Merino-Ryeland Breed of Sheep. 509 



infected sheep, preserved from all appearance of the disease. This, however, oughs 

 not to be done with regard to the fine-woolled breeds of sheep, till after they are 

 shorn. 



For common scouring ir> sheep or lambs, when it is the result of mere indi- 

 gestion, I have found the following an eflFectual remedy. Take of salt and wliiting 

 (refined chalk) reduced to a fine powder, equal weights. Dissolve the salt in four 

 times as many pints of water as there are pounds of salt, and then add the pow- 

 dered whiting by small quantities at once, stirring it well with a clean dry stick, 

 stripped of its bark, so as to mix the whole to a smooth consistence like cream. 

 Simmer it over the fire till it becomes thick ;* and afiei wards keep it near the fire 

 till it becomes a stiff mass, capable of being formed into pellets, which should be 

 made of the size of the tip of the middle finger, dried by heat in a Dutch or common 

 oven, and kept, free from moisture, for use. Of these pellets, five were given to 

 each of my ram-hogs, every other morning, on an empty stomach; and they got 

 well after 5 or 6 doses. At the same lime very 'itilc water was allowed them. A 

 proportionably greater number of these balls should be given to larger or older 

 sheep. 



The Hippobosca ovina, or tick, is extremely injurious to sheep, by making the 

 animal bite and rub itself so as not only to hurt the fleece, but to break the skin ; 

 in consequence of which the fly is apt to fix on the wool near the wounded part, 

 and there deposit its eggs. This troublesome animal may be, in a great measure, 

 destroyed, by pouring a solution of powdered white arsenic in boiling water, in 

 the proportion of an ounce to a gallon, cold on the back of the sheep, and letting 

 it diffuse itself down the skin on each side. In this method, however, several of 

 the ticks escape by crawling to the extremities of the filaments. It will be still 

 better to wash the lambs in the autumn, whether shorn or not, in a tub of a similar 

 mixture. For this purpose, three pounds of the same arsenic powdered, may be 

 dissolved in six gallons of boiling water, and the solution mixed with 40 gallons of 

 cold water. The whole being then well stirred with a stick, the lamb^ may be 

 plunged into it, great care being taken that they do not dip their heads, or taste the 

 water. The liquor must be squeezed out of their fleeces back into the vessel, in 

 order that it may not be wasted. It is scarcely necessary for me to point out the 



• Great care must be taken to remeve it from off the fire before it becomes dry ; or otherwise 

 a part of the chalk may become lime, and consequently deletereous. 



