THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



339 



eliould wish to have doue, what I believe to be the tme cx- 

 plauatiou of this disease, I must p;is« ou to make some more 

 commou-place observations with regard to the means 

 which we have at our disposal for the first ascertaining the ex- 

 istences of the malady, and then putting into requisition the 

 means which will effect its cure or prevention. With regard 

 to the symptoms by which we reco;^nize rot, it is universally 

 admitted I believe, at least by all practical men, that in the 

 earliest stage there is no great depreciation of the value of the 

 aheep, that it does not apparently suffer any iacouveuience, 

 but that it rather accumulates flesh faster. Thecxplanai^on of 

 this is easy enough : The small flukes euter into the liver, not 

 perfected, Lut iiaving of course to be perfected in size, and to have 

 their generative S3'8tem fully developed in the gall-ducts of the 

 liver. When they first pass in, although, perhaps, in very 

 considerable numbers, they simply act as a stimulus to 

 the action of the liver, and consequently call forth an in- 

 creased accretion of bile ; and as there is no alteration in the 

 character of the bile, the sheep now beiug fairly supplied with 

 an ordinary amount of food, will mske relatively a larger 

 quantity of blood out of such food. The liver beiug in a state 

 of activity, and scarcely bordering upon disease, the sheep will 

 lay on a larger quantity of flesh. We have an authority 

 for this in the observations of the late Mr. Bakewell, aud since 

 his time, as well as before, the same thing has been observed, 

 but not to the same extent. I have had a good search through 

 different works to fiud the authority, and in Arthur Young's 

 Farmer's Tour in the East of En(jland,Vo\. I , he thus writes : 

 " Kclative to the rot in sheep Mr. Bakewell has attended 

 more to it than most men in England. He is extremely clear, 

 from long attention, that this disorder is owing solely to floods 

 — never to land being wet only from rains ^\hich do not Jlow, 

 nor from springs that rise. He conjectures thit the young 

 grass, which springs iu conjequence of a flood, is of so flashy 

 a nature that it occasions this common complaint. Buf, 

 whether this idea is just or not, still he is clear in his facts, 

 that floods (iu whatever manner they act) are the cause. 

