AND RURAL ECONOMIST. 233 



are placed over a gentle fire and melted : a gallon of tar is 

 then added, and the mixture is then stirred with a stick until 

 the tar and butter are well combined, and form a soft 

 tenacious ointment.' Some skill is required in its applica- 

 tion. The locks should be divided, and the ointment ap- 

 plied directly to the skin. It does no good to apply it to the 

 outside of the wool, but it must come in contact with the 

 skin. This is best effected by opening the wool along the 

 neck and back, and applying the ointment with the finger. 

 In short, you must apply it in such a manner that it will be 

 most likely to spread over every part of the body. The 

 quantity laid on each animal differs in different districts. In 

 the lighter mode of greasing, one gallon of tar and twenty 

 pounds of butter will be sufficient for fifty sheep. In Scot- 

 land, where greasing is applied merely to preserve the ani- 

 mal from inclemency of the climate, a much larger propor- 

 tion of tar is used. This would be very injurious to the 

 wool were it any other but the coarsest kind. To derive the 

 greatest advantage from the ointment, both to the wool and 

 the sheep, it should be applied immediately after shearing, 

 and again on the approach of winter. By the first greasing, 

 the wool will be kept soft and moist during the sultry heats 

 of July and August, and the top of the staple will not be- 

 come harsh and discolored. One acknowledged advantage 

 of greasing immediately after shearing should not be over- 

 looked : it destroys the sheep tick, and has a tendency to pre- 

 vent cutaneous distempers, and to protect the skin against 

 the bite of the fly. 



Mr. J. Nelson published a recipe for the scab on sheep, 

 similar to the above, but which we should suppose might 

 answer a still better purpose ; it is as follows : ' Take three 

 gallons of tar and three gallons of train oil, boiled together, 

 to which add three pounds of roll brimstone finely powdered 

 and stirred in.' This quantity is sufficient for ninety sheep. 

 It is poured on with a pitcher or ladle from the top of the 

 back-bone to the tail. 



When the object is solely the destruction of ticks, a strong 

 decoction of tobacco is probably as good an application as 

 can be prescribed. Lambs often suffer much from ticks, 

 after the sheep are sheared ; as the ticks which are driven 

 from the old sheep take refuge with the lambs. It will, 

 therefore, be advisable to apply either the ointment or the 

 tobacco decoction to the lambs as well as to their elders. 

 And in all cases see that your application goes to and spreads 

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