THE DISEASES OF SHEEP 325 



mothers they will not become affected. Presuma- 

 bly the contamination of the soil will not last longer 

 than one year. This point we hope will be demon- 

 strated by onr national or state experiment stations 

 before long. It is a vital necessity to know that of 

 both the nodular disease and the stomach worm. 

 Thus it is evident that a healthy flock can be pro- 

 duced by keeping apart the infection-free young 

 sheep from the infected older ones, and fattening 

 and marketing the older ones as fast as practi- 

 cable. Little or nothing in the way of medication 

 can be done to cure the afflicted sheep. Prevention 

 of the disease by right treatment of the young ones 

 is the thing to be aimed at. 



TAPEWOKMS. 



There are occasionally outbreaks of disease 

 caused by tapeworms. Montana and the Dakotas 

 have suffered from these outbreaks, also various 

 regions in the eastern states. The writer has never 

 observed a case of this kind upon the farm occu- 

 pied by himself and his brothers and attributes this 

 freedom from infection in part at least to the free 

 feeding of pumpkins in the fall of almost every 

 year. Pumpkin seeds are well-known vermifuges 

 of great value. 



The tapeworm of sheep, taenia expansa, varies 

 in length from three to six yards. It is from one 

 twenty-fifth of an inch in breadth at the head to 

 one-half an inch at the tail. In appearance it is a 

 dull white. It causes scouring, loss of red blood, 



