SECRETARY'S REPORT. 133 



a minute insect, wliicli, burrowing in tlic skin, forms a pustule, 

 which breaks, causing the " scab." The sheep infected with it 

 are restless, scratching and rubbing themselves, and tearing off 

 the wool. When closely examined the skin will be found to be 

 red and rough with patches of scab, particularly on the shoulders 

 and back. It is a most contagious disease, and if once intro- 

 duced among a flock, the farmer may rest assured that unless 

 the diseased sheep is immediately removed, every sheep in the 

 flock will become infected. It seems to spread among the sheep 

 not only by direct contact, but by means of rubbing places, and 

 it has been proved, by a distinguished German naturalist, that 

 the insect will live through a whole winter off from the sheep ; 

 and it often happens that when a farmer has got rid of his 

 tainted flock, and covered his pastures with a new one, the disease 

 has broken out again, and this has arisen from contact of the 

 sheep with the old scratching places, such as fences, stones, or 

 trees. An effectual remedy, and the cheapest and most con- 

 venient is tobacco. A preparation of tobacco, invented by 

 George Jaques, and sold by Fisher & Company, of Boston, has 

 been used by some of your committee, for ticks, and by other 

 most reliable flockmasters, for the scab, and has proved so 

 useful that we do not hesitate to recommend it ; it is put up in 

 nice packages of any quantity, all distinctly marked ; it is of 

 the consistence of tar, very strong ; one pound of it, costing 

 fifty cents, is diluted in twelve gallons of water, and the sheep 

 either dipped in it, or it is turned upon their backs, and then 

 squeezed from the wool into a tub ; it is sure death to ticks, 

 and is believed to be an effectual remedy for the scab. 



Scours or Diarrhcea frequently attack lambs, and sometimes 

 full grown sheep ; the causes are generally too sudden a 

 change from dry to green food ; salting too freely in the spring 

 when the grass is young and flashy ; commencing to feed grain 

 in too large quantities ; and exposure to sudden transitions of 

 weather. Diarrhoea can be easily arrested by mixing a small 

 quantity of pulverized alum in wheat bran, and feeding it a day 

 or two. 



Stretches is a disease which commonly occurs in flocks which 

 are kept exclusively on hay or other dry food, and is very often 

 fatal. The sheep affected with it will alternately lie down and 



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