DIPS AND DIPPING. 281 



first-class flooring for sides and ends; paint tongues and 

 groove as you put them on; commence at the bottom, grooved 

 side down (plain the groove off the first boards), and build 

 up, letting the ends extend past the posts at each end so 

 that they may be sawed off afterwards to insure a good joint 

 at the corners. The bottom should be l%xG inches, with the 

 edges beveled to correspond with the flare of the sides. 

 Draw down with % bolts and nail the side planks to the edge 

 of bottom board, and you will have a water-tight joint. 

 Now after sawing the side planks flush with the outside of 

 end posts, seal up ends on outside o-f posts. Paint the inside 

 thoroughly, and you will have a water-tight box. You can 

 nail quarter-round- in the corners ; ' necessary, but ours has 

 none, and does not leak, and has been in use for three years. 

 I like the dipping-vat 8 feet lomz, so as to allow an incline 

 for sheep to walk out on. They will climb out with little 

 assistance if so arranged. We have a small tackle hung 

 near the exit end of the vat, so that in handling very heavy 

 sheep we have a, saddle girth, with ring on each end, which 

 ^we put under the sheep behind the forelegs; hook the tackle 

 into the rings, and one man will. easily lift a 300-pound sheep; 

 but we seldom use the tackle, as the sheep naturally walk 

 out with little assistance (and 300-pound sheep are very 

 scarce with us; we have not succeeded in raising many of 

 that kind). We let the vat into the ground 2 feet, so the top 

 stands 2 feet above the surface. Bore an inch hole in bottom 

 to drain oft' liquid when done (1 inch, so that it may be 

 stopped with a corn cob); bury an old box or barrel a short 

 distance from the vat, and make a drain from the hole in 

 vat to it, and there will be no danger of chickens or other 

 stock drinking it. 



In Fig. 3 I have tried to give an inside view of the vat, 

 and in Fig. 4 a side elevation before being let into the ground 

 or floor. From the exit end of the vat extends the draining- 

 table, which should be about 4 feet wide and of any desired 

 length, with the outer end elevated so as to drain back iinu 

 the vat with a strainer to catch any filth that might accumu- 

 late on the table. 



I will endeavor to illustrate in Figs. 5 and 6 how to build 

 the draining-table. Use for sills 2x0 inch at intervals of 2 

 feet to nail the floor to. Say you make the first section 14 



