AND CATTLE DOCTOR. 219 



Up again, or sow it in such a manner as is requisite to 

 defend it from external injury ; of course, 1 would 

 rather recommend the mode in which they cannot 

 easily go wrong, and which I have seen prove most 

 beneficial, when performed by men of like acquire- 

 ments with themselves. 



To prevent the '"• sturdy^'''' or water in the heads of 

 sheep. — With regard to tlie causes inducing water in 

 the heads of sheep, there is but one opinion entertained 

 among shepherds, which is, that it is occasioned by a 

 chilness in the back of the animal, on account of its 

 being exposed to the winds, and the sleety showers of 

 winter. These cause it to acquire a kind of numbness 

 and torpidity, which, if often repeated, are apt to ter- 

 minate in an affection to gid(Uness, and finally in a 

 water in the head. 



That this disease is occasioned solely by a chilness 

 in the back, appears from the following facts : 



1. It is always most general after a windy and sleety 

 winter. 



2. It is always most destructive on farms that are 

 ill-sheltered, and on which the sheep are most exposed 

 to those blasts and showers. 



3. It preys only on sheep rising their first year, the 

 wool of which separates above, leaving the back quite 

 exposed to the wet and to the cold. 



4. If a piece of cloth or hide is sewed to the wool, 

 so as to cover the back, such a sheep will not be 

 affected with the disease. The experiment is a safe, a 

 cheap, and an easy one; and, exclusive of its good 

 effects in preventing the fatal disease under considera- 

 tion, it is the most beneficial to a young sheep that is 

 not over high in condition, and administers the most 

 to its comfort during the winter, of any other that I know. 

 It keeps the wool from opening, and the sheep always 

 dry and warm in the back, which, exposed to cold, 



