22 8 DISEASES OF THE DOMESTIC ANIMALS 



tients, it should be the rule to segregate sheep recently bought for 

 some weeks. As a precautionary measure, a tobacco and lime dip 

 is often used at stated intervals or to treat newly acquired animals, 

 and may be used without shearing. Good pasturing and feeding 

 also enables animals to withstand scab to a considerable degree. 

 The application of remedies is usually by means of bath or dip. 

 Sheep should be first shorn, if infested with scab, and crusts re- 

 moved by the use of a bath with soft soap ( i lb. to 50 lbs. of water) 

 aided by the brush. Immediately following this the curative dip 

 may be used, unless arsenic is employed, when it is somewhat safer 

 to wait for a week or more after shearing to avoid absorption 

 through the abrasions caused by shearing. The danger of poison- 

 ing is very slight, however, as one ounce of the arsenic bath has 

 been given to sheep daily for a week without any ill effect. No 

 baths should be given until four hours after the last feeding, and 

 the water should be heated to about ioo° F. The bath or dip is to 

 be repeated at the end of ten days, as it takes about this time for 

 a new generation of mites to be produced. The animal should be 

 kept in the bath two minutes by the watch and its head ducked under 

 once, when using a sulphur dip. Pregnant ewes and rams have to 

 be handled most carefully. When poisonous dips are used — as those 

 containing arsenic, tobacco and creolin — it is customary to keep the 

 mouth, nose and eyes out of water. 



The following is the dip recommended by the U. S. Bureau of 

 Animal Industry : — Flowers of sulphur, 24 lbs. ; unslaked lime, 8 

 lbs; water, 100 gallons. The lime is mixed with enough water in 

 a tub or box to form a paste, and on this is sifted the sulphur, and 

 the lime and sulphur are well stirred together. The paste is then 

 to be boiled in a boiler for two hours with 25 gallons of water, 

 and longer if necessary until the sulphur almost disappears from 

 the surface and the solution is of a chocolate or liver color. Pour 

 the mixture then into a barrel, provided with a bung hole about 

 four inches from the bottom, and allow two or three hours for the 



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