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Show ERADICATE HOG LOUSE Vigorous and Patient Treatment Is Required. Blood-Sucking Parasites Cause Much Irritation of Skin In Dipping Creollne Is Better Than Lime and Sulphur, (By N. 8. MAYO.) The hog louse is a common parasitic pest on swine and one that requires vigorous and patient treatment to eradicate. The hog louse is one of the largest of the lice that attacks domestic animals. They are readily seen traveling about on the bristles, usually on the neck, back of the ears, moving with a peculiar sliding motion. mo-tion. The eggs' or "nits" are small, white, oval bodies attached to the bristles. Hog lice may be found on almost any part of the animal's body, but are most common about the neck, ears and back of the elbow. These are blood-sucking parasites and, by biting the hog and abstracting abstract-ing blood, they cause a good deal of irritation of the skin. The animal rubs on posts and other objects and the coat looks rough and harsh. The parasite and eggB are easily found upon examination. The parasites are transmitted from one animal to another an-other by contact, or by contact with Infected bedding or quarters. Dipping the animals three or four times at Intervals of ten days will usually usu-ally free them from these parasites, Vat for Dipping Hogs. provided the sleeping quarters are thoroughly cleaned and disinfected. In dipping to kill lice, the coal-tar dips of the creollne type are better than Hme and sulphur. If the hog wallows are kept well filled with water, wa-ter, to which some of the creoline dips are added every ten days, the swine will usually free themselves from the lice. Another good way of combating the parasites is to tie gunnysacks or other coarse cloths around rubbing posts and keep these cloths saturated with crude petroleum. petrole-um. There are many coal-tar "dips" on the market. They are made from the products of the distillation of coal tar and have a variety of trade names. Creoline Is one of these preparations. They are all dark-colored liquids with a strong coal-tar odor and when mixed with water-form a milky white or slightly brownish emulsion. We have tried several kinds with excellent ex-cellent results. Practically all druggists drug-gists have these dips, but we would advise using a dip made by a well-known well-known and reliable firm. These dips should be used at the strength of one part of the dip to forty or fifty parts of water. If rain water Is obtainable ob-tainable it Is preferred to "hard" water. wa-ter. TheBe dips should be used warm. There should be a dipping vat on every hog farm. They may be made of wood, galvanized iron or cement They are set in the ground at a cuu-venient cuu-venient place so that there is good surface drainage away from the vat A good size for a large vat is ten feet, long on top, eight feet long on the bottom, bot-tom, and two feet wide on top. The-end The-end where the hogs enter should be perpendicular and the other end inclined, in-clined, with cleats, so that the hogs, can emerge after swimming through. The entrance should be by a slide.j Such a tank is very useful whereever hogs are kept in numbers, as frequent dipping tends to keep the hogs healthy and free from parasites. |