STABLE OPERATIONS. 91 



placed within reach of any other animal, otherwise there is 

 danger of their getting the mercurial ointment into the mouth, 

 and thus cause death. We have known valuable animals 

 occasionally lost in this way. Refuse oil or lard, rubbed on 

 a lousy beast of any kind, immediately destroys the vermin, 

 and there is no danger to be apprehended from this applica- 

 tion. It merely occasions the hair being shed earlier in the 

 spring, and requires a little extra attention in housing such 

 animals as have been affected.] A decoction of tobacco is 

 an effectual remedy. A pint of boiling water is poured upon 

 an ounce of twist or shag tobacco, and, when cold, the liquor 

 is applied with a sponge, so as to wet the hair to the root. 

 A solution of corrosive sublimate, in the proportion of one 

 drachm to a pint of water, is also a very good remedy, but 

 not to be employed when much of the skin is raw. [This is 

 likewise a dangerous remedy.] When the lice are very nu- 

 merous, spread over great part of the body, it is a good plan 

 to use both the decoction and the solution. One half of the 

 body may be dressed with the tobacco liquor, and the other 

 half with the solution of sublimate. Vinegar, mixed with 

 three times its bulk of water, is a good application, and not 

 so dangerous as the other. It is more irritating, but the 

 irritation soon subsides and does not sicken the horse ; to- 

 bacco often will. Next day the skin should be examined, 

 and wherever there is any sign of living vermin, another ap- 

 plication should be made. Two days afterward the horse 

 should be washed with soapy water, w^arm, and applied w^ith 

 a brush that will reach the skin without irritating it. 



In many cases, none of these remedies are necessary. It 

 is sufficient to wash the horse all over with soapy water. 

 Black soap is better than any other. It need not, and should 

 not be rubbed upon the skin. It may be beat into the water 

 till it forms a strorig lather, and that should be applied with a 

 brush and washed off with clean warm water. Care must 

 be taken that the horse do not catch cold. He should be 

 thoroughly washed, but dried as quickly as possible, and get 

 a walk afterward if the weather be favorable. 



The clothes should be dipped into boiling water, and the 

 inside of the saddle wet with the sublimate lotion. The litter 

 should all be turned out, and burned, or buried where swine, 

 dogs, or poultry, will not get among it. If it can not be 

 easily removed without scattering it across the stable or yard, 

 a solution of quick-lime may be dashed over it, before it is 

 taken from the stall. 



