92 SKETCHES OF RURAL AFFAIRS. 



immediate change to a dry pasture, and the unlimited 

 use of salt, are the only means that afford the least 

 chance of recovery, and this chance is but small. It 

 has been said that if sheep were always well supplied 

 with salt, we should hear very little of this fatal disease ; 



FEEDIXG-BOX. 



however this may be, it has been proved, in more than 

 one instance, that salt is an excellent remedy : the 

 greater part of an infected flock have been recovered by 

 the free use of it. 



This dreaded complaint is an inflammation of the 

 liver, much more common in sheep than in other ani- 

 mals, and having a very evident connexion with their 

 pastures. We read that the sheep of Egypt are very 

 subject to this disease after the overflowing of the river 

 Nile. The grass springs up rapidly, and the sheep 

 fatten at an astonishing rate, but soon show tokens of 

 the rot. Their shepherds immediately drive them back 

 into the desert, where, on dry food and amongst the 

 sands, they frequently recover. On some of our farms 

 there are particular fields which will give the rot to 

 whatever sheep are turned into them, and those are 

 generally damp and marshy spots much in need of 

 drainage ; and the expense of draining the land would 

 be well repaid in a short time if healthy food was raised 



