244 SMALL-POX IN SHEEP. 



My inquiries in Mecklenburgh led me to believe that 

 districts were proscribed long after small-pox had been in 

 them. Though the Government regulations are stringent, 

 there are no means employed to ensure that they are enforced. 

 It will be observed that it was officially announced that small- 

 pox was at Quassel only as late as the 6th of September, 

 whereas by that time the disease had committed great ravages, 

 and had in reality been in a flock four months. Many other 

 cases of a similar nature occurred. I also found that infected 

 sheep and the skins of animals that had died of the disease 

 were sold. 



The first farm I visited on my way from Hamburgh to 

 Rostock was Quassel, near Pritzier, towards the south-west 

 of Mecklenburgh Schwerin. The proprietor farms his own 

 land. He is a wealthy man, possessing also an estate on 

 which he has sheep and cattle beyond Ltibeck. At Quassel 

 he had in the month of May 1862, 250 sheep. As none are 

 bred on this estate, and only purchased to fatten for the 

 butcher, 400 sheep were bought about the middle of May. 

 The 250 fat ones were then sold, but not removed by the 

 dealer. Both purchase and sale were effected by the pro- 

 prietor, Herr von Paepke, with a Mr Reuter, a large dealer 

 in Hagenow. Herr von Paepke could not at the time learn, 

 because Herr Reuter chose to conceal, whence the 400 

 sheep came, but afterwards was informed that they came 

 from an infected district in the neighbourhood of Gustrow. 

 Very shortly after purchase, disease appeared in the new 

 flock, and spread so rapidly that in July it was thought ex- 

 pedient to clear out the fat ones, which were sent to Ham- 

 burgh for the English trade. On this point my inquiries 

 have been most particular, and I state the facts as gleaned 

 from Herr von Paepke himself, his land steward, and shepherd. 

 In August all the sheep were inoculated, and with apparent 



