DBSTBOTING TICKS. 



187 



shear them very close, and their skins were so thin and 

 delicate, that they not imfrequently blistered, and became 

 sore under the scorching sun. Some greased these sores — 

 others gave the sheep shade and paid no further attention 

 to them. 



Ticks. — A very ticky flock of lambs can not be kept in 

 good order, and when they become poor and weak, toward 

 spring, these destructive parasites rapidly reduce them lower 

 and render it extremely difficult to save their lives. Ticks are 

 found on all sheep in neglected flocks, but the heat and cold, 

 and the rubbing and biting to which they are exposed on new 

 shorn sheep, drive them to take shelter in the long wool of 

 the lambs. Here they are so readily exterminated, that it is 

 as much of a disgrace as a loss to the flock-master to suffer 

 them to remain in a breeding flock. About a fortnight after 

 shearing, every lamb should be dipped in a decoction of 



DIPPING BOX. 



tobacco strong enough to kill the ticks. The last point can be 

 readily settled by an experiment on a few of these insects.* 

 The decoction is poured into a narrow, deepT)ox, which has an 

 inclined shelf on one side, covered with a grate, as shown in 

 the cut. One man holds the lamb by the fore-legs with one 



* The rule Used to be to boil B lbs. of plug tobacco (after chopping it fine) or 10 

 lbs. of stems for a hundred late Saxon lambs. The larger, earlier and longer fleeced 

 lambs of the present day require more — say 6^ lbs. or 7 lbs. The decoction is used 

 cold or blood-warm. Care must be taken not to dilate It so that it will fail to kill 

 both the tick and its eggs. 



