FOOT-ROT AND BLOTCHES 679 



in the proportion of I to 20, acts as an antiseptic and keeps 

 the foot clean. Other dressings are, copper sulphate and 

 Stockholm tar, one part of the former to two of the latter ; 

 and various caustic pastes or " Shepherds' Friends." 



When large numbers have to be treated, only the worst 

 cases can be hand-dressed before going through the foot- 

 bath. The trough should be 12 feet long, I foot deep, 8 inches 

 wide at the bottom, and 14 inches at the top, but the ends 

 only 3 inches high. The sheep then easily step into it when 

 it is placed level on the surface of the ground, between two 

 rows of hurdles or paling just far enough apart for them to 

 pass through. The solution (strength, one pound of arsenic, 

 dissolved by prolonged boiling with a little carbonate of soda 

 to 5 gallons of water) is put into the trough, till it is from 

 i to ij inch deep, so that it cannot rise above the horny part 

 of the foot, else it might blister the skin and cause the hair 

 to fall off. The sheep are driven quietly through, to prevent 

 splashing of the liquid against the uncovered skin. Crude 

 carbolic acid strength, 3 or 4 parts to 100 of water or 

 pitch-oil, dissolved by boiling with black soap, and mixed 

 with eight or ten times its volume of water, is sometimes 

 used instead, or alternately with arsenic if the sheep's feet 

 become too hard. The box should have a tight-fitting lid 

 made to close when not in use, in order to prevent the 

 poisoning of stray animals by drinking from it. 



To help to maintain the feet in a normal condition, lime 

 in the powdery caustic state is sometimes laid down at 

 gateways or places over which the sheep walk. A common 

 cause of foot-rot is dung or some foreign matter getting at 

 the tender structures of the internal foot, on account of some 

 softening, decay, or weakness of the outer horny box, and 

 then suppuration and fungoid growth follow. Inflammation, 

 which develops into foot-rot, not infrequently begins as a 

 scald between the digits, resulting from the irritation pro- 

 duced by long soft grass in wet seasons. The feet of sheep 

 that have been affected with foot-rot are more susceptible of 

 the disease in future ; thus foot-rot is difficult to get rid of 

 when once well established. 



Blotches, 1 causing lameness, originate in wart-like 

 growths, which, in the first stages, are hard and scaly exter- 

 1 Termed "oafe" or "orf" in Scotland. 



