Cattle 1853 - Lewis Family Farm

WARBLES. 443
into contact with a thousandth part of them ; nor can a lotion,
unless used in a quantity sufficient to kill the beast as well as those
that are feeding upon him. An ointmeilt is the most convenient
application, and by dint of rubbing, a little of it may be made to go
a great way. The common scab ointment for sheep (one part of
strong mercurial ointment, and five of lard) will be effectual for this
purpose ; and if a little of it be well rubbed in, instead of a great
deal being smeared over the animal, there will be no danger of sal-
ivation.
Homceopathic treatment.—Lice are destroyed in a few days with a
decoction of staphysagria, or with a pomade prepared with three
parts of axunge and one part of parsley-seed, pounded.
WARBLES.
Toward the latter part of the summer and the beginning of autumn,
and especially in fine and warm weather, cattle out at pasture are
frequently annoyed by a .fry of the Diptera order and the CEstrus
genus, that seems to sting them with great severity. The animal
attacked runs bellowing from his companions, with his head and
neck stretched out, and his tail extending straight from his body,
and he seeks for refuge, if possible, in some pool or stream of water.
(The fly seems to fear or to have an aversion to the water, and
cattle are there exempt from its attack.) The whole herd, having
previously been exposed to the same annoyance, are frightened, and
scamper about in every direction, or, one and all, rush into the
stream, lender the excitation of the moment, they disregard all
control, and even oxen at work in the fields will sometimes betake
themselves to flight with the plough at their heels, regardless of
their driver, or of the incumbrance which they drag behind them.
The formidable enemy that causes this alarm, and seems to inflict
so much torture, is the CEstrus JBovis, the Breeze, or Gad-fly, which,
at this time, is seeking a habitation for its future young, and selects
the hides of cattle for this purpose. It is said to choose the younger
beasts, and those that are in highest condition. There has evidently
been considerable exercise of selection, for a great many of the
cattle in the same pastures will have only a few warbles on their
backs, while others will, in a manner, be covered by them.
The oestrus bovis is the largest and most beautiful of this genus.
Its head is white, and covered with soft down—its thorax yeflow anteriorly,
with four black longitudinal lines—the centre of the thorax
is black, and the posterior part of an ashen color—the abdomen is
also of an ashen color, with a wide black band in thp centre, and
covered posteriorly with yellow hair. Jt does not leave its chrysalis
state until late in the summer, and is then eagerly employed in pro-