256 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[July, 
on a finer color and keep much longer. The 
curing: box, or tray, is 8 feet long by 4 wide, and 
about 8 inches deep. The bottom is made of 
common laths about an inch in width, with spaces 
not quite a quarter of an inch between. These 
boxes are filled with cranberries and piled one 
above the other in the curing, with a space of 
two inches between, where ventilation is provi- 
ded. The sun must not shine upon them. They 
are cured in from four to six weeks. They are 
then put into barrels, and are ready for market. 
The part of the house designed for storage is 
made nearly frost proof, so that the crop can be 
kept on hand until prices suit. This is a much 
better arrangement for curing and storing this 
fruit than we have seen in any other quarter. 
The Grass Pond brand is already well known 
in the market, and has deserved a high reputa- 
tion. The remaining 600 acres will soon be 
planted, and then Coventry will hold its own 
against Cape Cod, Ocean County, and the world. 
—-> MS W •-** 
Scab in Sheep— Cause and Cure. 
All breeds of sheep in all countries are more 
or less subject to the disease called Scab. A 
flock in perfect health and very clean, is not 
likely to have the scab ; but if from neglect, 
improper food, or dirt in the wool; the skin be- 
comes a suitable seat for the disease, it is liable 
to come, and run through the flock. It closely 
resembles the itch in man, and may be cured 
by similar remedies; namely, sulphur, mercury, 
tobacco, arsenic, or some mineral or vegetable 
poison applied externall}'. The disease is caused 
bj' a very minute parasite called the scab mite, 
Acarus scabei—so small as not to be noticed by 
the unaided eye without close scrutiny of the 
diseased parts. "We represent them greatly 
magnified in the accompanying engravings. 
Figs. 1 and 2 exhibiting the upper and lower 
sides of a female, and figure 3 the upper side of 
a male Acarus, drawn to the same scale. These 
little creatures, which are about 'looth and 1 |sstU 
of an inch in length, according to sex, find 
no proper dwelling place on the healthy, 
clean skinned sheep of which we have spoken ; 
but when they do find the requisite conditions 
they multiply with astonishing rapidity, and 
spread through the -flock, and from flock to flock. 
The females burrow in the skin, and make little 
sores, in or wnder which they deposit their eggs, 
which hatch, and in a short time, go to work 
producing broods themselves. The sores thus 
caused run together and form scabs ; they make 
Figs. 1 and 2. — female scab mites. 
an intolerable itching, and the sheep bite and 
scratch themselves fearfully, tearing out their 
wool in patch-is over their bodies. The disease 
sometimes oecomes an epidemic, and through 
whole regions the flocks suffer so terribly that 
government action has been necessary to pre- 
vent their extinction. The suffering animals 
become more and more 
emaciated ; their wool 
falls off; their bodies are 
covered with nauseous, 
scabby sores ; their nerv- 
ous system is incapable 
of sustaining the pain, 
and its functions, with 
those of the skin, being 
deranged, the digestive 
organs sympathize, and 
Fig.3. -male scab mite, the sheep finally die. 
The remedies for the scab are numerous. 
They consist of dips and washes containing 
vegetable or mineral poisons, as already stated. 
Precisely similar treatment is required as in dip- 
ping to destroy the ticks, described in the June 
number, except that it is always necessary to 
scour and scrub the scabby parts with brushes. 
It is necessary to repeat the dipping sometimes, 
and for security it is always best ; although the 
effect of the dipping, cleansing, and scrubbing 
upon the skin is to render it an uncongenial 
nidus for the insect for a considerable time, it is 
probable that though the Acarus breeds in the 
skin it lives upon the diseased excretions like 
lice, which will not remain upon cleanly persons. 
Fig. 1. — loss of heal estate. 
The Banks of Streams. 
Brooks and larger streams add greatly to the 
convenience of farming, as well as to the beauty 
of rural scenes, and to the charms of country 
life; but they have their inconveniences too. 
They rise and overflow, and wash away their 
banks ; shift their channels ; carry away fences 
and timber ; in short, do all the damage they can. 
Heaps of stones and even walls are washed 
around and demolished by the force of the cur- 
rent. Breakwaters of piles driven in the stream, 
having plank upon the outer side are useful in 
preventing the tearing effects of ice and very 
rapid streams ; but they do not prevent the ac- 
tion of small waves which rapidly wash away 
sandv banks. A very gradual slope is the only 
form of bank which will effectually resist the ac- 
tion of waves whether great or small ; and this is 
the form of occ„:i, lake, and river beaches, which 
are found of the most permanent character. 
The course through meadows is naturally cir- 
cuitous, and when brooks are swollen, the banks 
wash away in a manner to extend the " bows," 
and at the same time to enlarge them, so that 
finally the "necks" are worn through; and 
then the land is still further defaced by empty 
beds of the stream, here and there, piled with 
gravel, and utterly barren. Were the brook to 
be straightened it would probably have so swift a 
current that unlooked for damage might result. 
Besides, dams might be necessary to prevent 
the drawing down of ponds, or other bodies of 
water upon adjoining property. If the mean- 
dering, babbling brook is to be sacrificed to 
utility, the best way is to dig a broad, straight 
ditch, wide and deep enough to cany all the 
water even in floods; but as shallow and broad 
as possible.' If the sides have a slope of not 
more than one foot in three, and can be left to 
lie long enough to get a good sward upon them 
they will be far less liable to be washed away. 
The more sloping the banks the less danger 
will there be of their being worn by the water. 
A brook thus straightened is a ditch, how T ever, 
and though a gain in picturesqueriess is made 
-tdt**^v 
V 
Fig. 2.— FOBM OF CHANNEL. 
by giving the banks a curved slope, as shown 
in figure 2, by the dotted line b, yet no percepti- 
bly better protection is afforded them. If, how- 
ever, the brook is crooked, this peculiar curve 
in the banks which form the outside of the turns, 
is desirable, — first, as it deflects the stream 
more gently; second, because the channel will 
carry more water than another of the same 
depth, the sides of which are simply inclined 
planes. Where such turns are quite abrupt and 
the volume of water great, simply sodded banks 
are not sufficient ; and it becomes desirable to 
plant willows on the outside banks of the bends. 
This is best done by cutting good, stout, willow 
sticks, two feet long, and an inch in diameter, 
and driving them into the bank on a slant, the 
tops inclining down stream and standing only 
three or four inches above the ground. The 
willows should begin at low water-mark, and 
extend nearly or quite to the top of the bank. 
The action of rivers in wearing their banks is 
one of the few cases in which an absolute loss 
of real estate can occur without the loss or alien- j 
ation of the title (see fig. 1). Acres, little by lit- , 
tie, disappear, and the best engineering skill has 
sometimes failed to prevent it. One great diffi- 
culty is encountered in the ice which cuts and 
wears the banks, so that even if graded very 
well and set with willows or other water-loving 
trees, they will be cut away by its force. Except 
in places where breakwaters should be built at 
public expense, or by associations of citizens, 
a plan somewhat like the following will prove 
effectual as soon as the plantation is established. 
The bank should be graded to a uniform or 
ogee slope, (see fig. 3 ;) and must be protected, 
FORM OF BIVER BANK. 
if necessary, while that is done, by a board fence 
set at low water-mark. When graded, fas- 
cines or long faggots are made. They should 
be - of any common brushwood, alder, oak, ma- 
ple, etc., made into bundles 8 inches through, 
and 10 feet or more in length, bound tightly 
once in three feet by withes or wire, just as they 
make fascines for military engineering. These 
may be laid in trenches several feet deep if there 
