THEIR CAUSES, NATURE, AND PREVENTION. 183 



some people doing, to restore to his hill pastures that which he 

 annually takes out of them in the form of manures. As a rule 

 he has not the means to do so, and if he had, the task of manur- 

 ing a thousand acres of hill would be a Herculean one indeed ; 

 but the farmer may give the poor impoverished land, or the 

 best patches of it, something in the shape of lime to supply 

 materials for the bones of the animals grazing on it, and salt 

 to supply soda to the serum of their blood ; and if he cannot 

 dress all the patches in one year he can dress them in rotation : 

 I do not say dress the whole area of the hill pastures on a farm. 

 There are hundreds of acres on which, by virtue of the absence of 

 a matrix in the form of soil, manurial agents would be absolutely 

 thrown away, but it is a poor hill on which there are not a few 

 fertile spots — a few oases in the desert — and these are often 

 the life of animals depastured on them. I will even go farther 

 and say that some few of such spots may be worth the expense 

 of a little bone and a few pounds of good grass seeds. I have 

 known a few hills, where it has been practicable, converted into 

 a mine of wealth to sheep farmers by breaking them up and 

 re-seeding ; and it must be borne in mind that the good effect 

 of improvements is not confined to the areas on which they are 

 carried out but that it extends around the borders of those 

 areas by virtue of the improved manure (dung) from the sheep 

 themselves. 



Assuming, moreover, that circumstances will not allow of the 

 carrying out of these plans, cattle can be depastured on some of 

 the hills or parts thereof and a supply of artificial foods or dried 

 natural foods be given to them ; or, the same thing can be done 

 with sheep instead of always taking them to the lowlands. I 

 have known barren hills converted into fertile ones by this 

 means ; and, more, I have known diseases, such as " louping-ill " 

 and " braxy," disappear from spots they loved to haunt, if I may 

 use such an expression ; and only a short time ago Mr Fletcher 

 Menzies related to me, when conversing with him on this sub- 

 ject, a very instructive instance of the conversion of a death- 

 dealing hill into a healthy pasture in this way. I will also ask 

 and ask if there is anything to prevent the farmer from adding 

 some of the necessary elements of the animal body to the 

 artificial and dry foods in the shape of salt, magnesia (as 

 Epsom salts); potash (askainite or sulphate); andiron — as green 

 vitriol ? Two of these agents — salt and iron — not only de- 

 stroy the germs of disease but the embryos of parasites also, 

 while the others stimulate the digestive organs and kidneys 

 to healthy action. All are cheap ; and even if animals did 

 not utilise all they took in they would return it to the soil 

 in the urine and fseces. Iron is not likely to be conveyed to 

 hills in any form, seeing that there are no roads or streets over 



