SHEEP. 87 



which causes ague and low fever in man : the 

 breathing the exhalations of marshy ground. It is 

 where 



" the lily drinks 

 The latent rill, scarce oozing through the grass 

 Of growth luxuriant," 



that you will have to fear. 



That which makes Sierra Leone the white man's 

 grave, is much the same as what afflicts the ovine 

 race with this fatal disease. 



When the old farmer plucks a crown of the 

 carnation grass ("them pinks," as he contemptu^- 

 ously designates the detested herb), and holds it to 

 you as the bane which almost swept away your 

 predecessor's flock, making them pine and die away 

 by scores, trust not the flattering tale. "It's them 

 pinks in your land does it" — his porker-like eyes 

 winking with mischief all the time. 



The pretty blue butterwort (Pinguicula vulgaris) 

 has been brought up on the same charge. Dr. Deakin 

 remarks, that "like many other marshy plants it has 

 been accused of occasioning the flukes (fasciola he- 

 patica) or rot in sheep." 



These hapless plants are not the cause : their 

 growth is simply a distinguishing characteristic of 

 ground that will rot sheep, as thistles are of rich 

 soi^ and wild camomile of a good wheat bed. Drain 

 these pastures deep and dress them with quick lime : 

 the carnation grass will disappear with the pestilen- 

 tial atmosphere and malaria in which it thrives, 

 and you may feed your sheep there after a while 

 with perfect impunity ; supposing of course that 



