SORE MOUTHS AND TEATS. 205 



further seemed to aggravate the disease. A veterinary sur- 

 geon was called in, and prescribed a number of remedies more 

 or less difficult to carry out over a large flock folded on the 

 open down and exposed to all the rigours of cold nights, 

 morning frosts, and dry east winds. The ewes could not 

 stand to be sucked, and the lambs were perpetually hungry 

 and discontented. Their frequent attempts to suck kept the 

 teats in a wounded, wet and uncomfortable state, while the dry 

 winds caused them to chap. Many lambs were compulsorily 

 weaned, and the task of drawing the diseased and foetid udders 

 fell to the shepherd, who was well nigh driven to despair. 

 Many ewes and lambs died, while others moved about gaunt 

 and miserable the ewes tucked up in their bellies, and the 

 lambs long, thin, and dry in their coats. The mischief ex- 

 tended into the autumn, causing many ewes to be drafted 

 before their time ; and a further loss was experienced on the 

 sale of the cast ewes on account of many of them being unfit 

 for nursing, and therefore for breeding. 



My own case is so well delineated in the article already 

 referred to that the description might be taken from it. I 

 have, therefore, no doubt that we suffered from an attack of 

 aphthae or thrush. Cure there seemed to be none, and we 

 rather lived through it than mastered it. Warmer weather 

 and plenty of green food, the death of the severest sufferers, 

 and the gradual recovery of others in time, obliterated the 

 ailment, and we had a fairly good lot of lambs to show after 

 all. As I have recently heard of similar outbreaks involving 

 certain flocks, it may be useful to draw attention to the matter, 

 especially as in the article referred to some good directions are 

 given for treatment. A complete change of diet is one of the 

 most obvious and best means for checking the disease. Grass 

 or other green food and a cooling diet would be much better ' 

 than concentrated and heating foods, such as linseed cake and 

 clover hay. Bran, meadow hay, green rye, water meadows, 

 young seeds, with a few oats, would be likely to change the con- 

 dition of the blood, and produce a healthier and cooler condition 



