

WOOL. 



AND THK wool. Tl: U>K. 



It U iwhT.>l in by dullness and disinclination to move : but presently 

 the eye brightens, and the animal attack* everything wirhin lii reach. 

 If it can be managed, the same treatment miirt bo adopted bleeding, 

 physic, and low feeding. 



Ifoort i a distotwion of the paunch with food, and the extrication nf 

 pu from that food. The hollow probang should be introduced into 

 the stomach to draw off this gas. Four to five drachms of hartdhorn 

 in half-a-pint of water Rives early relief to the animal. 



There U however a disease of the liver ike Rut far more frequently 

 occurring in sheep than in cattle, and bearing a peculiar and more 

 destructive character. 



In the very earliest stage alone doca it admit of cure. The deci-ive 

 symptom, at that time, is a yellow colour of the eye that surrounds 

 the pupil and the small reins of it. mid particularly the corner of tin- 

 eye, which is filled with a yellow serous fluid, ami not with blood. 

 There is no other apparent morbid appearance until it is too late to 

 struggle with tliK malady ; on tho contrary, the sheep, although per- 

 haps a little duller than usual, has an evident propensity to fatten. 

 Tho rot is a disease of the liver inflammation of that orpin ; anil the 

 vessel* of it contain fid-en. They are taken up in the food ; they find 

 their way to the liver an their destined residence, and they create or, 

 aggravate tho disease by perpetuating a state of irritability and dis- 

 organisation. The rot is evidently connected with the state of the. 

 pasture. It is confined either to wet seasons or to the feeding on 

 ground that is moist and marshy. In the same farm there at 

 >n which no sheep can be turned without getting the rot, and there 

 are others that never give the rot. After long continued rains it is 

 almost sure to ap|>ear. The disease may be communicated with extra- 

 ordinary rapidity. A flock of sheep was halted by the side of a pond 

 for the purpose of drinking: the time which they remained there was 

 not more than a quarter of an hour, yet two hundred of them eventu- 

 ally died rotten. The fact is, they then received into their system the 

 germs which ultimately assumed the destructive form of those flukes 

 in the liver which destroyed them. In the treatment of the rot little 

 that is satisfactory can be done. Some sheep have recovered, but the 

 decided majority perish in despite of every effort. The patients how- 

 ever may, as giving them a little chance, be moved to the driest and 

 soundest pastures, and there fed as liberally as possible ; but, above all, 

 plenty of salt should be placed within the animals' reach, and given to 

 them in the way of medicine. 



In the way of prevention tho farmer may do much ; he may drain 

 the most suspicious parts of his farm. No money would be more 

 profitably expended than iu accomplishing this. Some of the little 

 Hwampy spots which disgrace the appearance of his farm possibly lie 

 at the root of the evil. 



Redirater, or the effusion of a bloody serous fluid in the cavity of 

 the abdomen, is a frequent and very fatal disease among sheep. The 

 cause of it is a sudden change from one pasture to another of almost 

 opposite quality, or the moving of the flock from a dry and warm to a 

 damp and cold situation. It is most destructive to lambs if exposed 

 to a hard frost or suffered to lie on a damp and cold soil. The sheep 

 will separate himself from the rest of the flock ; ho will evince a great 

 deal of pain by rolling about, and frequently lying down, and imme- 

 diately getting vip again ; and, sometimes, he dies in less than twenty- 

 four hours from the first attack. The belly will be found swelled and 

 filled with the red water, or serous fluid tinged with blood, from which 

 the disease derives its name. The treatment should consist of mild 

 aperients, with gentian and ginger, and a liberal allowance of hay and 



is a very prevalent disease among lambs, and especially 

 after a change of diet or of situation. When it is not violent, and 

 does not seem to be attended by colic, a little absorbent and astringent 

 medicine, with a few grains of opium, may be administered. The 

 diarrhoea of sheep may be similarly treated, but when the disease is 

 assuming the character of dytenlenj when the discharge is more fre- 

 quent and copious, and mingled which mucus, a larger quantity of this 

 medicine should be given, and some blood abstracted if there is any 

 degree of fever. 



The diseases of the rttpiratory organi are often of a serious character. 

 During the greater part of the winter the nostrils will sometimes be 

 filled with mucus, and the sheep is compelled to stop for a moment at 

 every second or third bite, and snort violently, and stand with his 

 muzzle extended and labouring for breath. If his general health does 

 not teem to be affected, this will pass away as the spring approaches. 

 If however any of the flock should now appear to be losing flesh and 

 strength, it is too probable that contumpiinn is at hand. The only 

 chance of saving or doing them any good will be to place them in some 

 comfortable pasture, letting them have ample food and salt within 

 their reach. 



Lambs, when too early and too much exposed, arc subject to diseases 

 of the upper air passages, one attended by a ringing cough, and the 

 other by one of a more wheezing sound. Bleeding will always lie 

 Decenary for the first, with ajwrieut medicine. A mild purgative v.ill 

 usually suffice for the second, or possibly an ounce or an ounce and 

 a half of common salt may be given dissolved in six ounces of lime- 

 water. 



