20 THE FARMER'S 



milk, a gill of molasses, an ounce of copperas, two 

 spoonfuls of common salt, and half a pint of warm 

 water. Give this to the horse once or twice a day 

 for a few days, and it will completely expel .he 

 botts. 



Some recommend spirits of turpentine given as 

 a drench, and others advise to apply that substance 

 to the breast and stomach of a horse. Willich's 

 Encyclopedia says, botts may be cured by giving 

 the horse a spoonful of savin, cut small, once or 

 twice a day, in oats or bran moistened, to which 

 may be added three or four cloves of garlic. 

 Purges of aloes and jalap likewise to be given at 

 interval?. 



Botts are produced from the eggs deposited by 

 a fly on the hairs of horses. The fly is about the 

 size* of the honey-bee, and the head and neck not 

 much unlike it. It flies with its head and body 

 erect, and perpendicular to the horizon, while its 

 tail forms a sharp angle with its body, being bent 

 towards the horse, so that it touches the hair of his 

 legs or belly, (which are parts at which the insect 

 generally aims) only with the extremity of its tail, 

 ?.nd in this way it will flv about him for an hour, 

 discharging a great nuil^oer of eggs, which adhere 

 to the ends of the hair. The eggs of the bott-fly 

 are introduced into the stomach of the horse by 

 hir> licking and biting the part on which the eggs 

 are deposited. 



As the means of guarding against botts, some- 

 thing may be accomplished by destroying the parent 

 insect, while buzzing about the horse. The nits 

 or eggs sIk uld be scraped off*, with a sharp knife 

 as fast as tl" ey appear. 



