18 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[Januaby, 
serviceable vehicle, as it allows the driver 
great freedom in handling the animal and is 
therefore much safer than most other wagons. 
Sheep Feed Racks and Troughs. 
A very simple and easily made sheep rack 
for hay and straw is shown in figure 1. Four 
Fig. 1. —CHEAP FODDER RACK. 
pieces of hard-wood, 3 by 3 inches, and about 
3 feet long, make the corner posts. Four pine 
boards 12 inches wide and 14 feet long supply 
the rest of the needed lumber. Cut off two 
feet from each board to make the end pieces. 
The boards are to be nailed firmly to the 
posts, leaving a feeding space between them, 
of from 8 to 12 inches, and this completes 
the rack. When screws are used instead of 
nails, the rack can be easily taken apart and 
the pieces stored away, taking up but little 
room -when not in use. The simplest and 
cheapest grain troughs are made by nailing 
two boards together, as shown in figure 2. 
The end pieces may be square and extend be¬ 
low the bottom of the trough to serve as 
rests, or legs may be nailed upon the outside 
of the boards as shown in the engraving. 
The English farmers feed their sheep large¬ 
ly in the open fields, and it is important 
that the racks and troughs be moved fre¬ 
quently during the winter. Figure 3 shows 
a wrought-iron English rack for feeding cut 
feed and turnips; it has small wheels for 
moving it. This rack is also provided with a 
cover. Figure 4 shows an English feed trough 
Fig 4.— ENGLISH GRAIN TROUGH. 
also made of non, with one end resting 
upon wheels, so that it can be readily moved. 
Source of Nitrogen. —A cheap source 
of Nitrogen is in the flesh and blood of 
slaughtered animals. There must be horses, 
mules, and cattle enough die, or that are 
killed, to supply much of the nitrogenous 
manure needed. Cut up the carcasses, and 
with muck earth, wood loam, or something 
of the kind, make a compost. After six 
months shovel it over, and throw out the bones 
which have not softened, and after laying 
awhile to become homogenous, it will be fit 
for use. Dried blood, or dried flesh, etc., re¬ 
duced to a powder are shipped east from 
Chicago in large quantities, and are about 
the cheapest known source of our nitrogen. 
Loading Ice with a Team. 
Ice is heavy, and very difficult to handle, 
unless advantage is taken of the ease with 
which it slides over smooth surfaces. The ice¬ 
house upon the farm is seldom located upon 
the side of the pond or stream from which 
the ice is taken, and therefore the blocks 
must be loaded upon a wagon or sled, and 
drawn some distance. The loading of it 
from the pond is ordinarily one of the 
hardest parts of the labor of securing the ice 
harvest. The accompanying engraving shows 
how this work can be done with comparative 
ease. The ice is sawed into blocks in the 
usual way, and floated to the end of a shute, 
made of a plank with edges of boards a few 
inches in hight. A number of the blocks 
bodies. The scab appearing at first on a few 
sheep may spread throughout the whole 
flock and cause serious damage. “The ani¬ 
mals become more and more emaciated; 
their wool falls off ; then - bodies are covered 
with nauseous scabby sores; their nervous 
LOADING ICE BY HORSE-POWER. 
being placed in a row upon the submerged 
end of the shute, a man forces a spike into 
the rear side of the last block, and with the 
team attached by a rope to the spike near the 
base ; the whole row of blocks is drawn up 
the shute into the box of the wagon or sled. 
The whole operation of loading is easily 
understood from the engraving given above. 
Scab in Sheep—Its Remedies. 
The disease among sheep, called the Scab, 
is caused by a minute parasitic mite, Acarus 
scabei, so small as not to be noticed with the 
naked eye. The female Acarus is larger 
than the male, being about one-sixtieth of 
an inch in length. Figures 1 and 2 show the 
under and upper sides of the female mite, 
very much magnified. The male is shown 
in figure 3, drawn to the same scale. The 
female burrows into the skm of the sheep 
and produces sores in which it deposits its 
eggs ; these hatch in a short time, and go on 
with the rapid work of reproduction. The 
sores increase in size, run together, and form 
scabs, and from the great itching the sheep 
bite and scratch themselves, sometimes tear¬ 
ing the wool almost entirely from then’ 
Fig. 1. —UNDER SIDE. Fig. 2. —UPPER SIDE. 
system is incapable of sustaining the pain, 
and its functions, with those of the skin, be¬ 
ing deranged, the digestive organs sym¬ 
pathize, and the sheep finally die.” The 
remedies for scab are numerous. They have 
in view the removal of the cause by destroy¬ 
ing the insect, consisting of dips and washes 
of various kinds. It closely resembles the 
Itch in man, and is 
more likely to come 
upon animals that 
are poorly fed and 
badly kept, than 
those in perfect 
health, with a clean 
skin, etc. Whenever 
the scab makes its 
appearance in flocks, 
the animals should 
be washed at once in 
one of the dips pre¬ 
pared especially for 
the purpose. In the 
treatment of scab, 
the object is to kill 
the insect which 
causes it, and those 
remedies found useful in itch are effective in 
scab. Sulphur has long been the itch remedy, 
but this, not being soluble, is best applied in 
an ointment, a form difficult to use upon 
sheep. Tobacco water with Sulphur diffused 
through it has long been used with success. 
An infusion is made 
with tobacco stems or 
other cheap form of to¬ 
bacco, using four ounces 
to each gallon of water. 
Boiling water is poured 
over the tobacco and al¬ 
lowed to stand in a warm 
place for a few hours; 
the liquid is then poured 
off, and an ounce of flow¬ 
ers of sulphur for each <>•— male acarus. 
gallon is added. This dip is used at a tem¬ 
perature of 120°, and in such a vat or other 
vessel as will allow of complete immersion. 
The sulphur, not being soluble, will soon 
settle, hence the liquid should be well stirred 
for each animal. Since the introduction of 
carbolic and cresylic acids, and other coal-tar 
products, these have been found efficacious 
in treating scab. Buchan’s Cresylic Sheep- 
Dip has been before the public for some 12 
