THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



257 



fiuietions receiving each its natural stimulus, and being 

 thireby jn-eserved in an active healthy state. 



Examined from a physiological jioiut of view, this is 

 more parlicularly the case with slieep, especially as regards 

 the hepatic organ. In all animals this organ lias impor- 

 tant functions to perform, consequently it requires a regu- 

 lar supply of its natural stimulus ; hut in the ease of the 

 slieep it is manifest from various reasons that this organ 

 lias got extra work to do, and that consequently it requires 

 an extra supply of those properties to maintain it in a state 

 of health. Tlie same may he said of the alimentary canal 

 and all the other functions of the hod)^ — the whole of tliem, 

 including'the excretory functions of the skin, requiring 

 an extra supply of those hitler aromatic properties whicli 

 slieep are naturally fond of in their daily food. The expe- 

 rience of every intelligent observant sheplierd must verify 

 this, as herbage of this kind is industriously searched for 

 by tlie sheep, especially animals of a delicate constitution 

 or in a feeble state of health, and greedily devoured by 

 them in quantity as instinct guides them. And where 

 such herbage cannot be found on their own walks, instinct 

 often guides them long distances to satisfy the wants of 

 nature. The distance which^deer wiU go to drink sea 

 water and bathe when infested with inteslinal worms, and 

 which sheep are known to go to lick salt rocks for a simi- 

 lar purpose, is almost incredible. In all such examples 

 the natural instinct of these two animals (deer and sheep) 

 displays certain hygeinic principles highly instructive on 

 the present occasion, and well worthy the serious attention 

 of agriculturists. 



The peculiar character of the fasces and urine of the 

 sheep may be quoted as one of the I'easous referred to 

 above why its food should contain a large proportion of 

 tonic, diuretic, and diaphoretic properties, as tansy, wild 

 thyme, and heath. The yolk of the wool is another pro- 

 duct peculiarly characteristic of this animal. When tliese 

 peculiarities are examined from a chemico-physiological 

 point of view, they cannot be satisfactorily accounted for 

 in any other way than by an extra supply of those hitter 

 aromatic and saline plants of which sheep are so fond, and 

 which they consume in large quantities in all elevated and 

 healthy grounds. Lord Bacon, Cuvier, Griffiths, and 

 writers generally on the natural history of this interesting 

 quadruped draw attention to the peculiar quality of the 

 lierbage it consumes when grazing at freedom uncon- 

 trolled by the artifice of man ; and when we follow up the 

 inquiry relative to the quality of the mutton manufacture<l 

 from this food, and the daily waste excreted from the 

 system, including the physical and chemical characteristics 

 of this waste, the reasons involved in our proposition 

 must appear manifest to every intelligent reader. 



We have said a deficiency of bitter aromatic principles 

 in the food of sheep is sufficient to produce liver fluke 

 .ind " rot." The opposite of this — a sufficiency of those 

 principles will be, of course, the preventive remedy re- 

 quired. Tlie proposition is of a very general character, as 

 the quantity of those condimental principles required by 

 a sheep will depend upon the nature of the season and 

 many other conditions besides, too numerous to menlion. 

 The past wet, cold season, for exam]3le, is one that would 

 have required, comparatively speaking, a larger proportion 

 than usual, while it had a natural tendency to pi-oduce 

 principles in plants of an opposite character — the whole 

 country almost being reduced to the level of low marshy 

 ground, with its unhealthy produce, when considered as 

 food for sheep. 



How far such a deficiency wis realized last year is a 

 question for practical chemistry to solve. In the absence 

 of experimental evidence from the agricultural laboratory, 

 we can only enunciate the general proposition, that a 

 deficiency of such aromatic bitter principle did exist last 

 year, and does exist generally in the food of our sheep on 

 all arable lands and low-lying meadows or pastures, and 

 that science points to the propriety, if not to the neces- 

 sity of an artificial supply. It is long since Lord Bacon ' 

 proposed the cultivation of plants on elevated grounds to 

 improve their condimental properties, and it certainly 

 would not be a very great stretch of experimental inquiry 

 to take a lesson from his" Sylva Sylvarum," by reducing to 

 practice the principles which such a lesson invidves. Some 

 fields are very prone ].to produce tansy; others heath, wild 

 thyme, tormentil, &a. Can we not learn to liusband sucli 

 products artificially, and convert them into he.althy sheep, 

 fine-flavoured mutton, cash at our bankers, and so forth ? 

 and thus get rid of fluke worms, and rotten mutton, with 

 the inexpressible stomachic troubles, and bowel complaints, 

 to which its consumption give rise. 



There is unquestionably involved in these sug- 

 gestions a profitable field of industry, which already 

 may be seeu looming in the distance — there being 

 large areas of land naturally disposed, so to speak, 

 to yield such plants, but which refuse to pi-oduce any other 

 with profit. The day therefore may come, and, for aught 

 we know, may be close at hand, when some farmers will 

 not be laughed at for growing " fine crops of tansy" and 

 tormentil. IMoreover, there are other plants besides these 

 which such soils may profitably yield — plants which sheep 

 are particularly fond of, and which are known to be con- 

 ducive to their health, and whose medicinal action is cal- 

 culated to pi'event the formation and development of fluke 

 in the liver and cntozoa generally in our domestic animals. 

 The subject is one of those that partakes of a national 

 character, and therefore demands the undivided attention 

 of the public. It involves a manufacturing and a com- 

 mercial question as well as one purely agricultural, and, if 

 discussed in the light of scientific progress, it cannot fail 

 of ultimately being profitably i-educed to practice. 



Since the above was written, the writer has read with 

 much pleasure a report on the liver-fluke by Professor 

 Simonds, whose views appear to harmonize, in principle 

 at least, with those expressed in the above article. Un- 

 qiiestionably the practical plan of treating "rot" in 

 sheep is to prevent the formation and development of 

 fluke in the liver by means of anthelmintics — condi- 

 mental properties of which this little mountain-loving 

 quadruped is naturally partially fond. With regard 

 to the herbage of sea marshes, so often quoted, and 

 to which Mr. Simonds refers, having once farmed an ex- 

 tensive grazing tract of this kind outside the embankments 

 of arable land reclaimed from the tide, we may mention 

 that this herbage contained antlielraintic plants that were 

 greedily eaten by sheep ; and if this is true generally, the 

 prevention of rot cannot legitimately be attributed solely to 

 the presence of salt from the frequent overflowings of the 

 tide. Again, the conclusion that extra moisture is the 

 cause of fluke and rot does not appear warranted by fact; 

 for in the Western Isles, and highlands of Scotland and 

 Ii-eland, where tormentil, tansy, and other anthelmintic 

 plants grow abundantly, sheep do not suffer from fluke in 

 the liver, although the degree of humidity is ten-fold 

 greater than in those districts where I'ot now prevails. 

 Moreover, Dr. Paris, in his Pharmacologia, when ti-ea(ing 



