Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1881-04-01
Lice, Their Ways and Antidote.

Mr.. Samuel Richardson writes from
Minnesota that he has seventy-five Cor
twenty -five) head of two-year-old
steers, which were put into new barn
at beginning of winter; are in good
health and flesh; have never come in
contact with any other stock, and yet
they have got lousy. Has tried lard
and carbolic ecid melted together, but
it is so cold there that the lard freezes
in about two minutes, and the lice are
'just as hearty and well as ever" The
hair is getting loose, and the fine look
ing two-year-olds are beginning to
make him feel ashamed of them. 'The
barn is cleaned out every day and fresh
bedded with straw; it cannot be from
any neglect of care" The ways of lice
are mysterious. They often attack cat
tie in fine flesh, but generally are to be
found on those which are thin. They
will spread rapidly, sometimes from
one animal TO another when they are
confined in stable, or they will some-
times remain on one animal, or more,
spreading. They seem to prefer ami
mails with thin skin, and on this account
are generally to be found on calves, or
white cattle. Cattle which are frequent
ly carded and the scurf washed out of
their hair rarely have lice.
When lice infest herd and get into
stable they are liable to summer over
in it and prey upon the cattle the next
winter. On this account, where lice
once come they usually come again.
They seem able to perpetuate them
selves, hiding in the crevices of the sta
BILE, without any animal food for suste-
nance. Every stable in which lice are
found should be thoroughly white
washed with quicklime, allowing it to
penetrate all the cracks or if the stable
is tight enough it should be fumigated
by burning sulphur in it, which is de-
structive to all parasites of this kind.
Of course the cattle should be removed
from the stable during this operation.
There is no law of prevention that
know of. Cattle get lice upon them
when lying in places where rubbish has
decayed, or where there is rotten wood,
which is natural place for lice to har-
Dor. Lice multiply under favorable
conditions, and some seasons are more
plentiful than others. Sometimes an
animal will have few lice which it will
carry all winter without an visible in
crease. and then again from few they
will increase to myriads. This increase
generally follows when poor food is CIV
en- to the animal. with q waste OF vital
ity. An increase. of vitality and flesh
usually results in no increase, or per-
haps lessening, in the number OF lice.
Mercurial ointment is an effectual
| remedy for lice, when rubbed into the
hair, but it is so poisonous that it is
dangerous. 1t makes the animal liable
to take cold, causing stiffness, or erup-
| tions of the skin when too much is ap.
piled, and to be poisoned by licking It.
self. An old farmer used to puncture
the skin behind the foreleg and insert a
ball Of this ointment, closing the aper-
ture by stitch, SO that it could nst
work out. The poison was absorbed
by the blood, and in this way the lice
were destroyed. This farmer insisted
that this was the only proper manner to
use mercury. He had practiced it fol
years with success, he claimed. A
strong decoction of tobacco will kill
lice. The best destructive have ever
tried is mixture of kerosene oil and
lard of equal parts. If the weather il
too cold to apply the mixture, which
may be melted, + should try kerosene
oil alone. 1t will not injure the hair OIL
skin of pigs when applied to them, and
1t probably would not affect cattle.
would not be afraid to risk it, and it Il
perfect destructive for lice. 1t is &
discovery of my own, which experience
| justifes. should mix powdered sulphur
with salt and give the cattle free access
TO 1t whenever they were lousy. Il