UME 43 
©©HE’S 
CLEARING SHEEP OF TICKS. 
John R. Chapman says in the Country 
Gentleman :—One of the most disagreeable 
pests in sheep husbandry are ticks or fags. 
Morrell, Randall and others recommend a 
decoction of tobacco for a dip. Tobacco 
water will kill the ticks, but it will not hitt 
the nits. If you wish to clear your sheep 
from ticks, you must dip the lambs in a solu¬ 
tion of arsenic, and then keep them from 
mixing with other people’s sheep which are 
full of ticks. Dipping the lambs in arsenic 
water is not dangerous if you will do it just 
as I now describe the process. In the first 
place procure a forty gallon iron kettle, and 
place it upon three stones on a bare piece of 
ground, free from any herbage. Fill the ket¬ 
tle oue-tbird full of water ; put into the 
water four ounces of arsenic and six quarts 
of soft soap; put a tire in the kettle and heat 
up nearly to the boiling point; keep it at 
that temperature for half an hour, stirring 
the water all the time, so as to keep the ar¬ 
senic in motion. Then till up the kettle with 
cold water. Then make a fence around the 
kettle large enough to inclose all the lambs 
you wish to dip, and be sure not to inclose 
any grass or herbage on which the arsenical 
solution can drip from the lambs, for if they 
eat it, they will certainly die. Have a rack 
made long enough to straddle the kettle, and 
about sixteen inches wide. When you are 
all ready, bring the lambs into the inclosure 
around the kettle, and then catch a lamb, 
take hold of his four legs, and your assistant 
must inclose the lamb’s head in Ids hands 
and hold it stiff and firm, so that it cannot 
move up, down or sideways. Then lower 
the lamb, back downwards, into the arsenic 
water in the kettle, so that you cannot see 
any part of his body, but leave his head out 
clear above where it joins the neck. Keep 
him in this position about ten seconds, and 
then lift him up vertically, slip the rack un¬ 
der him, and then squeeze all the arsenic 
water out of his wool that you can into the 
kettle, and then put him down among the 
lambs that are not dipped. Proceed thus till 
you have dipped all of the lambs ; let them 
remain in the pen till nightfall, and then turn 
them out into the pasture with the ewes. 
This dipping, to be effectual, must be done 
about two days after the ewes are shorn. Tf 
you keep your sheep apart from tieky sheep, 
you will never need to dip them aguin, for 
the arsenic wlil dry up the nits. In Lincoln¬ 
shire the lambs are sprinkled over with ar¬ 
senical water (“fag water”), but I do not 
think it is so effectual as dipping, and it is 
just as dangerous. Lambs that are dropped 
in April ought to be weaned by the middle 
of July, and put into a held of red clover, 
that wus mowed in the middle of June. 
Sheep must have salt, sulphur and drinking 
water constantly before them, winter and 
summer. 
-- 
SHEEP HUSBANDRY FOR THE SOUTH. 
Sheep produce great wealth in Australia. 
Why do they not do so in the United States ? 
The Southern States have a climate almost 
similar to Australia, yet there is compara¬ 
tively no sheep husbandry, and it would be 
interesting if any one acquainted with the 
expense of cultivating for the eottou crop 
would reckon up the cost of the preparation 
and fertilizing for that crop, and also, the 
attendance, picking &c,, after which it would 
be very satisfactory to calculate what num¬ 
ber of sheep could be kept in one of the 
States and ascertain by fair comparison 
whether wool could not be grown to pay as 
well as cotton, for the sheep pastures would 
require neither plowing nor the application of 
artificial manure, and mutton would be an¬ 
other item to aid the wool ; moreover on a 
sheep and wool-growing system there would 
be no land requiring rest, no exhaustion and 
no necessity for offering prizes for ways to 
kill nut grass or other weeds, as good grazing 
soon gets rd cf all noxious herbage. 
In all the Southwestern part of the United 
States where snow does not lie for many 
hours at a time, sheep would require so little 
provided for them and such trilling attention 
in the winter, to what is necessary in the 
colder climate, North, that farmers could not 
fail to make fortunes if, of course, good judg¬ 
ment in choosing breeds adapted for the cli¬ 
mate was used and if the flocks were divided 
so that different sexes and (different aged 
sheep were kept separate and the manage¬ 
ment was right in every respect. Where 
there are vast pi'airies of the finest grass for 
pasturage and all the year round there is 
grass to be got at, which sheep will do well 
on, there is not so much objection to running 
great numbers of sheep of all ages together ; 
but under almost all circumstances it is wise 
to spread them over a good wide expanse, 
and doubtless, for ages yet to come, sheep 
will be one of the safest investments in new 
or old countries as history of every kind 
seems to show they were in former days. 
