iv INTRODUCTION. 



that the manures, which they did not understand, should be the 

 cause ? And very generally the manures had to take the blame. 

 I have heard specific charges brought against artificial manures 

 for rendering almost every kind of fodder and forage crop injurious 

 to sheep by men who, with several further years' experience, would 

 not for a moment accuse them of it now. 



Probably the most astounding misconception, and consequent 

 mistreatment, of a malady in modern sheep farming is that which 

 attaches to the very fatal infestment of the fourth stomach of 

 lambs, and sometimes sheep, by minute worms of the strongyle 

 type. In parts of the North of England and Scotland a practice 

 has grown up (and is probably of considerable antiquity), in 

 districts where losses from these worms are frequent and heavy, 

 of operating on the newly-born lambs in the following manner 

 to prevent or cure the attack : the bony protuberances over the 

 eyes of the lambs are bashed by a hammer or stone. That is all ! 

 No one seems to understand why it is done but it is. Yet how 

 the bashing in of bones in the head is likely to prevent scour and 

 wasting away through derangement of the digestive organs requires 

 an imagination which it is difficult to conceive. It may be that 

 it started through someone having heard that by bashing in the 

 soft, bony swellings above the hydatid that grows in the brain of 

 sheep, causing gid, thus killing the worm and sometimes curing 

 the sheep, thinking that by breaking any protuberance on the skull 

 any other disease might be cured ; or he may have confused the 

 whole matter. However, when such things are possible, nothing 

 seems impossible ; and, as a matter of fact, some very extra- 

 ordinary practices do exist in shepherding, though the more frequent 

 calling in of modern-trained veterinary surgeons has done much 

 good. With all the skill of shepherds, and their possession of much 

 valuable sheep-lore, it cannot be denied that there are many prac- 

 tices requiring eradication ; farmers should therefore equip them- 

 selves as thoroughly as possible with a knowledge of veterinary 

 science, so that they may be able to discern the good and the bad 

 in the methods adopted by their shepherds. Much has been 

 handed down to shepherds in the form of sacred secrets, of which 

 they are very proud, but which the sheep thrive in spite of 

 some are not so harmless. With it all, if a veterinary surgeon 

 proves that his methods are better than those which have been 

 previously employed, experience shows that shepherds are not 

 too prejudiced to recognise it, but it must be very clearly demon- 

 strated to some before their pride in their art will allow them 

 to admit it. The general use of antiseptics and more hygienic 

 management in the lambing-pen are illustrations of the readiness 

 of the shepherd to change his methods when he is convinced that 

 by so doing he will get better results. What is truly necessary 



