Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1883-05-12
Scab iR Sheep.


from the New York Tribune. Mr..
Geddes says:
M. Walz, a German, was the frs! to
establish the true character of the dis
ease; a minute insect (acaruS) does the
mischief. If by any means one of these
insects is put upon the fibre of the wool
of living sheep it at once travels to
the skin and burrows within it, where
it remains until about tIfe tenth or
twelfth daY.when little swelling, com
mences, and by the sixteenth day pus-
tule breaks and liberates the insect, and
if it is female, she comes forth with
her young that have hatched in the
skin OF the unfortunate sheep. These
at once spread themselves over the skin
and bury themselves and propagate
their kind, and, unless interfered with
by man, go on in their work until the
animal is covered with sores, which so
torture it that it constantly rubs itself
against posts or any convenient thing,
or tears its flesh off by its teeth, and
finally dies in misery.
There is an old and true saying:
"One scabby sheep will spoil whole
flock" The disease once introduced
spreads rapidly, for every post or pro-
jecting object in the field and shed or
yard to which the diseased animal may
be confined has very soon enough of
acari to attach themselves to the wool
of every sound sheep that may touch
these objects or lie down on ground
that has been before occupied by dis
eased sheep. M. Walz found that the
very young insects died by being long
kept in dry place, the old and mature
ones would live when so exposed
through whole winter.
Two remedies most used by farmers
to destroy insects on their animals is
spirits of turpentine and tobacco juice.
These two substances combined and
properly applied will kill the acari GER
tainly, as has been repeatedly proven
by owners of large focks Of sheep that
have become severely afflicted with scab
A letter before us from Wyoming Ter
ritory says that the signers therof had
a flock Of 1000 sheep that was pur'
chased year and more ago, and soon
after purchase symptoms of scab ap-
appeared. Six hundred pounds OF
damaged tobacco was purchased, and
the sheep dipped in the juice soon after
shearing, without good result, "fOr our
, sheep are troubled worse with the dis
5 ease now than year ago" THIS is g
hard case, and the cure big job, hui
] it is practicable, To show that it is
t possible, we will give the history Of 8
case, all the facts of which | have ia
= ken some pains to learn: Fifteen
t years ago Maj. Davis Cossitt, of Onon
t daga Hill, New York, well-known al
? wool-grower and sheep-breeder, al
c lowed passing drove of sheep to b'
!. confined in his yards during one night
r having no suspicion of danger from dis
j ease. The following winter, his owl
e sheep, to the number of six hundred
IS were kept in these yards that the drov,
= had but one night occupied severa
,, months before. Sickness kept tn
e owner confined to his house during tn
e early part of the winter, and when
last he was able to visit his focks h
IS saw at a glance that they were thor
@ oughly infested with scab. The usua
Il efforts were made to apply spirits G
n turpentine and tobacco to the disease
n parts as they could be reached Will
q the wool was unshorn, and with tn
W usual unsatisfactory result. AS 500
h as the shearing was done he adopte
is the following treatment:
Of A large quantity of the stalks of t.
e. bacco plants, from which the leave
lg had been stripped and sold, and tn
le stalks thrown away as Of no value
10 were procured from his neighbor
e, These stalks were cut into convenieI
n. lengths and placed in a large KEITH
~ and boiled until the water was blaC
e, with their juice. A platform was mac
I'd large enough to place upon it sheel
lis having bottom made tight, al
Nv over that, and about two inch
et from it, another floor made
he stats so near each other that the sheC
H. could not put their feet between. Tt
U.s. platform was placed on benches of co
M venient height, and was little inclin,
toward large tub (half hogshead) al
so placed that all the fluid that drain