252 How THE FARM PAYS. 



and every farmer have his flock, larger or smaller, as a source of 

 pleasure and profit 



The dog is, unfortunately, from its habit of feeding upon carrion, 

 very much infested with parasites, and especially with tape worms, 

 and these disagreeable and injurious parasites are spread by dogs 

 among sheep and cattle, and even among human beings, to an 

 alarming extent. Among sheep these worms cause large losses 

 very year, and thousands of these useful animals die annually from 

 the effects of their presence in various parts of the body. This, 

 Jiowever, will be more fully referred to under its appropriate head 

 further on. Just here we will only repeat that to avoid this injury 

 farm dogs should be prevented from devouring dead animals, and 

 should be as regularly fed, upon wholesome food, as any other farm 

 animal, as this will entirely prevent the otherwise ever-present risk 

 of damage by reason of these parasites. 



EOT FLIES. 



A curious genus of two-winged fly, known as (Estrus, infest horses, 

 cattle and sheep. The Horse Bot lays its eggs upon the hairs of the 

 fore legs, the breast and shoulders. The presence of the eggs upon 

 the hairs seems to annoy the horse, which bites at the part, and so 

 removes the eggs from the hairs to the mouth, in which way they 

 gain entrance to the stomach. Here they hatch into large stout 

 grubs provided with strong jaws, by which they take firm hold upon 

 the coat of the stomach, and live by sucking the purulent matter pro- 

 duced by the inflammation caused. In some cases these pests exist 

 in this way by hundreds, covering the whole wall of the stomach and 

 actually perforating it through and through, of course causing death. 

 At other times but a few may be found, which simply cause irritation 

 and disturbance of digestion, with attacks of colic. There seems to 

 be no remedy but to protect the horse from the flies, by providing 

 the fore part with a linen covering, or by carefully scraping the eggs 

 from the hairs with a knife edge, or removing them by a wet sponge. 

 The fly is much like a bee, buzzes about the horse's head, in its at- 

 tempts to deposit its eggs, much to the animal's annoyance. 



The cattle Gad Fly is a similar insect, but operates differently. It 

 has an ovipositor which it thrusts into the skin of the animal at the 

 loins, and deposits an egg (about July and August) at each sting. 

 The sting is painful, as the cattle evince great terror when the fly is 

 buzzing about them. The egg hatches in the skin, and makes its way 

 into the flesh, where it forms a burrow and lives upon the pus which 

 is secreted. About midwinter its presence is observed by a round 