A Working Farmer. 
-- 
Stretches in Sheep.—John R. Chapman, 
Madison Co,, N. Y., says the best i-emedy he 
knows is a pint of warm lard. Stretches, he 
says, are produced from eating old, dry hay 
or a want of drinking water or both com¬ 
bined. 
gasman. 
STOCK RAISING. 
Many go into these branches of agriculture , 
and fail entirely, and thousands more are 
doomed to be disappointed. Stock raisers 
who value their steers and deem their heif¬ 
ers as of little account, who will destroy 
their best heifer calves by selling them for 
veal and raise tlxe steer calves on raw milk, ’ 
will never do much. Dairymen who do not 
raise their heifer calves and buy their milch 
cows will soon have no money to buy with 
and those who have large flocks of Bheep 
keeping wether sheep year after year for 
their wool, will soon have no sheep to sell 
wool from. 
About ten years, or lass, since, I corres¬ 
ponded with xi gentleman who had 200 dairy 
cows and 3,500 sheep in Iowa, He did not 
raise any calves and had but about 400 lambs 
per year from his flock and some years did 
not raise more than one lamb for every ten 
sheep in his flock. He was a man of capital 
and had some idea of changing his man in 
charge. I told him I would have a good 
thoroughbred bull and raise calves and make 
a success of tin? dairy and that I would kill 
all wether sheep for mutton and keep no old 
sheep but breeding ewes ; but as that did 
not accord with Western views he kept on 
in the old way till he had to sell out in dis¬ 
gust and stiok to his banking. 
In spite of the failures in dairying and in 
the utliei* departments, men read old ac¬ 
counts of management, and married men 
fi'om the East, every now and then, under¬ 
take the establishing of stock raising, <&c., on 
old systems and failing utterly, discourage 
others from entering on any modern or en¬ 
lightened plan. Whoever has to buy in- 
calf or milch cows to keep up the number 
of his daily herd, is not a likely man to suc¬ 
ceed ; he had much better have to buy hay 
and any kind of other food ; for his land 
would receive such a stimulation from the 
increased quantity Of manure that his crops 
would become heavier, earlier and altogether 
improved to such a degree as to give food 
enough for future consumption without pur¬ 
chasing, and by breeding his own stock, he 
would not only be able to depend on their 
hereditary tendencies for giving large quan¬ 
tities of good mflk, but. lie Would have his 
draft cows to sell without being obliged to 
obtain others which invariably disappoint 
expectation, as none but those having some 
fault are taken to public market; for who¬ 
ever possesses an extra good cow, will not 
sell her unless extraordinary circumstances 
compel, and in such case neighbors are al¬ 
ways cognizant of these superior qualities 
and secure the prize before outsiders know 
such an animal exists. 
Raising cattle can almost always be made 
more remunerating by doing it it conjunc¬ 
tion with a well-managed dairy establish¬ 
ment ; but as soon as some men enter on the 
manufacture of milk, they begin to think 
themselves smarter than nature, and con¬ 
glomerate such a vuriet.y of ideas regarding 
food and ways and time to give it, that in¬ 
stead of assisting nature they run counter 
to the majority of her laws, and having 
through their own operative management 
brought on a total failure, turn round and 
blame the instruments and means they have 
used and directed to their own destruction. 
Those who enter ori any undertaking to 
raise sheep and make money from the wool 
and increase will be induced by lazy attend¬ 
ants to go on upon a system which keeps 
down numbers and allows of all ages, sexes, 
&e., running together, the inevitable result 
being wethers abound, ewes decrease and 
lambs, most of them, die either soon after 
birth or from nine to twelve months old. 
