FIFTEENTH AND SIXTEENTH CENTURIES. 49 



remedy the disease by clipping the wool, and by covering the 

 parts with tar to keep the flies away. 



Tar, as I have said, was the universal remedy for scab. It 

 was mixed with oil or goose-grease, or capon's grease, in order 

 to dilute it, and make it run. Butter and lard were not so 

 good, but they can be employed, provided they be not salted. 

 Another receipt for the scab is given, which Fitzherbert 

 says will suit a poor man's pocket, and declares is quite as 

 serviceable, the basis of which is broom-tops. But he is also 

 convinced that the most important remedy against scab is good 

 pasture ; * for that is the beste grease that is to a shepe, to 

 grease him in the mouthe with good meate,' a safeguard also 

 from rot, except when mildew is about, for a sheep will always 

 choose the best food, if there be plenty to be got. 



Fitzherbert proceeds to deal with the diseases of sheep, 

 particularly with complaints which seem like the staggers, 

 lameness, which he asserts is due to a worm in the foot, and 

 particularly with the rot. The signs of this disease, and the 

 means by which it may be detected, are nearly the same as 

 those which Walter de Henley, three centuries before, detailed. 

 The origin of the disease is wet pasture, and the mischief is 

 indicated, if it be not caused, by the presence of two plants, 

 speargrass and pennywort. Land-floods lying on grass and 

 marsh-ground are similarly productive of the disease. But the 

 chief cause, according to our author, is mildew, the sign of 

 whose presence he says is the honeydew on oak leaves. He 

 counsels that sheep should not be let out in the morning till 

 such time as the sun has dried the ' kelles ' upon the grass, a 

 word which I am unable to interpret. White snails are also 

 reputed mischievous. But the worst cause of rot is hunger 

 rot, when there is lack of food, and the sheep is constrained to 

 eat what he would otherwise leave. The other and ordinary 

 kind of rot leaves the sheep valuable, if it be recognised in 

 time. Fitzherbert sees that the disease is always ultimately fatal. 



If the husbandman wishes to sell his wool well, the sheep 

 must be carefully washed. Too many sheep must not be put 



VOL. iv. E 



