Ch. XXXIX.] ON DISEASES. 493 



being proportioned to the quantity of food which they were able to procure : 

 of which contrasts the sheep of AVales and Lincohisliire are examples. It 

 may be proper to improve tlie form and quaUty of meat or wool of a native 

 race, but, at the same time, an attempt to enlarge their size may be very 

 injudicious." 



Disposition to fatten is, however, an essential good quality in every 

 breed, whether large or small, but is very difficult to judge of; for out of 

 a score of sheep of the same breed, age, health, and managed equally 

 alike, yet, when handled, a vast difference will often be found in their state 

 of fatness. Tliey will, however, partake more or less of the chief charac- 

 teristics of the sire and dam, or of the general reputation of the stock from 

 which they are bred ; and, therefore, in selecting those from which a new 

 race is to spring, that point should be closely inquired into. The smallness 

 of the bones, the moderate thinness, and mellow feel of the pelt, and the 

 symmetry of the animal, as marked by the general fullness and rotundity 

 of every part, together with a certain placidity of countenance denoting 

 quietude of temper, are all indications of a tendency to fatten : in addition 

 to which, we strongly recommend the medium sized sheep to breed from ; 

 rather under the feeding property of the soil than above it. The whole art 

 of breeding may, indeed, be said to consist in the selection of animals of 

 sound constitution, as designated by the general appearance of health and 

 symmetry of form, and there can be little doubt that both the breeder and 

 the grazier are often disappointed in their expectations by looking too 

 much to size. 



DISEASES. 



Although the diseases of horses have been thouglit sufficient to establish 

 a college for the promotion of the veterinary art, yet, notwithstanding the 

 great importance to our agriculture of the healthful maintenance of our 

 flocks, and the variety of distempers to which they are liable, it is still to 

 be regretted that no public institution has been founded with a view to the 

 instruction of students in the nature of their disorders and the means of 

 cure: in consequence of which neglect the whole management is either 

 left entirely to shepherds, who have no correct and settled ideas of how the 

 causes in which the complaints may have originated; or, if the animals — 

 whether sheep, cattle, or swine — be in imminent danger, the farmer has no 

 other resource than the employment of some neighbouring leech, who is, in 

 most cases, supremely ignorant. Many valuable treatises have, indeed, been 

 written on the subject, but they are only in the hands of a few persons, 

 and it cannot be expected that, in a work like the ];resent, the different 

 maladies by which sheep are affected should be scientifically described and 

 their treatment professionally particularized. We shall, therefore, confine 

 our remarks to a few of those of most frequent occurrence, coupled with 

 some practical observations, in order that inexperienced persons may not 

 be left in ignorance of the proper remedies to be applied ; for if disease be 

 not efficiently met in its earliest stages, the neglect may, within a very 

 few days, be productive of serious mischief. So many nostrums are daily 

 advertised for the infallible cure of every complaint, that one might suppose 

 efficacious remedies to be constantly at hand ; but a man who would place 

 confidence in any one might be led astray, and if left to choose among 

 them all, his judgment would assuredly be puzzled. 



It is seldom that cattle-doctors, however skilful, are called in to attend 

 upon sheep; and as shepherds, however experienced they may be, are not 

 always competent to the cure of an animal that is suffering under acute dis- 