Under the head of stock raising, horses 
come in, and if those who attempt to 1 ‘aise 
them would study nature more and pay le 
heed to the teachings of writers whose only 
qualifications for being .authorities on horse 
subjects is their ability to string together 
long arguments which others have not t he 
time or the patience to refute, there might 
be more success in this department, There 
is no double profit, from breeding and keep¬ 
ing great numbers of horses, the same as 
milk from cows and wool from sheep gives 
those varieties of farming live stock ; but if 
the kind of utiimal can be bred and raised 
for the home market which commands the 
highest prices, the sums will be such as to 
require no second means to help remunerate. 
A Working Farmer. 
HOLLOW HORN AND TAIL EVIL. 
How extraordinary is the credulity of 
man, for not only do a great many farmers 
believe in these imaginary diseases, but in 
the Southern Htates there is a fictitious ail¬ 
ment in horseaj which is called “Sweeney,” 
but which under other mimes was proved to 
be an illusion among the intelligent veteri¬ 
narians more than half a century since and 
was laughed at as perfectly ridiculous by 
everybody, old and young before I left 
E igland. When lameness exists in the foot, 
sinews or any of the joints of a fore leg, the 
horse's shoulder may have a different appear¬ 
ance on the side of the lameness to the one 
on the sound side; the resting of the foot or 
leg find the pain occasion it, the samp as 
the muscles in the human limbs are affected 
by not being used ; thus, on detecting the 
slightest enlargement or contraction, no 
matter which, blisters, setons or some other 
applications or operations are resorted to and 
the animal is turned to grass where rest 
generally brings soundness and the punish¬ 
ment on the shoulder is claimed to have pro¬ 
duced Urn cure. 
“ Wolf in the Tail” I should have written, 
instead of “ Tail Evilbut the latter is the 
term in the parts of the country 1 heard most 
of it. I am aware that horse doctors and 
some of apparently good common sense, will 
pretend to helieve in Sweeney and that there 
will l>e a host of rebukes to the Editors if 
they put such an attack as this in print; but 
as they give opportunities for arguments on 
many disputed subjects, it is to be hoped, at 
least i hope, I may bo allowed to sxiy that 
Hollow Horn, Tail Evil ami Sweeney should 
be east into the oblivion of all other exploded 
follies, for not only ia there no Sweeney, but 
decidedly no other lameness proceeding from 
the shpulder, fistula being a disease of the 
withers and similar hi character to poll evil. 
Since writing on the aforesaid visionary 
diseases in cows with horns and tails (what a 
blessing to those having none) and horses 
with any kind of lameness ia the forelegs, a 
new bugbear 1ms presented itself in the hu¬ 
man species which is a capital match for the 
foregoing. It is “big neck ” in women ; for 
some way little is said about it in men. This 
is an awful affliction if not seen to in time, 
so the old ladies say, and young as well as 
old feel their throats and rim to the looking 
glass whenever any tingle or unusual sensa¬ 
tion is felt anywhere around the neck. Ap¬ 
plications of lotions, herbs and all manner 
of substances, harmless and poisonous, are 
reported to and two-thirds of ail the natives 
for many miles around have suffered from 
ointments, poultices, stimulants, &c., to pre¬ 
vent the disfigui’ement of the “big neck.” 
A farmer’s daughter whose neok was vex*y 
red from the effects of some severe liniment 
was quite indignant when the writer of this 
laughed at the folly of such absurd beliefs, 
and there is little doubt if some of the be¬ 
lievers in these diseases could have “ their 
POINTS OF A BERKSHIRE. 
H. E. E. wx-ites the Rural New-Yorker : 
“ Will you please give the points of a full- 
blooded Berkshire hog i” iu our issue of 
Jan. 18, 1873, we published the report of a 
committee on Berkshire to the National 
Swine Breeders’ Convention. The repox-t 
fills two columns and we have not space to 
republish it. Lest our correspondent may 
not have access to that report, we publish 
the “characteristics and markings” as re¬ 
ported to and adopted by the Convention, as 
follows Color, black, with white on feet, 
face, tip of tail and an occasional splash of 
white on the arm. While a small spot of 
white on some other part of the body does 
not argue an impurity of blood, yet It is to 
be discouraged to the end that uuiformity of 
color may be attained by breeders; white 
upon one ear, or a bronze or copper spot on 
some part of the body argues no Impurity, 
but rather a. reappearance of the original 
colors. Markings of white other than those 
named abovo are suspicious, and a pig so 
marked should be rejected. 
