336 



SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 



DIPPING-EOX. 



the tick, and it takes refuge in the long wool of the lamb. "Wait a fort- 

 night after shearing, to allow all to make this transfer of residence. Then 

 boil refuse tobacco leaves until the decoction is strong enough to kill ticks 

 beyond a 25eradventure. This may be readily tested by experiment. 

 Five or six pounds of cheap plug tobacco, or an equivalent in stems, &c., 

 may be made to answer for 100 lambs. The decoction is poured into a 

 deep, narrow box, kept for 

 this purpose, and which has 

 an inclined shelf one one side, 

 covered with a wooden grate, 

 as shown in the cut. One 

 man holds the lamb by the 

 hind legs, another clasps the 

 fore-legs in one hand, and 

 shuts the other about the 

 nostrils to prevent the liquid 

 entering them, and then the 

 lamb is entirely immersed. 

 It is immediately lifted out, 

 laid on one side on the gi'ate, 

 and the water squeezed out 

 of its wool. It is then turned 

 over and squeezed on the 

 other side. The grate con- 

 ducts the fluid back into the 

 box. If the lambs are regu- 

 larly dipped every year, ticks will never trouble a flock. 



The effect of tobacco water in scab, will be hereafter adverted to. 



Maggots. — Rams with horns growing closely to their heads, are very 

 liable to have maggots generated under them, particularly if the skin on 

 the surrounding parts gets broken in fighting, and these, if not removed, 

 soon destroy the sheep. Both remedy and preventive is boiled tar — or the 

 marking substance heretofore described. Put it under the horns, at the 

 time of marking, and no trouble will ever arise from this cause. Some- 

 times when a sheep scours in warm weather, and clotted dung adheres 

 about the anus, maggots are generated under it, and the sheep perishes 

 miserably. Preventive : remove the dung. Remedy : remove the dung 

 and maggots, the latter by touching them with a little turpentine, and 

 then apply sulphur and grease to the excoriated surface. 



Maggot flies, says Blacklock, sometimes deposit their eggs on the hachs 

 of the long, open-wooled English sheep, and the maggots during the few 

 days before they assume the pupa state, so tease and irritate the animal, 

 that fever and death are the consequence. Tar and turpentine, or butter 

 and sulphur, smeared over the parts are given as the preventives. The 

 Merino and Saxon are exempt from these attacks. 



Shortening the Horns. — A convolution of the horn of a ram sometimes 

 so presses in upon the side of the head or neck, that it is necessary to shave 

 or rasp it away on the under side, to prevent viltimately fatal effects. The 

 point of the horn of the ram and ewe both not unfrequently turn in so 

 that they will grow into the flesh and sometimes into the eye, unless 

 shortened. The toe-nippers will often suffice on the thin extremity of a 

 horn, but if not, a fine saw must be used. The marking time is the best 

 one to attend to this, 



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