PINING. 313 



and most so at that season when, by the influence of the sun, 

 the plants are less juicy, or early in autumn, when the grasses 

 which have pushed to seed become less succulent. Conse- 

 quently, June and September are the most deadly months. 

 If ever a farmer perceives a flock on such a farm, having a 

 fl ushed appearance of more than ordinary rapid thriving, he is 

 gone. * By that day eight days, when he goes out to look at 

 them again, he will find them all lying, hanging their ears, 

 running at the eyes, and looking at him like so many con- 

 demned criminals. As the disease proceeds, the hair of the 

 animal's face becomes dry, the wool assumes a bluish cast, and 

 if the shepherd has not the means of changing the pasture, all 

 those affected will fall in the course of a month." 



Pining is thought to proceed "from an enervated and 

 costive habit, producible by want of proper exercise and 

 eating astringent food." "The farms most liable to this 

 disease are those dry, grassy farms, abounding in flats and 

 ridges of white and flying bent. * * The lands which are 

 now most subject to this disease were once in the same 

 manner liable to the rot. As the draining of the sheep 

 pastures proceeded, the rot gradually became extinct, and was 

 ultimately superseded by the pining." Mr. Hogg and Mr. 

 Laidlaw are of the opinion that the primary cause of the 

 pining of sheep was the extirpation of the ground moles from 

 their ranges. These, by throwing up the fresh earth on the 

 surface, preserved the soft, succulent herbage: on their 

 disappearance, it became coarse, harsh and unpalatable, f 

 " In dripping seasons, shepherds, by strict attention in 

 changing the sheep's pasture every day, may, in great 

 measure, prevent its ravages ; but in a dry one, without 

 infield land sown with succulent grasses or limed, it is 

 impossible to prevent it." 



Mr. Spooner, after recommending the preparation of more 

 succulent pasturage, and suggesting the culture of some plants 

 in them having laxative qualities, such as the purging flax, 

 adds : " With regard to medicine, the Epsom and Glauber 

 salts offer themselves as the most suitable, and the employ- 

 ment of common salt will also be found of much service. " 



I feel constrained to say that the explanation above given 

 of the nature and causes of the malady termed pining, are 

 wholly unsatisfactory to my mind. 



* In this and the succeeding sentences I think we may snspect a little poetic 

 exaggeration rather a habitual tendency in the mind of the author of The Queens' 

 Wake. 



t This cause for so general a result appears to me inadequate, not to say fanciful. 



14 



