12 THE COMMON SHEEP-SCAB. 
of shepherds who know all the individuals, and who:notice, 
almost immediately, if anything is wrong with them, the 
presence of the scab-mite is quickly followed by the proper 
remedy. The shepherds, although they frequently do not 
know that a mite is the cause of the trouble, search for 
the infested. spots, remove the wool already loosened, and, 
scraping away the scab, apply a little extract of tobacco, 
which they always keep on hand, or apply a gray salve, 
made of mercury, to which is added a little oil of turpen- 
tine. In this way the young colonies made by the mites are 
soon destroyed. 
To kill the scab-mites in any given locality, and to pre- 
vent infection of healthy sheep, two operations have to be 
carried out, and ought to be enforced, ifnecessary, by law; 7. e. 
1. Direct destruction of the mites, and 
2. Disintection of stables, etc. 
Both are most effectively carried out immediately after 
shearing, as at that time the scabs are exposed to view. The 
sheep, after being dipped, should be kept away for some 
time from their old stables to prevent new infection. 
To kill the mites in a thorough manner, it is best to ap- 
ply the remedy over the whole surface of the animal, and not 
alone to the region showing scab. For this purpose two 
baths, or dips, are required, one to loosen the scab, so as to 
permit the scab remedy to reach the mite, and the other to 
perform the actual work of killing the parasites. 
For the first bath, or dip, it is best to make a solution of 
two parts of potash, one part of lime, and fifty parts of 
water, or, in other words, dissolve in 100 quarts of water 
10ib of potash and 5ib of lime. 
For the second bath, a good dip is composed of 80 gal- 
lons of water and 40ib of tobacco. In both baths the water 
should be warmed to a temperature of 100° to 110° Fahr. 
This second bath should be applied twenty-four hours after 
the first one. With proper appliances, each sheep, after shear- 
ing, requires about two gallons of either fluid, andin winter, 
or when the wool is long, about four gallons. 
It requires four men to do the work thoroughly, one to 
hold the front legs, one the hind legs, and one thehead. The 
