SHEEP. 1035 



If the scald is present, a little finely powdered blue-vitriol 

 sprinkled in the cleft is sufficient. If the foot-rot appears the 

 affected animals ought to be isolated at once, their feet cleansed 

 and thoroughly pared with the knife until the disease is laid 

 bare in all its lurking-places ; then the animals ought to be made 

 stand in a foot-bath of blue-vitriol (water with all the vitriol it 

 will dissolve) ten or fifteen minutes. They should be kept 

 twenty-four hours where neither moisture nor dung will get into 

 the cleft to impede the action of the vitriol. A repetition in a 

 week or two may be necessary to cure up every case. 



Scab and its treatment were mentioned in connection with 

 the Territories. It is supremely true of the sheep that an ounce 

 of prevention is worth a pound of cure. After years of expe- 

 rience I have practically discarded all remedies except copperas 

 as a preventive of paper-skin, and vitriol for foot-rot. Good feed- 

 ing, good care, exercise, water, salt these are worth to the shep- 

 herd more than all the medicine-chests in Christendom. 



Sheep Barns. A flock of one hundred and fifty Merino 

 ewes or one hundred Cotswold ought to have a sheep-house 

 forty -five by forty feet, or its equivalent. For a dry flock of 

 Merinos a shed seventy-five by sixteen feet will suffice for two 

 hundred and fifty head, if no hay-racks are set in it. If they 

 are, additional space will be required equal to that occupied by 

 the racks. For this shed no sills need be used. The timbers 

 required will be two plates, say five by six inches ; two posts 

 five by five inches every ten feet ; a rafter two by three inches 

 every twenty inches ; a girt four by four inches every ten feet. 

 If oak is convenient the roof may be made of this material 

 home-made shingles, twenty inches long, six inches laid to the 

 weather. For each post dig a hole two feet deep, and fill up 

 with broken stone well hammered down; on this lay a flat stone. 

 Have the siding come down within six inches of the ground. 

 Dig a little trench, and set up thin flat stones on edge, the tops 

 resting against the lower end of the siding on the inside. Fill up 

 the shed so deep with earth that it will never be flooded. The 

 earth will touch the stones, and will not rot the siding. The 

 shed need be only high enough to allow a team to pass under 



