DISEASES OF THE OX AND SHEEP. 673 



more importance for all animals and also for human beings than 

 is generally recognised. Sheep should have a fair amount of 

 variation in regard to diet. It is not very unusual to see a 

 flock of sheep in badly-drained fields that are but little better 

 than sludgy mires owing to heavy showers. Paddling about, 

 and feeding upon decaying vegetable matter, the sheep catch 

 severe colds, even if they do not fall a prey to even worse 

 disorders. 



The faulty drainage of our fields in England is one of the 

 most fruitful sources of disease in animals. It has been estab- 

 lished beyond the possibility of doubt that this is so, and that 

 some of the most virulent maladies may be brought about as 

 a result of the decaying vegetable matter which generally lies 

 stagnant upon such land. It is especially important to bear 

 this fact in mind at all times, and particularly at the lambing 

 season. Hence, when exceptional showers have produced tem- 

 porary difiBculties, the sheep should be removed to high and dry 

 pastures. If kept on well-drained fields, sheep will do better ; 

 and it is, of course, especially necessary that in-lamb ewes should 

 be provided with dry quarters. 



If it were possible to estimate the wealth thrown away by 

 reason of preventable losses among sheep even in the course of 

 one year, many people would be very considerably astonished. We 

 speak designedly of avoidable losses, for many sheep could be 

 saved by the application of scientific principles and resources. 

 During the last season many ewes were lost; but suppose we 

 take the case of a farmer who had sixty ewes die, without adopt- 

 ing stringent measures of prevention. For the sake of argument 

 we will roughly set down each animal's value at £2 10s., and 

 we find that the total loss of this one gentleman would amount 

 to £150. Now, how much of this comparatively large loss can 

 be regarded as avoidable by the help of scientific methods ? We 

 may say that at least two-thirds of these ewes might have been 

 saved, and hence the destruction of property valued at about 

 ^£100 might have been prevented. 



We can affirm definitely that the loss throughout the country 

 — owing, it must be remembered, to a want of knowledge or of 

 appreciation of the very simplest scientific results — must have 

 been something excessive, something almost disastrous. It 

 should also be borne in mind that the methods which science 



48 