/njlamination of (he lunyi, recognised by the difficulty of breathing, 

 heaving at the flanks, and distressing cough, is a disease of frequent 



, urn not- in sheep. It speedily runs its course, and the lungs are 

 found to be one disorganised mass. Bleeding and purging are 

 pensable : but as won as the violent symptoms seem to r< 

 must follow. 



lianjtl. Inflammation of the udder in more frequent in the ewe 

 than in the cow. The udder should !* well fomented with 

 water, and may then be returned to her lami-. 



Ditetua of the Fett. The treatment i !"/< ml essentially consists in 

 (taring away all loose and detached horn. This is ti. 

 skilful and successful practice. All fungous granulations must . 

 bo cut away, or destroyed by the muriate of antimony, and tho foot 

 well washed with a solution of chloride of lime. The mini. 

 antimony must then IMS lightly applied over the whole of the denuded 

 This must l>e repeated daily until the whole of the foot it 

 covered with new hom. 



Tli' Scab is a very troublesome disease, common in the sprin 

 summer. The sheep is continually scratching himself with h.- 

 tearing off tho wool, and violently rubbing himself against ever 

 trading substance. It is a very infectious disease, for 

 against whieh the .-heep can iiiii him.-i 1 tainted v.i< 



a 1 1) ust be housed and shorn as closely as possible, 

 and then well wa-hcd with warm water. An ointment coniixjseil of 

 one part of mercurial ointment and seven of lord must tl.' 

 procured, and such a 'imnti-yof it as the diseased parts seem 

 rubbed in on every second day. Kvery placo in the field and 

 fold against which ho can possibly have ru)il-d himself must be well 

 cleaned and ] i c he is permitted to return. 



Lice and Ticks will be best got rid of by the application o 

 mercurial ointment just recommended. 



The Fly. Several species of fly frequently deposit their ova un tin- 

 wool of the sheep. If there are any sore places, they are selected for 

 the habitation of the larva?. The head, as the most exposed 

 one oftcnest attacked, and the sheep are sadly tormented l>y the II v 

 and the larva?. The best preservative or cure is the apple 

 plaster composed of a pound of pitch and aquaiter of 

 bees' wax, spread on soft leather or linen. The attack may ho 

 be generally prevented by the application of a small quantity 01 

 of tar to the head, or any bare or sore part. Two or three applii 

 of this will be sufficient for the whole of tho summer, and not a fly 

 will approach a sheep thus guarded. 



W< )OI, AN I ) THK WOOL TRADE. The term icool is now a ; 

 almost exclusively to the fleece of the sheep. The distinction I* -i 

 wool and hair is more easily understood than descrilx-d. When tin- 

 wool brought to bear in the comparison is that of sheep, tin 

 is tolerably well marked ; but in various other aiiim.-il.-i it 

 difficult to decide whether hair or wool be the proper appellate 

 the external covering ; and hence perhaps the rea*. : 

 priation of the term wool principally to the coating of the 

 Wool compared with hair is generally softer, more flexible, and more 

 disposed to undergo tho felting process, which imparta to it so much 

 value in manufactures. Slany of the wilder animals, 

 beaver, the racoon, the wild cat, and the otter, produce both hair and 

 wool, the hair forming the long and conspicuous outer fibres, and tin- 

 shorter fibres of wool lying hidden beneath. The goats of < 

 regions of Asia Minor, Tibet, and South America, yield woolly 

 of great beauty, which not only equal those of the sheep, but greatly 

 surpass them; this wool, however, as wo shall see farther on, 

 costly to come prominently into competition with that of the eh< 



Iu a commercial and manufacturing point of view, a notice of wool 

 may consistently be confined to that of the sheep ; and for an account 

 of the varieties of sheep, and of the wool they bear, as prelimii 

 the present article, we refer to the article WOOL, which immediately 

 precedes. 



The history of wool in its unmanufactured state, as regards the legin- 

 lative enactments to which the commodity has been subjected, t 

 however, a distinct subject, and is full of instruction in reference to tin- 

 principles of commercial economy. It enables us to trace the e, 

 growth of just opinions on such matters, and the many conflicts by 

 which these changes were wrought Wool, as an article of wealth, has 

 been singularly exposed to these contests ; for the agriculturist 

 manufacturers for ages took different views of what measures in refer- 

 ence to the wool trade were for the national benefit, influenced perhaps 

 by what they deemed their own interests. The reason lies in this cir- 

 cumstance : that whereas the silk and cotton manufacturers work upon 

 materials brought wholly from abroad, the woollen manufacturer 

 employs materials both of home and of foreign produce; and as this 

 applies to foreign as well as to English manufacturers, there have arisen 

 four distinct points upon which the legislature has from time to time 

 had to decide, namely tho free exportation of 1 i ; the 



restrictions on such exportation ; the free importation of foreign wool ; 

 and the restrictions on such importation. The reasons which have le.l 

 the two great class interests to take opposite sides in the question, and 

 the effects which that opposition has had on the wool trade, will I,.- 

 seen from the following brief details. 



In the time of Edward I. a duty wax imposed on the exportation of 

 British wool ; and great complaints were made on his increasing the. 

 duty in 1290 from 2(1*. to 40. per bag. Lynn, Newcastle, Kingston- 

 upon-Hull, Boston, Yarmouth, Ipswich, Southampton, Brist<>' 



