56 
WARBLE PLY. 
Bailey in his work) did not go into scientific points, nor was the work 
in any way compulsory. In 1885 the boys were shown the warbles, 
told their history, and begged to bring what they could find; amongst 
them, one pupil alone brought in 250, and in th e following year, when 
he examined his father’s and his brother’s stock (numbering 114 head 
of cattle), lie found no warbles, excepting on young cattle which had not 
been dressed because they were out in the fields. 
So year by year the work continued. The boys examined the 
cattle at the time when the maggots were beginning to be in a state to 
remove, and brought them in to Mr. Bailey, who noted numbers and 
details, and gave me the results yearly in tabulated form until the 
pest was nearly stamped out. These gave in separate columns the 
names of the finders, the number of stock examined,—ranging in the 
table before me from a single cow up to eighty-six,—and also the 
amount of warbles on cow, calf, or heifers. From these tables and 
notes the steady and immediate drop in amount of warble-presence 
where care was taken was clearly shown, and also the immediate 
running-up of numbers where uncared-for cattle had been brought in, 
or from some cause there had been difficulty in giving the necessary 
attention. 
Relatively to this point, on April 13th, 1887, Mr. Bailey informed 
me:—“Another lot of boys have examined and reported to me on 
250 head of stock. The results agree with those I sent you. 
“ AVhere the cattle were properly attended to last year by the warble- 
maggots being squeezed out, or dressed with McDougall’s smear or 
cart-grease, there are scacely any maggots to be seen now; where, 
however, this precaution has not been taken, the enemy is to be found 
in full force.” 
As examples of the former, Mr. Bailey mentioned two of the boys, 
who had paid great attention to the matter in the previous year, and 
had (at time of report) examined, respectively, one 58, the other 53 
cows and heifers; in the first case finding only one warble, in the other 
only six. 
“ On the other side, where remedies had not been applied, two 
brothers removed 40 maggots this week from one stock, and their task 
is not half done; another boy applied McDougall’s smear to 70 
warble-maggots. 
“It is not only on our large farms where so much energy is being 
shown in an effort to stamp out this pest, but the sons of our cottagers 
are equally active in the cause. These boys in a few years will be 
our agricultural labourers, and I encourage them to examine and 
report to me on their one cow and heifer. 
“ Where the stock is free from the pest the boys tell me the cows 
are milking unusually well this year.” have no hesitation in 
