CARE OF SHEEP. 199 



are dressed with, a strong solution of sulphate of copper (blue vitriol), 

 about an ounce in half a pint of warm water. The feet should be 

 wrapped up in a rag smeared with a mixture of pine tar and lard 

 melted together. Sometimes sheep become lame from being kept on 

 gravelly or stony pasture ; this is not foot-rot, and will soon be reme- 

 died by a change to softer ground. This caution as to housing the 

 sheep of course applies only to northern climates. In the South and 

 South-west, where the climate is milder, there would be no need for 

 such housing, simple shelter from the rain being enough. As a guide 

 to this we might say, that in England, where the thermometer rarely 

 falls lower than ten degrees above zero, but where the winters are very 

 rainy (the wet, and not the cold, 'being injurious), the sheep are kept 

 out in open sheds on most farms during the entire winter. The ewes 

 require careful watching about lambing time, as in many cases they 

 may then need assistance. The ewe and young lamb should be 

 separated from the flock, and put into a box stall or a pen in some 

 convenient place, where they can be kept warm, great care being 

 taken to remove any wool that should be on the udder, so that the 

 young lamb can catch the teats easily without any obstruction. This 

 may not often be necessary, but requires looking to lest it may be. 

 The tails of the lambs should be docked when eight or nine days old. 

 Loss often occurs when the tails are left on, as in the heat of summer 

 011 good pasture their soft droppings are apt to adhere to the tail, 

 and in a few days the sheep will become fly-blown and maggoty, and 

 if not relieved death will ensue. The tails are docked at about 

 two inches from the rump. The skin is drawn back by the flngers as 

 on the finger of a glove and a clip with a pair of sharp sheep shears 

 divides the tail without trouble and with very little pain. A pinch of 

 copperas will stop the bleeding. Where flocks of 100 or over are 

 kept, they should be left to the care of an intelligent boy or man. 



One of the most troublesome pests in the care of sheep is the tick, 

 which are often on the ewes at lambing time, and will soon reach the 

 young lambs, and it is impossible to have them grow and improve as 

 they should do while they are infested with this insect. A good 

 remedy is to dip the sheep in tobacco water made to about the 

 strength and color of strong tea. Another pest to sheep and which 

 sometimes destroys whole flocks in a miserable manner is the scab 

 mite, which burrows in the skin and produces the disease known as 

 scab. The wool of a scabby sheep falls off or becomes matted on the 

 skin, in the crusts and scabs which are formed of the matter exuded 

 by reason of the irritation caused by these pests. The remedy is to 

 dip the sheep in strong hot tobacco water as above mentioned, with 

 some sulphur added. The quantities are one pound of coarse tobacco, 



