164 FITTING SHEEP 



undoubtedly, many things yet left undone which ought to be 

 done in satisfactorily solving this vital trouble. It is ques- 

 tionable whether many of our great authorities do not lay 

 too much stress on old infested pastures as being the pre- 

 dominant cause of so much loss among the juvenile mem- 

 bers of our flocks. This may to a great extent be true, but 

 I have a case in mind where worms are working havoc 

 among a flock that was turned onto pasture and where the 

 hoof of sheep had never trod before the spring of the present 

 year. Then again I have taken care of flocks where sheep 

 have been pastured for more than a century on the same 

 farm, and yet they have never suffered from worms. Further, 

 I have had charge of flocks that did not suffer a particle 

 from worms, although the farm on which the sheep were 

 being pastured was situated directly in the midst of a badly 

 infected area where the neighbors' lambs were dying fast. I 

 .account for the fact of my lambs not dying to high feeding. 

 They were getting a pound of oil-cake a day while those of 

 my neighbors were getting nothing more than the ordinary 

 pastures afforded them. I have never had serious trouble 

 from the ravages of worms in my flock where I have had an 

 abundant supply of supplementary rations to feed. 



I have always considered that worm trouble is brought 

 about by local causes other than old pastures, such as wet, 

 feverish seasons meaning by this the conditions existing 

 in summer, which season is sometimes made up of stormy 

 weather, the intervals between the showers being excessively 

 hot and enervating. The grass, being heavily charged with 

 moisture, sours and fevers the lamb's stomach, making it a 

 most desirable habitat for the worm. It is well-known that 

 children partaking of unripe fruit to excess are very liable to 



