TEE HO&TH-WESTERtt t>ISTRICJT. 267 



be found in abundance. The past winter snow first covered the 

 ground about February 1, which remained until the 20th, when 

 the warm south wind, known as the " chinook," melted it, and 

 left the ground bare in a day. The losses of old sheep are 

 scarcely worth counting ; among the young ones two per cent 

 will cover all, and when the best care is exercised, the losses by 

 death may not exceed five in a thousand, and those from acci- 

 dents. The most frequent losses are caused by a native grass, 

 which bears exceedingly sharp awns or beards, and called 

 popularly " needle " grass. Botanically it is Stipa spartea. It 

 has a seed much like an oat, to which is attached a crooked, 

 sharp awn five inches long. These awns twist and intertwist 

 as the weather is dry or wet. and is on this account called 

 "weather grass." The awns catch in the wool and break off, 

 the sharp point then penetrates the skin and works into the 

 flesh, and even into the intestines. They also break in the 

 mouth, or if swallowed, penetrate the stomach, and then cause 

 death, otherwise it is necessary to examine the sheep frequently 

 and extract the "needles" from the wool and skin. The 

 remedy, or rather the method of prevention used by shepherds, 

 is to make a fire-break, which is a strip of plowed land around 

 a portion of the pasture, and not permitting the fire to run until 

 June, when the needle grass having started into growth, the 

 fire is started, and the dead grass burned off, along with which 

 the young needle grass is killed for that year. 



Another frequent trouble through most of this region is from 

 the dust, which is alkaline and irritates the lungs and nasal pas- 

 sages, causing a cough and discharge from the nostrils. This 

 of course is a natural consequence of the character of the soil, 

 and cannot be overcome, excepting by avoiding pastures of this 

 kind or providing other feed at the seasons when the trouble 

 mostly prevails, which is in late fall and winter. The 

 prevalent disease every where known as scab, is at times 

 troublesome to sheepmen, whose flocks run on the range, and 

 the universal tick is here, as elsewhere, a great annoyance. As 

 a remedy for these pests, is is usual to dip the sheep, and some 

 fuller description of the method of doing this for large flocks 

 than has heretofore been given, will be useful. The nature of 

 the scab disease has been explained elsewhere ; the manner of 

 treating it is as follows : A system of yards and pens is laid 

 out for the easy handling of the sheep, and these all lead to a 

 point where a dipping vat is provided, to which are annexed 