Face, short, flue and well dished; broad 
between the eyes. Ears, generally almost 
erect, but sometimes Inclining forward with 
advancing age, small, thin, soft and showing 
veins. Jowl, Cull. Neck, short and thick. 
Shoulder, short from neck to middling deep 
from back down. Back, broad and straight, 
or a very little arched. Long ribs well sprung, 
giving rotundity to the body ; short ribs of 
good length giving breadth and levelness to 
the loins. Hips, good length from point of 
hip to rump. Hams, thick, round and deep, 
holding their thiekuess well back and down 
to the hocks. Tail, fine and small, set on 
high up. Logs, short and fine, but straight 
and very strong, with hoofs erect, legs set 
wide apart. Size, medium. Length, medi¬ 
um ; extremes are to be avoided. Bone, 
fine and compact. Offal, very light. Hair, 
fine and spft, no bristles ; skin, pliable. 
CARBONACEOUS MATTER 
SWINE. 
way” they would chain unbelievers to a 
stake and roast them before a fire till they 
expressed full faith in these old - time 
maladies. 
The Rural New-Yorker did well in copy¬ 
ing from the London Field and it is likely 
this exposure will lead to more of the sense¬ 
less ideas of the ci-edulous being brought to 
light, for in all agricultural districts, espe¬ 
cially in those remote from cities and from 
enlightened surgeons there exist innumera¬ 
ble superstitious and monomaniaeal notions 
about every conceivable thing Connected 
with the farm. If the honorable individual 
“hunting up pedigrees,” May 23d, would 
search for proofs of the wisdom in retaining 
faith in all the old beliefs, and would give 
a learned disquisition in support of the faith¬ 
ful, it would be very interesting and it would 
likewise add to the intelligence of agricul- 
tu risks to have shown clearly how the moon 
) has so much influence on the operations on 
the farm, on the blood of the animals, 
growth of seeds and even on the flavor of 
meat cured at particular stages, a. w. p. 
The Rural New-Yorker can indorse, 
from experience, the advantage of bi’eeding 
carbonaceous matter to swine. Charcoal 
aud ashes, given to swine when they can 
have access to them at will certainly does 
promote health and thrift. Mr. Periank is 
a man of experience and says in the Western 
Rural There is no doubt in our mind of 
the benefit from feeding crude carbonaceous 
matter to swine, when they ore kept in close 
pens. The avidity with which hogs eat rot¬ 
ten wood is well known. Charcoal is but 
another form of carbon. Bituminous coal 
is still another form. The utility of feeding 
wood and coal has long been recognized. We 
some years since substituted the ordinary 
Western stone coal with the best results, 
where from 200 to 500 hogs were kept in close 
pens and fed on the refuse of city hotels. 
Something of the kind seems as necessary to 
them as salt to strictly herbivorous animals. 
We have known them to consume a pound 
in the course of a day, and again they would 
not seek the coal for some time. Just what 
the particular use coal is in the animal econ¬ 
omy, is not so easy to answer. Swine are 
especially liuble to scrofulous and inflammato¬ 
ry diseases. Carbon, iu the shape of coal, is 
an antiseptic, and the probability is that it 
acts iu this way in purifying the blood, 
-- 
PIG-PEN PAPERS. 
Diseased Hogs .—A number of my hogs 
are taken with an unnamed disease, which 
seems to be quite general in this part of the 
country. They seem to be weak in the book 
and bind parts. Will some one please name 
the disease and give a remedy i 1 have tried 
arsenic, copperas, sulphur and condition 
powders, but all fail to give relief. — M. 
McLank, Dwight, III. 
The trouble is evidently kidney worms. 
Our remedy, which has proved effectual, is 
ten drops of carbolic acid once a day in the 
drink, and put thirty di'ops of the same in 
one gill of hot vinegar aud bathe the back 
over the kidneys once a day. Another 
remedy, which iB imported effective, is to 
give the animal a dram of pulverized indigo 
in a bran mash until it affords relief, mean¬ 
time keeping the animal dry anil warm. A 
remedy we have known to succeed is to feed 
the animals with corn soaked in the lye of 
wood asheB and rab their loins with spirits 
of turpentine. 
Number of Swhw~ Bred .—It lias occurred 
to me that it would’be a gi-eat benefit if we 
could iiavc some estimate of the number of 
swine in the dilfei’ent localities. Let those 
who write for the season department give us 
an inkling. —W. R. 
