AND RURAL ECONOMIST. 239 



turnips, which are not only the healthiest but cheapest food 

 for the winter consumption of sheep. 



Wor?ns in the head of Sheep. There exists in some parts 

 of the country a species of fly, which naturalists call asstrus 

 ovis, of the same genus with that which deposits eggs in the 

 hair of horses, and causes bots. This fly attacks sheep, 

 from about the middle of August to the middJe of Septem- 

 ber, deposits its eggs in the nostrils of the animals, and cau- 

 ses those ivorms which so frequently destroy them. The 

 Mechanic's Gazette recommends as a preventive, ' covering 

 the nostrils of sheep with a list of gauzy substance, through 

 which the animal can breathe, and keeping it in its place by 

 some adhesive substance.' We doubt, however, the practica- 

 bility of ' keeping it in its place' by any ' adhesive substance.' 

 Another preventive which sheep owners tell us is effectual, 

 is to keep the noses of the sheep constantly smirched with 

 tar, from about the middle of August to the latter end of 

 September. If the sheep swallow some of the tar, so much 

 the better, as it prevents or cures the rot, and confirms their 

 health. 



If the fly has performed its mischievous function, and the 

 seeds of the disorder are already sown, you may make use 

 of the following : 



' Take half a pound of good Scotch snuff, pour two quarts 

 of boiling water on it, stir it and let it stand till cold ; inject 

 about a table-spoonful of this liquid and sediment up each 

 nostril of the sheep with a syringe. This must be repeated 

 three or four times at proper intervals, from the middle of 

 October to the first of January ; the grubs are then small 

 and are much easier destroyed than afterwards, and have not 

 injured the sheep, as they will if deferred until later. Half 

 an ounce of assafcetida, pounded in a little water and added 

 to the snuff, will make it more effectual. The owner of the 

 sheep need not be alarmed, when the operation is performed, 

 to see the sheep very drunk and apparently in the agonies 

 of death, as they will in a few minutes recover. I never 

 knew any bad effects to follow. Dry snuff may be blown up 

 the nose with a quill, and have a good effect ; but it is a te- 

 dious, dirty job. I have tried vinegar and blue die with but 

 little or no success.' 



Instead of ' Scotch snuff,' a decoction of tobacco will 

 answer the purpose. A gentleman who owns a large flock 

 of sheep, informs us that he had used it with perfect success. 

 Spirits of turpentine have been injected into the nostrils of 



