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THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



besides these, is to observe that the worst and most common 

 is in/eclion.'''' 



" The unwholesome plants" referred to above, are whit-rot, 

 8un-dew, and louse-wort. 



" Whit-rot. — This is a little obscure plant, which often 

 grows in great abundance where it is little minded, and is the 

 cause of very terrible mischief to the farmer. It is very com- 

 mon in marshy grounds, where it runs close to the bottom, 

 and is hid among the grass. The sheep find it, though 

 their owner does not perceive it, and they eat of it abundantly 

 among the grass, being pleastid with its sharp tush. The con- 

 sequence is their falling into that terrible distemper the rot, 

 from which few that have swallowed any large quantity of 

 this herb escape." 



" Sun dew. — This is another of those plants which are 

 fatal to sheep, and which are in the same manner, as often over- 

 looked by those who know its bad effects, by reason of its 

 gmallness ; but in this they are the less to be excused, be- 

 cause, though a very little plant, its singularity renders it very 

 conspicuous. It is but about six inches high, but it strikes 

 the eye at first by being all over of a red colour, and upon a 

 closer examination it surprises yet more by being covered with 

 large drops of water in the most violent heats ; it hence ob- 

 tained the English name sun-dew, and it is also called fre- 

 quently ' rosa-soUs.' This plant grows, like the former, on 

 boggy ground, and it has, like that, a sharp taste, for which 

 the sheep like it. They cat it too frequently, and its effects 

 are the same as those of the former : it brings on the rot, and 

 those which have eaten much are incurable." 



" Lousewort. — This is another inhabitant of the wet and 

 marshy grounds, which is hurtful to sheep in a terrible man- 

 ner, though not so fatal as the others. It is a much larger 

 plant than either of those, and easier seen ; but it is as often 

 overlooked and disregarded. All our wet meadows abound 

 with this plant. Its juicy substance and taste allure the sheep 

 to eat of it, in those places especially where there is but little 

 grass, which is too common a case where this plant is abund. 

 ant ; and it throws them into many disorders. There is no 

 herb that has so speedy, evident, and certain an effect in foul- 

 ing the blood. The most healthy and clean flock will in a 

 fortnight grow scabby and scurfy upon the skin, their wool 

 will be loose, and they will be overrun with vermin." 



Per contra, we read from the same work, relative to the pre- 

 vention and cure of this disease — " It has been observed uni- 

 versally that sheep fed on salt-marshes never have the rot 

 This put it, naturally, into people's thoughts to try salt as a 

 cure ; and we read wonders of its effects. This also I have 

 seen tried, and sometimes with good consequences, but never 

 with the great success that is boasted by many. Salt is a pre- 

 servative against the rot, and that is all we rationally learn 

 from the cattle not being infected with it that feed in the salt- 

 marahes ; but it is not so certain a cure. The best kind of 

 salt for this purpose is bay-salt ; and the best way of giving 

 it is by beating it to powder, and then sprinkling it among the 

 dry food. Though we do not advise the farmer to rely upon 

 it patirely, we shall recommend it, among other remedies, in 

 this manner : Bruise to powder an ounce of grains of paradise 

 and four ounces of juniper -berries, dried; add to these two 

 pounds of bay-salt and balf-a-pound of loaf-sugar, grind them 

 all well together, and sprinkle some of this upon the hay and 

 the oats that are given the sheep." Should this not prove 

 effective, the authors propose adding antimony in ale, " roots 

 of the common avens " and " root of masterwort." 



The large work from which we quote the above was printed, 

 it tells us, "by the king's authority, in weekly numbers;' 

 and there cannot be a doubt but the authors give a faithful 



account of what was said about the rot at the time it was 

 written. Our next quotation is from the fifth edition of " The 

 Complete Farmer, or Dictionary of Agriculture, " 2 vols., 

 quarto : 1807. This article, we may observe, is acknowledged 

 by the writers to be chiefly from the report of Dr. Harrison, 

 Lincolnshire, on the subject. 



" Rot. — In farriery, a disease incident to sheep and other ani- 

 mals, in which both the liver and lungs are affecced, and there 

 is often a dropsical tendency. It is most connected with 

 moisture or moist situations, but its causes are far from being 

 perfectly investigated." After quoting Dr. Harrison's account 

 of the appearance of the disease in different cases, his sum- 

 mary of the causes are given thus : — " In respect to the 

 causes of the disease, he (Dr. H.) says it has been imputed — 

 1st, To vitiated dew. 2nd, To a crust which adheres to the 

 grass after wet weather, or the overflowing of running water- 

 3rd, To the luxuriant and quick growth of plants in hot moist 

 seasons. 4th, To grazing certain herbs. 5th, To faciolse 

 hepaticse or their ova being introduced into the stomachs by 

 feeding in swampy and low grounds in moist weather. 6th, It 

 has been called the eheep-pox by Professor Vibourg, of the 

 Veterinary College at Copenhagen ; but this is not properly a 

 cauae of the rot. .7th, It is ascribed by Daubentou to poor 

 diet and drinking too much water. These different causes are 

 objected to, and shown not to be well founded by the writer 

 (Dr. H.), who thinks that, 8th, It seems to be occasioned by 

 poisonous effluvia, which, under certain circumstances, are 

 emitted from marshy soils." 



In proof of this last miasmatic cause, several examples are 

 quoted from Dr. Harrison's work, the following three being 

 the chief: — Ist. In driving a flock of sheep at Barling, Lin- 

 colnshire, one accidentally broke its leg. While attending to 

 this animal, the shepherd left the remainder to graze in the 

 road and ditch bottoms, when, in less than an hour, they were 

 affected with rot, the one whose leg was broken only escaping 

 the malady. 2nd. A Lincolnshire farmer, in sending some 

 sheep to turnips in Notts, allowed one division of forty to 

 stop a night at the above unhealthy grounds, when they were 

 affected with the rot, the other divisions that did not stop 

 escaping the disease. 3rd. Asa flock of sheep were passing 

 through a long lane in the parish of Irby, one of them, 

 from over fatigue, dropped on the load. The others 

 were permited to graze until the tired sheep was able to travel. 

 On arriving at their destination, it was found that the tired 

 sheep only was free from rot, all the others being infected. 

 From these and other causes. Dr. Harrison thinks himself 

 justified in ascribing the rot in sheep and other animals (for 

 " pigs, cows, asses, horses, poultry, hares, and rabbits become 

 rotten in this lordship, and have flukes in their livers") to 

 paludal effluvia," but at the same time he acknowledges him- 

 self unable to give a satisfactory rationale of the modus 

 operandi. Per contra, we read from the same work : " It is 

 confidently asserted, that decoctions of bitter herbs, with salt, 

 have perfectly preserved sheep from the rot." 



Another favourite mode of preservation, is to remove the 

 flock from low, marshy, or wet grounds to dry quarters during 

 night, and not return them to grazing until the dew is off, the 

 next morning. We give the following often-quoted story 

 verbatim. " A shepherd, who when young was shepherd's 

 boy to an old man who lived at Netlam, near Lincoln— a place 

 famous for the rot — told Mr. Neve, that he was persuaded 

 sheep took the rot only of a morning, before the dew was well 

 off. At that time they folded them in open field ; hia mas- 

 ter's shepherd kept his flock in fold always till the dew was 

 gone ; and, with no other attention his sheep were kept sound, 

 when all the neighbours lost their flocks." 



