i38 now TO MAKE THE FARM PA-^. 



there is not an ovine disease whicli more surely yields to treat- 

 ment. But, as already remarked, in this country, where sheep 

 are so cheap and labor in the summer months so dear, it would 

 be out of the question for an extensive flock-master to attempt 

 to keep each sheep by itself, or to make a daily application of 

 remedies. There is not a flock-master within my knowledge 

 who has ever pretended to apply his remedies oftener than once 

 a week, or regularly as often as that ; and not one in ten makes 

 any separation between the diseased and healthy sheep of a 

 flock into which the malady has been once introduced. The 

 consequence necessarily is that though a cure is effected of the 

 sheep then diseased, it has infected or inoculated others, and 

 these in turn scatter the contagion before they are cured. 

 There is not a particle of doubt, nay, I know, by repeated 

 observation, that a sheep once entirely cured may again con- 

 tract the disease, and thus the malady performs a perpetual 

 circuit in the flock. Fortunately, however, the susceptibility 

 to contract the disease diminishes, according to my observation, 

 with every succeeding attack ; and fortunately also, as already 

 stated, succeeding attacks, other things being equal, become less 

 and less virulent. 



"What course, then, shall be pursued? Shall the flock- 

 master sacrifice his sheep ; shall he take the ordinary half way 

 course, or shall he expend more on the sheep than they are 

 worth in attempting to cure them? Neither. The course I 

 would advise him to pursue will appear as I detail the experi- 

 ments I have made. 



" Treatment. The preparation of the foot is a subject of no 

 dispute, but the labor can be prodigiously economized by atten- 

 tion to a few not very commonly observed particulars. Sheep 

 should be yarded for the operation immediately after a rain, if 

 practicable, as then the hoofs can be readily cut. In a dry time, 



