DISEASES OF THE OX AND SHEEP. 439 



individual member of a flock of sheep, it will, unless curative 

 and preventive measures be at once taken, propagate itself with 

 the greatest rapidity from sheep to sheep. The ease with which 

 this complaint, and others liable to afflict the sheep, are trans- 

 mitted arises in some degree from the fact that, partly from their 

 own habits and inclinations, partly owing to the convenience of 

 sheep-farmers, these animals are usually kept in close contiguity 

 with one another. Hence sheep-scab, when once it has been 

 introduced into a district, usually spreads with marvellous 

 celerity. 



Moreover, sheep are moved about a great deal in accordance 

 with the exigencies of the food-supply. A farmer may, for 

 instance, possess a large quantity of turnips which he does not 

 require for his own sheep, and hence he sells them to be eaten 

 on the premises in separate instalments. Sheep-farmers send 

 their sheep from a distance, and hence, perhaps, while one flock 

 may bring the disease, others may become tainted, even if 

 separated by turnip-trays or other partitions. The infected 

 sheep will rub off their wool on the trays, and other sheep 

 coming into contact with the detached wool from the other side 

 may easily become affected. Obviously, if a hurdle should fall 

 down, still more direct contact of healthy with infected sheep 

 may ensue. When the sheep have finished their turnips, they 

 are taken back to the farms from whence they came ; and the 

 result is that sheep-scab, soon after their arrival, breaks out and 

 spreads far and wide from this new centre. Sheep infected with 

 the scab, being moved about the country, thus carry the tiny 

 creatures burrowing in their skins to fresh centres, from which 

 the disease again radiates. 



Farmers cannot be too careful in regard to this complaint, and 

 it is not too much to say that sheep-scab is one of the most 

 important of all the disorders of the sheep. Consequently it is 

 of the most pressing necessity that the disease should be 

 stamped out, and in order to effect this object, prompt treatment 

 alone can be efficacious. In fact, so great is the need that 

 sheep-scab should be kept down in the country that the 

 repressive measures are enforced by the authority of Her 

 Majesty's Government. When sheep-scab is known to have 

 broken out in any given district, the fact must be at once 

 notified to the Local Authority, and stringent measures will 



