i 



APPENDIX. 



235 



parts of the finest fleeces, are lOs. 6d. per pound. This, 

 however, has been given only once. 



The quantity of wool shipped in 1835, was 3,776,191 

 lbs., and was valued at £380,000 sterling. 



Three acres are required on an average for the 

 support of each sheep, but on account of the mildness 

 of the climate, there is no necessity for providing winter 

 food. 



The range of pasture is so extensive that the sheep 

 are liable to comparatively few diseases. The great 

 dryness of the climate, keeps the fleece always in so 

 comfortable a state, that they are almost never struck 

 by the fly which, as explained at (147.), always deposits 

 its eggs on the moistest part of the skin. Mr Cunning- 

 ham once observed summer-dropt lambs with milk 

 blotches, become fly blown, but this was in wet weather. 

 Scab, or itch, is the most common disease, but of it I 

 need not say any thing here. It never presents much 

 variety, and is a disease better understood than almost 

 any other. Ample directions for its treatment are 

 given at (140.). It is easily checked if the job is gone 

 about with determination. The great points are to 

 take it in hand the moment it appears — for when it gains 

 ground, all chances of a wool-crop are at an end for that 

 year at least — and to use tobacco-juice. most liberally, 

 as it not only leads to the immediate death of the itch 

 insect, but appears to have a specific effect in leading to 

 the restoration of the wool. The balm of Columbia, 

 which is at present so lauded for accelerating the growth 

 of hair, is supposed, on good grounds, to be an incognito 

 preparation of tobacco-juice. Rot is the only other 

 important sheep-disease in the colony. It was un- 



