338 THE AMERICAN FARMER. 



covers the diseased portions of the feet, and if properly done, no bleeding will result from 

 the operation. An unskillful, careless operator may do more damage in cutting than the 

 disease, and it should be borne in mind that what is necessary at this point is skillful surgery, 

 not butchery. 



Various applications are recommended by experienced wool-growers. A gentleman of 

 large experience in sheep-rearing in Australia, states that he has never found anything equal 

 in its good effect to the arsenic trough. The trough should be large enough to hold two or 

 three sheep standing, and the solution contain three ounces of arsenic to a gallon of water, 

 and about an ounce of salt. It should be as hot as one could bear the hand for an instant, 

 and three or four inches in depth in the trough, just deep enough to well cover the hoof. 

 The sheep should be required to stand four or five minutes in this bath, by being held by the 

 head, keeping two or three sheep in at a time; in this manner two or three persons can run 

 through a large flock in a comparatively short time. 



The wash should be kept quite warm by repeated additions, or dipping a hot iron into 

 it. The arsenic hardens the hoof, and not only destroys the germ of the disease, but acts as 

 an antiseptic. Fine, dry weather is necessary to the operation. He also says that if sheep are 

 put through the arsenic bath every three months, lameness will be a rare exception in any flock. 



Another wash highly recommended by good authority, is a solution of blue vitriol and 

 water as hot as the hand can endure for an instant, twelve pounds of vitriol being sufficient 

 for a hundred sheep. The bath should be sufficient to well cover the hoof, the hoofs of the 

 animals having been first pared according to the above directions. The hot liquid quickly 

 penetrates to every cavity of the foot, and will produce more marked results than merely 

 wetting. The animals should stand in it from eight to ten minutes. Another method 

 sometimes resorted to is to pare the hoof as in case of the wash, and smear the foot with a 

 mixture of the following proportions: powdered blue vitriol one pound; verdigris one-half 

 pound; linseed oil one pint; pure tar one pint. This preparation will stick to the foot, and 

 is a very effectual remedy; however, we do not recommend it as superior to the above hoof 

 baths. After treatment of any kind, the sheep should be kept on a dry footing, and if on a 

 floor, a little lime sprinkled on it acts as a preventive. 



This dreadful disease is said to be more prevalent among Merino sheep than with the 

 long-wooled breeds, owing in part to the difference in the formation of the hoof. Whenever 

 it makes its appearance, it should receive attention at once, as it will be liable to spread 

 through the flock irt a short time. Feeding on the same pasture, lying in the same yard, or 

 being driven over the same road with the flocks, or soon after a flock infected with it has 

 passed, will often fasten this disease upon a large portion of the animals thus exposed, as it 

 is very contagious. All sheep showing any sign of it should be at once separated from the 

 well ones, and after an infected flock has been cured, they should not occupy the same 

 grounds for, at least, four or five weeks. In fact, no diseased sheep of any kind should ever 

 be tolerated in a flock, for they are very unprofitable. Inexperienced persons, in buying 

 sheep, should be exceedingly careful, and give special examination before making a purchase, 

 to see that the animals are all perfectly sound. Should there be a single lame one in the 

 flock, especially if the lameness be in the foot, it may be pretty safely depended upon that it 

 has this terrible disease, either in its incipient or more advanced stages. 



Hoven. This difficulty is caused by the vegetable matter in the first stomach becoming 

 fermented, and such a quantity of gas in consequence generated that the sheep swells nearly 

 to bursting, and death sometimes ensues from suffocation. Hoven is quite common when 

 sheep are first turned into a rich pasture; especially clover. 



The breathing is short, owing to the distended condition of the stomach, which leaves 

 but little room for respiration, and the body of the sheep is largely distended, especially the 

 left side. 



