222 THE SHEPHERD'S MANUAL. 



black patches ; the abdomen enlarges from the accumulated fluid ; 

 the animal is very weak, and lies with its head thrust out, solitary 

 and separate from its fellows until it dies. On opening the sheep, 

 the whole carcass is literally rotten. Yellow serum follows the 

 knife everywhere, the abdomen being filled with it. The liver is 

 found full of hard spots and ulcers, and the ducts filled with flukes. 

 The treatment consists wholly in prevention or in attention at 

 the first stages. When the rot has become developed, no medi- 

 cine avails anything. It is wholly and surely prevented by keep- 

 ing the sheep on dry pastures and away from stagnant water. The 

 fluke there can find no development. Low pastures should be 

 drained, ponds fenced off, and well water used for drinking pur- 

 poses. Hay from low grounds may even communicate this dis- 

 ease. When these preventive measures cannot be wholly carried 

 out, the sheep should be abundantly supplied with salt, and on 

 the first appearance of suspicious symptoms, the following mixture 

 should be administered, viz: 



Saltpeter I 1 /? ounce. 



Powdered Ginger 1 



Carbonate of Iron (colcothar of vitriol) y a " 



Salt 1 pound. 



Boiling water 3 quarts. 



The above to be mixed, and when nearly cool, 9 ounces of spirits 

 of turpentine are to be added. The whole is bottled in quart bot- 

 tles for use, and when administered should be well shaken to mix 

 the ingredients thoroughly. 



Infected sheep should be kept from food all night, and on the 

 following morning, before feeding, each should receive two ounces 

 (a wine-glass full) of the mixture by means of a horn. No food 

 should be given for three hours. The medicine is repeated every 

 fourth day for two weeks. 



Sheep may live and thrive, and yet carry flukes. How many 

 they can tolerate without serious injury, is a question that will 

 probably never be satisfactorily answered. It is proper that the 

 shepherd should be always on his guard against them, for the 

 reason that this animal is now known to be native in this country 

 as well as in almost the whole world. Deer, antelopes, and hares 

 have been found infested by them. A careful and trustworthy 

 naturalist, Mr. Joseph Batty, a member of Prof. Hayden's explor- 

 ing expeditions, has discovered over a hundred flukes in the liver 

 of one hare in Minnesota. A fluke, of which figure 82 is a draw- 

 ing from nature, reduced one-half, was taken by Mr. Batty from 

 the liver of a deer in the winter of 1874-5. The liver in question 



