2IO 



SHEEP—DISEASES AND REMEDIES. 



more than the farmer imagines. All, 

 however, depends upon the stage of the 

 disease. The liver may be diseased, but 

 it must not be disorganized ; it must not 

 be tu berculated or ulcerated ; and the flukes 

 must not have burrowed too deeply into it. 

 The farmer, from habitual observation of 

 his flock, must have discovered it at the 

 very commencement of its attack, or he 

 must have been made aware of it by the 

 examination of some sheep that died, or 

 that had been slaughtered for the use of 

 his family. Then he may do good. 

 Good is often done without his help. A 

 succession of dry weather will often stop, 

 or at least retard, the ravages of the rot. 

 If moisture be the cause of it, he must 

 remove that cause. He must change the 

 pasture, and drive his flock to the driest 

 ground his farm contains; and besides 

 this, he must give a little dry meat — a 

 little hay. Some have advised to feed 

 the suspected sheep altogether on hay. 

 This is carrying the matter a little too 

 far ; for in the prime of the season the 

 sheep will pine for the grass, and rapidly 

 lose condition for want of it. A change 

 to a thoroughly dry pasture will some- 

 times do wonders. At all events, it is 

 worth trying. The animals must, how- 

 ever, be carefully watched, and if it is not 

 evident from their more cheerful counte- 

 nance and manner, and the diminution 

 or disappearance of the yellowness, that 

 the disease is giving way, advantage must 

 be taken of their present condition, and 

 they must be turned over to the butcher. 

 Let the farmer at least do something: 

 let him either sell them at once, reckon- 

 ing, and generally rightly, that the first 

 loss is the least; or let him set to work 

 and endeavor to combat the disease; but 

 do not let him stand with folded arms, 

 and suffer the best of his flock to dwindle 

 away one after another. 



As for the medical treatment of the rot 

 in sheep, there are a great maxy nos- 

 trums, but few, if any, have stood the 

 test of extensive experience. This has 

 partly arisen from a cause which has al- 

 ready been hinted at — the disease not 

 being recognized and attacked before it 

 has made much inroad on the constitu- 

 tion, and when, or perhaps when only, it 

 will yield to medicine. But we believe that 

 with regard to the fairest cases every med- 

 icine has occasionally failed,or failed almost 



as often as it has succeeded. We must in 

 no case despair; the disease has some- 

 times been suspended, and the sheep has 

 recovered. Let not, however, the prac- 

 titioner be deluded into the use of calo- 

 mel, or blue pill, or any preparation of 

 mercury, because the rot is an affection 

 of the liver. Mercury rarely seems to 

 agree with the herbivorous animals in any 

 form. We have seen it do much harm in 

 some affections of the liver, and we have 

 known many animals destroyed by the 

 use of it. 



There is, however, a drug, or, rather, a 

 very common and useful condiment, 

 which we believe has entered into the com- 

 position of every medicine by which this 

 complaint has been successfully treated ; 

 we mean common salt. The virtues of 

 this substance are not sufficiently esti- 

 mated, either as mingled with the usual 

 food, or as an occasional medicine. All 

 herbivorous animals are fond of it. It 

 increases both the appetite and the di- 

 gestion. Cattle will greedly eat bad for- 

 age that has been sprinkled with it, in 

 preference to the best fodder without 

 salt ; and it seems now to be a well-ascer- 

 tained fact, that domesticated animals of all 

 kinds thrive under its use, and are better 

 able to discharge the duties required from 

 them. 



The consideration of this induced the 

 use of salt in various complaints, and es- 

 pecially in the rot, which is an affection 

 of one of the most important of the di- 

 gestive organs ; and it has not deceived 

 the expectations that were raised as to its 

 sanative power. 



As, however, the rot is a disease ac- 

 companied by so much debility, and 

 wasting of flesh as well as of strength, 

 tonics and aromatics are usually mingled 

 with the salt ; but first of all of the bowels 

 are evacuated by some of the usual pur- 

 gatives, and the Epsom salts are the 

 best. The Mixture for the Rot (See 

 No. 73, Domestic Animals, Medicines 

 for,) should then be tried. 



A table spoonful of this mixture should 

 be given morning and night for a week, 

 and then the Second Mixture for the Rot 

 (See No. 74, Domestic Animals, Medi- 

 cines for,) may be given at night, while 

 the former is continued in the morning, 

 and by which the flukes may be destroy- 

 ed as the worms in the bronchial tubes 