 Perhaps tlie most curious experiment ever made in the rot of 

 sheep, is what he has frequently practised. When particular 

 parcels of his best lired sheep are past service, he fata them 

 for the butcher, and to be sure that they shall be killed aud 

 not go into other hands, be rots them before he sells, which, 

 from loug experience, he can do at pleasure. It is ouly to 

 flow a pasture or meadow in summer, and it invariably rots 

 all the sheep that feed ou it the following autumn. After the 

 middle of May, water flowing over laud is certain to cause 

 rot, whatever be the soil. He has ac'.ed thus with several of 

 his fields, which without that management would never affect 

 a sheep iu the least ; the water may flow with impunity all 

 ■winter, and even to the end of April, but after that the above 

 effect is sure to take place. Springs he asserts to be no cause 

 of rotting, nor yet the grass which rises in consequence, unless 

 they Jlow. Nor in it ever owiug to the ground being very wet 

 from heavy rains, unless the water /oim. This theory of the 

 rot (adds Young) upon the whole appears satisfactory, and 

 that part of it which is the certain result of experience cannot 

 be doubted." Speaking of watering meadows, in Vol. IH , of 

 same work, p. 310, he says that Mr. W. White, a tenant of 

 Mr. Frampton's, of Moreton (Dorset), " remarked, and it is 

 the general observation of the county, that those watered 

 lands never rot sheep in the spring, though they immediately 

 follow the water, or are turned in at any time, or in any man- 

 ner; but if they are turned into the after grass, it merely rota 

 till the autumnal watering, after which they are safe. They 

 keep their theep iu till May-da}-, which, they assert, would be 

 sure to rot them, was not the land watered ; and, p.lso, that 

 the very best land in the country for rotting, is perfectly 

 cured by watering." Subsequently to this the deviations from 

 bealch are exceedingly alow, and it may be said that they are 

 insidious. It is very difficult, therefore, for us to say what 

 are really the early symptoms of rot, if we except this accu- 

 mulation of flesh. There cau be no doubt that in an advanced 

 stage of the disease, we take cognizauce of the affection very 

 readily ; but unfortunately it happens that the symptoms 

 which then show themselves, are such as to prove to us that 

 the system is breaking up, and that the time has past for 

 curative measures. At first, I say, these symptoms are ex- 

 ceedingly insidious, but subsequently to this accumulation of 

 fat they are well marked. For instance, after a certain length 

 of time we find that such animals have an occasional cough, 



that their appetite is somewhat impaired and fastidious- 

 to-day feeding pretty well, to-morrow scarcely at all. They 

 will be easily acted upon by all external causes, and if 

 exposed to wet and cold will suffer a great deal of 

 inconvenience. Much of the progress of the disease will 

 depend upon the treatment to which the animals are 

 subjected. I mty say by the way that I am fa- 

 miliar with one case in which a gentleman in Norfolk, 

 who has a sandy-heath farm, purchased some shefp in 

 the latter part of August in one year, aud he was not aware 

 that they were affected with rot until the February of 

 the following year. Being satisfied that the sheep had not 

 received the disease while they were in bis possession, he 

 sought out the dealer from whom he bought them, and on 

 tracing the matter out, it was ascertained that other portions 

 of the same flock were also affected ; the dealer consequently 

 took them back aud paid the cost of them. The slow pro- 

 gress of the disease was entirely due to the circumstance that 

 the sheep were placed upon a dry saudy soil, well supplied 

 with highly nitrogeuised food, and not exposed to great in- 

 clemency of weather. Had causes of the opposite kind been 

 brought into operation, the disease would have much earlier 

 declared itself in the most unmistakeable manner. I have 

 stated that the animals have au impaired appetite ; subse- 

 quently there is a gradual wasting of the body, and this is a 

 matter of some importance to us, because we fiud it takes 

 place even before other symptoms which are looked upon as 

 unmistakeahle evidences of the existence of the disease show 

 themselves, at any rate to any great extent. It is always a sus- 

 picious circumstance if you find that animals have done re- 

 markably v;ell, and then towards the latter period of the j'ear, 

 when they should be going on raaintainiug their condition, 

 they begin to waste. If you put your hand upon them and 

 find them '' lean on the back" as it is called, that the verte- 

 bra are sticking up, and are bare of flesh, if you find the 

 auimals " razor-backed," if I may use the expression, it is a 

 pretty good indication that they are affected. This state of 

 wasting being once established, it continues, and we then get 

 a pale state of the skin, which becomes of a yellowish tint, aud 

 very frequently it may be said that jaundice to some extent 

 becomes associated with dropsy. If you open a sheep which 

 is iu a somewhat advanced stage of the affection, what will 

 you observe with regard to its fat ? That it is particularly 

 yellow; and if I were an inspector of the metropolitan markets, 

 aud were to see a number of sheep which were very de- 

 ficient iu flesh and in fat, and that which existed 

 was of a yellow colour, I should at once infer that they 

 were affected with rot ; and I know from experience that I 

 should rightly come to such a conclusion. We afterwards 

 find that the inner angle of the eye becomes exceedingly pale, 

 so that when we evert the lids and press forward the memhrana 

 niclilaus of the eye, we find instead of its being in a healthy 

 condition, that it is covered with a number of red lines, mark- 

 ing blood-vessels through which the blood flows, that the blood 

 being deprived of its red cells, the organ is colourless. 

 Now, it may be said this is little more than shepherd's 

 knowledge. Well, we admit that it is shepherd's knowledge, 

 but it is nevertheless valuable to us as far as it goes, especi- 

 ally if we associate it with other symptoms. Next we have, 

 generally speaking, a symptom Vvihich shows itself in con- 

 junction with this wasting, this fastiJious appetite, this yellow 

 state of the skin, unhealthy condition of the wool, and 

 blanched state of the vessels, namely, increased thirst. You 

 generally find that these sheep, having the facility of getting 

 down to the water, will very frequently be drinking to a much 

 larger extent than healthy sheep will do. This evidently 

 arises from the circumstance that there is a great draiu going 

 on upon the system, that the blood itself is being deprived of 

 its watery matter, and that water must be taken into the 

 organism to make up for the drain. We find further, 

 that as the disease advances a variable state of fceces exists ; 

 sometimes the sheep will be scouring, and at other times 

 nothing of the sort will be observed ; and it is always a sus- 

 picious circumstance to find sheep in the autumnal months 

 occasionally scouring. I would rather see a sheep with a re- 

 gular lax condition of the bowels, than one with a relaxed 

 state to-day and an opposite state to-morrow, which 

 may continue for three or four days, and then give place 

 to a lax condition again. We can easily explain how this is. 

 The bile will be poured out irregularly into the intestinal 



