96 The Shepherds* Guide. 



This ointment combines all the advantages of 

 Sir Joseph Banks's more expensive mercurial 

 ointment, and is rather easier to make than that 

 of Sir George M'Kinsey. Either will effectual- 

 ly cure the scab, and seldom require to be repeat- 

 ed above twice or three times : once will often 

 answer. But the scrubbing and washing with 

 the soap suds, made of the decoction, of white 

 hellebore, dock root, or tobacco, is essential to 

 the success of either. Of these, the hellebore, 

 where it can readily be procured, is the cheapest 

 and most effectual j and made use of with the 

 following cheaper ointment, as below directed^ 

 will commonly do all we wish. 



Boil twenty pounds of the roots of white helle- 

 bore in half a hogshead of water, and having 

 shorn the sheep, wash them and scrub them with 

 a brush thoroughly with this decoction, whilst 

 they stand in a tub ; then squeeze out the wool 

 and turn them out. As soon as they are dry, 

 anoint them universally with a mixture of tar and 

 hog's fat, in the proportion of one gallon of tar to 

 20 lbs. of hog's fat. This is a most excellent 

 practice ; protects the sheep from cold and wet 

 after shearing ; contributes to the growth and the 

 softness of the wool, frees them from vermin, and 

 contributes to their general health. 



During the summer season, and indeed at all 

 times, the flock should be occasionally examined, 

 and the slightest appearance of scab attended to : 



