352 SCAB IN SHEEP. 



nicated ; and it is a fact yearly experienced amongst dealers and 

 drovers, when buying sheep in the Highlands to bring south, 

 that although no scab can be detected amongst them at the time 

 they are lifted, still, after a drive of several weeks, before they 

 get to their destination, the disease frequently breaks out ; and 

 I have never heard the origin of the disease attributed to the 

 driving, but the irritation, and sometimes overheating, only tends 

 to rouse into action the latent germs of the disorder which mani- 

 fests itself more early than if the sheep were allowed to graze at 

 their own leisure. Then, in these cases, if a lot of sheep were 

 stopped on their road homeward, a case of great hardship and 

 difficulty would occur, which the most acute dealer could not 

 avert nor foresee, and the danger of spreading the disease would 

 be increased tenfold more, by the lot being stopped at some 

 station than if they were allowed to pass straight on. 



There is no doubt that railway travelling is a very different 

 question, and a very fruitful source of spreading the disease. 

 Tor example, if a lot of scabbed sheep were placed in a truck, 

 and conveyed for several hours, and, when taken out, if a lot of 

 sound ones were put immediately in, which sometimes occurs, 

 great risk is run of catching the disorder. To illustrate this 

 point, I will relate the following fact : — On a farm in Mid-Lothian 

 already alluded to, where the disease prevailed to such an extent, 

 no fences or march dykes existed between it and several of the 

 adjoining stock-farms, and from the shepherds paying particular 

 attention in keeping the sheep from intermixing, the disease for 

 some years never spread to any extent ; still, there was always 

 a few catching the disorder. To obviate this, and the constant 

 care and trouble of the shepherds, one of the adjoining tenants 

 put a paling along the boundary on the top of the hill, between 

 his sheep pasture and the farm where scab prevailed. Instead, 

 however, of the fence having the desired effect, it was exactly 

 the opposite, and the disease spread and increased to a far greater 

 extent. The reason is plain, and can be easily explained. Sheep 

 naturally draw to a hill top at night, if the weather is mild — con- 

 sequently the paling served as a rubbing-post, where the diseased 

 sheep naturally drew, to ease their torture, and on which the 

 acari must have been plentifully deposited, consequently the 

 sound sheep on the other side were attracted by their neighbours, 

 and not only carried off the acari, but the wool of each cnme in 

 contact through the bars of the paling, so that the disease w r as 

 transferred from sheep to sheep. Thus, in a similar manner, 

 scabbed sheep conveyed by the railway is a more fruitful source 

 of infection than travelling on the open road. 



Cure of scab undoubtedly lies in the destruction of the insect, 

 but the important question is — What is the best composition or 

 infusion for that purpose ? The remedies that are commonly 



