252 DISEASES OF ANIMALS. 



EXCRETORY DUCTS IN THE FEET. 



The legs of sheep are furnished with a duct which 

 terminates in the fissure of the hoof, from which, when 

 the animal is in health, is secreted a white fluid ; but 

 when sickly, these ducts are stopped by the hardening 

 of the fluid. In some cases, they may be relieved by 

 merely pressing out the hardened matter from the orifice 

 of the duct, in each foot. But to open and cleanse th^ 

 passages thoroughly, it may be necessary to place their 

 feet in warm water or soap suds, and to use a probe or 

 hand brush. 



TO DESTROY VERMIN. 



Sheep are often infested with ticks, which, in difieren 

 ways, do much damage. In grown sheep, they cause 

 the animal to pull out the wool with its teeth, in biting 

 and scratching to obtain relief from the intolerable itch- 

 ing which they suffer. Sometimes almost the whole 

 fleece is lost in this way. Ticks always tend to reduce 

 the flesh of the sheep ; and in young lambs they are par- 

 ticularly injurious, by keeping them poor and weak, so 

 that they are unable to bear up under the effects of 

 inclement weather ; thus remotely causing death. 



Remedy. There are several ways of ridding sheep 

 from this annoyance. In a day or two after the sheep 

 are sheared, the ticks having lost their natural shelter 

 and protection, the wool, will nearly all, go on to the 

 lambs ; the fleece of which is generally started enough 

 to afford them better harbor than they can get on the 

 closely shorn skins of the old sheep. At this time they 

 may be very easily destroyed by immersing the lambs 

 in a strong solution of tobacco. For this purpose, a tub 

 or vat of sufficient size, should be procured, into which, 

 after having sufficiently boiled or steeped the tobacco, 

 [tobacco stems are just as good as anything,] turn the 

 decoction. In this immerse the lamb all over, except 

 the head, a sufficient time to allow the liquor to pene- 

 trate to the ikin. In this way, with convenient appara- 



