly 

 destroys any eggs which may be there already. 



Mr. John Walker recommends this measure, and that whale 

 oil and train oil, and in fact every kind of oil, should be 

 avoided, since the ox is rendered miserable by the smell of 

 these substances, on account of its fine sense of smell, and 

 moreover refrains from licking itself, if they be present. 



A mixture of four ounces of flowers of sulphur, of one gill of 

 spirit of tar, and one quart of train-oil, well-mixed, and similarly 

 applied once a week along each side of the spine, has also been 

 advised, as also has a mixture of spirit of tar, linseed oil, 

 sulphur, and carbolic acid. Sheep salve, or sulphur mixed with 

 an equal part of lard or tar, and Stockholm or green tar, and 

 also washes of strong brine have all been found useful. Five 

 applications should be made in June, and five in July. Sultry 

 days should be selected for the purpose, and on these days the 

 animals should be driven to a shed and dressed, and then kept 

 under shelter until the cool of the evening has set in. 



Dairy-cows could be treated in this way with but little trouble, 

 and those beasts which are to be killed before spring are not in 

 such great need of protection, since the grub, being very young 

 at the time when the animals are slaughtered, will not live to 

 produce further mischief. 



If the grub has been developed, it can be destroyed by 

 plugging up the hole through which it obtains air, and this can 

 be effectually done with mercurial ointment, or with sulphur 

 ointment, or with the ointment of carbolic acid of The 

 Veterinary Pharmacoposia written by ourselves (which is just 

 the same ointment as that of The British Pharmacopoeia). If 

 every hole is filled up in this way, the grubs will die partly from 

 the effects of the ointment, and partly as a result of the lack of 

 power to breathe. 



Further, during the month of April, the veterinary surgeon 

 should examine all the oxen, and cut the tumours, and remove 

 the grubs, and in this same month all foreign beasts imported 

 should be in like manner inspected. If such precautions as 

 these were carried out for three years, and all imported oxen 



