PREVENTION OF WASTAGE. 55 



France was specially asked to portray circumstances under 

 which animals laboured. 



However, so far as clipping and prevention of mange in 

 relation to it is concerned, the policy adopted the following year 

 was to clip early — no clipping to be done after the middle of 

 November. Coats would then be grown sufficiently to afford 

 warmth before the real cold weather, and the happy hunting 

 grounds of mange parasites — dirty, long coats, would be laid 

 waste for a certain portion of the winter. 



And it is interesting to relate that in the sub- world to which 

 I have referred there were battles, and it was left to Veterinary 

 Service either to keep the "ring" or destroy the battlefields. I 

 do not think we adopted the role of neutrals. But there were 

 combats to the death between the Lice, clad in their chitinous 

 armour, and the Mange parasites, perfect in trench warfare and 

 subterranean passages. One year the tribe Haematopinus (lice) 

 with its more insinuating ally, Ti-ichodectes, won the day, but 

 the following year the "Digger" (Sarcoptes), the expert chap, 

 carried all before him, but he succumbed to Calcium sulphide 

 and G-as. 



Of course, clipped animals must be clothed ; indeed in any 

 case clothing is necessary in winter season, alike to keep out 

 cold, wind, and wet. The string jhool, of several designs, 

 cannot be beaten ; its cleansing and disinfection are matters of 

 importance where disease has to be prevented. 



Acclimatisation. Acclimatisation of animals is a matter 

 which in war has not received in days gone by the attention 

 that it deserves, excepting perhaps in India. The experience 

 during the South African War, to which I have referred, was 

 an object lesson to us in this respect. We have been apt to 

 look upon horses as machines and to forget compensating 

 balances. No one would dream of putting Australian horses 

 from a Southern zone immediately into a war on the Northern 

 frontier of India, under conditions of reverse season. They 

 must have a little time to get on their legs, and over little 

 sicknesses incidental to changed circumstances and surroundings. 

 The more lymphatic or lethargic the animal the more prone he 

 is to attack from disease. 



