422 



LlME-AND-SULPHUR DlP FOR SHEEP. [OCT., 



induce large farmers to procure good bulls, i.e., bulls likely to 

 win a prize for which the free tickets could be used, whilst at 

 the same time it places at the disposal of the smaller men the 

 services of a good bull free of cost. 



A number of agricultural societies have also tried to make it 

 easier to procure good bulls by buying such animals and making 

 them over to interested persons, to be paid for usually by five 

 yearly instalments, free of interest. As the instalments are 

 usually paid by means of free tickets, a valuable animal can, 

 it is stated, be obtained in this way without any cash payment 

 at all. 



After the close of the competition, it is customary for one of 

 the jury to deliver a short lecture on it to the public ; these 

 lectures prove of great value in consequence of the opportunity 

 they afford of reference to living illustrations. 



The interest excited by the competitions is shown by the 

 fact that whereas up to 1890 the number of animals exhibited 

 was about 10,000, the number in 1901 was 38,807. Of this 

 number about three-fourths are " approved." The total cost 

 of the system in 1901 was £ 11,780, one-third of which was 

 contributed by the State. The number of competition places 

 within each district is comparatively large, so that the area 

 covered by the exhibition is sufficiently small as to be easily 

 accessible to every one. 



Among the dips experimented with by Professor Winter for 

 the Departmental Committee on Sheep Dipping was the lime- 

 and-sulphur dip which has been success- 

 Sulplmr~D?r^~fQp ** u ^y employed for the eradication of sheep 

 Sheep. sca b in New Zealand and Australia. The 



dip was prepared by boiling together 25 lb. 

 of sulphur, I2-|- lb. of lime, and sufficient water until the solution 

 was of a dark red-brown colour, decanting or straining the clear 

 solution from an undissolved sulphur and lime, and making this 

 liquid up to 100 gallons of the dip-bath. This dip caused the 

 wool to have a somewhat bleached appearance for two or three 



