724 THE DISEASES AND DISORDERS OF THE OX. 



to the diseases of the ox, and we hope in the first half of 1888 to 

 achieve at least an equal degree of success in reference to those 

 of the sheep, an animal whose health and wants should be 

 specially looked to by the sheep-owner. 



"We have received at various times kind words from our readers, 

 and w^e may say that we do feel very pleased and grateful to 

 think that we have been able to carry through a lengthy series 

 on a diflBcult subject to the satisfaction of many. To those who 

 may wish to continue their acquaintance with our work in book- 

 form, we take this opportunity of stating that we have entered 

 into an arrangement with Messrs. William H. Allen & Co., 

 13, Waterloo Place, Pall Mall, S.W., to write a treatise on the 

 Ox, and that the articles which have appeared from our pen in 

 this year's Yorkshire Weekly Post will, after a thorough ampli- 

 fication and revision, be included in this copiously illustrated 

 manual. We hope to have this completed as early as possible 

 in the ensuing year, and ready perhaps for the spring publishing 



season 



* 



** Emboldened by the kindness and attention with which our 

 articles have been received, we have engaged to contribute for 

 the first half of the year, 1888, which begins to-morrow, a clear 

 and succinct account of * The Diseases and Disorders of the 

 Sheep,* which we hope will be no less popular among farmers 

 and the community generally than our two previous series. 

 We shall to-day take the liberty, in some sense by way of con- 

 clusion, of turning aside to a matter of great national impor- 

 tance, concerning which we propose to say a few words. 

 ■ ** In the Times of Tuesday, December 13, 1887, a paragraph 

 appears under the title of 'A Gloomy Agricultural Outlook in 

 the North,' wherefrom we gather that in the vast grazing district 

 constituted by Cumberland and Westmoreland there are upwards 

 of 50,000 acres untenanted, and that affairs are becoming more 

 critical every day. In the hill districts, where the land drains 

 rapidly, the crops have been exceedingly light. In the fell 

 dales some farmers are already buying hay, and the majority 

 hardly see their way through the winter. Moreover, the great 

 northern hiring fairs have just been held, and very many able- 

 bodied men and women have failed to find places. 



* Some portions of our work occupied us so long that this expectation turned 

 out to V)e quite out of the question. 



