LIBRARIES, FARMERS'. 



LICHENS. 



The liber is the principal seat of lactiferous 

 vessels. 



LIBRARIES, FARMERS'. Collections of 

 books on agricultural and horticultural sub- 

 jects are now becoming very general through 

 out the country, through the instrumentality of 

 farmers' clubs. They cannot fail of being 

 eminently useful to the cause of agriculture 

 by diffusing among the cultivators of the soil 

 the latest discoveries and improvements in 

 husbandry, as well as the different opinions 

 and theories entertained on matters having re- 

 ference to agriculture and its collateral science 

 of chemistry, botany, natural history, geology, 

 meteorology, and vegetable physiology, &c 



LICE ON ANIMALS. There is not an 

 animal that does not, under suitable circum- 

 stances, nourish in its hair, wool, feathers, or 

 its skin, some kind of louse ; and sometimes 

 more than one kind of these parasites lodge 

 and prey on the same animal. In ordinary 

 cases, they do not produce much mischief, but 

 when they increase so much as to produce the 

 disease called mange (Pityriasis'), they become 

 truly formidable. The cause of animals being 

 troubled with lice, may usually be traced to a 

 want of cleanliness. When the dust and sweat 

 accumulated on the hair, and in contact with 

 the skin of the ox or horse, are allowed to re- 

 main undisturbed by the comb or brush; when 

 the stables are kept filthy, unventilated, and 

 unwholesome ; when animals, reduced in au- 

 tumn by want of pasture, or by living in un- 

 healthy ones, are suffered to take their chance 

 for the winter without extra care or attention ; 

 or when a beast loaded with pediculi is turned 

 into the yards or the stables of those exempt 

 from these parasites, it may be expected that 

 they will multiply and infest animals. When 

 we see horses rubbing their tails, biting their 

 manes, and showing other signs of uneasiness 

 and irritation ; when cattle are observed to be 

 rubbing their heads against posts or fences, and 

 the hair coming off from the head and neck ; 

 or when sheep tear out tufts of wool with their 

 teeth, and bite these places till blood appears, 

 we may expect that lice are present. On most 

 animals, these parasites have some favourite 

 place of resort ; on horses, the mane and tail ; 

 on horned cattle, around the nose, base of the 

 horns, and the neck ; on sheep, they run over 

 every part ; and on swine, they do not seem to 

 be confined to any particular location. 



Pure air, room for exercise, plenty of food, 

 and above all, cleanliness, are the first things 

 to be attended to in the cure of this evil. Cur- 

 rying, brushing, and washing should be resorted 

 to, as, except in bad cases, this treatment will 

 be usually sufficient to free the animal from 

 these insects, without recourse to other reme- 

 dies. Where these fail, it will be necessary to 

 have recourse to such external or internal 

 applications as shall operate directly on the 

 vermin. 



One of the most common remedies is the 

 mercurial ointment, commonly called ungven- 

 tum; but this, though effectual, cannot be used 

 without some danger, as numerous instances 

 have occurred in which valuable animals 



have been destroyed by its too free use. Care ! Iceland moss, when deprived of its bitterness 

 should be taken to prevent the animal from 1 by soaking in an alkali and then boiling, be- 



3O 709 



biting itself where the ointment is applied, un- 

 til it has had time to take effect A decoction, 

 of tobacco leaves, in a strong lye, forms a very 

 good wash; but this, too, owing to the narcotic 

 poison of the tobacco, has caused death. Va- 

 rious vegetable remedies have been resorted 

 to, among which are the seeds of the larkspur 

 (Delphinium staphysagria) ; and the leaves and 

 flowers of the ledum palustre, or marsh, or La- 

 brador tea. The roots of the black hellebore, 

 or a decoction made from them, have been used 

 with success ; and it is said that the water in 

 which the skins or parings of potatoes have 

 been boiled will effectually destroy lice by a 

 few washings. The internal use of sulphur is 

 an excellent remedy, and if given to animals 

 occasionally, is one of the best preventives. 



It is more difficult to apply remedies for lice 

 to sheep than to any other animals. The English 

 shepherds make use of a salve compounded 

 of white arsenic and corrosive sublimate, care- 

 fully parting the wool, and applying the oint- 

 ment in small quantities directly to the skin, 

 and rubbing it down with the finger. Tessier 

 prefers tobacco smoke to this ointment, as at- 

 tended with less danger in its use. The sheep 

 is held in such a manner that tobacco smoke 

 is forced from a bellows among the wool to the 

 skin in all directions. After this fumigation, 

 the sheep must be placed in the open air, that 

 the vapor may have room to pass off without 

 being inhaled by them. Perhaps the best re- 

 medy for lice in animals, where they have not 

 become so numerous as to produce the disease 

 Pityriasis, is to rub any oil, such as whale oil 

 or melted lard, on such places as they most 

 frequent, or on parts of the animal where they 

 will be most likely to come in contact with it. 

 All the pediculi breathe through what are 

 termed spiracles or openings in their bodies, 

 and the least particle of oil spread over their 

 bodies, by causing suffocation, at once effects 

 their destruction. This is also a perfectly 

 harmless remedy. But prevention in this case 

 is better than cure ; and neatness, cleanliness, 

 and good keeping, by insuring comfort and 

 health, leaves no opportunity for the attacks 

 of vermin. (Cultivator.) 



LICE ON PLANTS. See APHIDIANS, AME- 

 RICA* BLIGHT, and INSF.CTS. 



LICHENS. Plants of a very low organiza- 

 tion, which grow on the bark of trees or rocks, 

 when they form a kind of incrustation, or upon 

 the ground, when they consist of irregular 

 lobes, parallel with the earth's surface. Occa- 

 sionally, in all situations, they are found in a 

 branched state ; but their subdivisions are ge- 

 nerally irregular, and without order. Their 

 fructification consists of hard nuclei, called 

 shields, which break through the upper surface 

 of the thallus, or main substance of the lichen, 

 are of a peculiar odour and texture, and con- 

 ain the reproductive particles. Lichens abound 

 n the cold and temperate parts of the world. 

 The greater part are of no known use ; but 

 ome, as the reindeer-moss (Cenomyce rangife- 

 rina), the Iceland moss (Cetraria Islandicd), and 

 various species of Gyrophora, are capable of 

 sustaining life, either in animals or man. The 



