SHEEP HUSBANDRY IN THE SOUTH. 509 



that had been already infected die ; but the number of those that are lost soon begins to be 

 materially diminished. It is, therefore sufficiently plain that the rot depends upon, or is 

 caused by, the existence of moisture. A rainy season and a tenacious soil are fruitful or 

 inevitable sources of it The mischief is effected with almost incredible rapiditj-." 



Mr. Youatt here gives various instances to prove that rot is engendered 

 in a few hours and even minutes. * He farther says : 



" It is an old observation that all pasture that is suspected to be unsound, the sheep should 

 be folded early in the evening, before the first dews begin to fall, and should not be released 

 from the fold untU the dew is partly evaporated 



Then the mode of prevention — that with which the farmer will have most to do, for the 

 sheep having become once decidedly rotten, neither medicine nor management will have 

 much power in arresting the evil — consists in altering the character of as much of the dan- 

 gerous ground as he can, and keeping his sheep from those i)astures which defy all his 

 attempts to improve them. .... If all unnecessary moisture is removed from the soil, or 

 if the access of air is cut off by the flooding of the pasture, no poisonous gas has existence, 

 and the sheep continue sound 



The account of the treatment of I'ot must, to a considerable extent, be very unsatis- 

 factory. " 



Mr. Youatt proceeds to recommend the sale of sheep to the hutcliei 

 when they are found to be rotted ! Rot hastens for a short period the 

 accumulation of fat. Bakewell — a man whose name is associated with 

 the exhibition of prodigious abiUties in the improvement of stock, but, in 

 my mind, tarnished also by an equal exhibition of selfishness and absolute 

 meanness — displayed a characteristic sagacity in ptirj)osely rotting his 

 sheep to avail himself of the above circumstance ! t It is with pain [ 

 make the following quotation fiom Youatt — the only thing of such a char- 

 acter I remember to have noticed in his voluminous works : 



" It is one of the characters of the rot ta hasten, and that to a strange degree, the accu- 

 mulation of flesh and fat. Let not the farmer, however, push this experiment too far. Let 

 him carefully overlook every sheep daily, and dispose of those which cease to make pro- 

 gress, or which seem beginnuig to i-etrograde. It has already been stated that the meat of 

 the rotted sheep, in the early stage of the disease, ix not like that of the sound one ; it is 

 pale and not so finn; but it is not unwholesome (!) and it is coveted by certain epicures, 

 "who, perhaps, are not altogether aware of the real state of the animal ('.'. ) All this is 

 matter of calculation, and must be left to the owner of the sheep ; except that, if the breed 

 is not of very considerable value, and the disease has ncJt proceeded to emaciation or other 

 fearful symptoms, the first loss will probably be the least ; and if the owner can get any- 

 thing like a tolerable price for them, the sooner they are sent to the butcher, or consumed 

 at home, the better. Supposing, however, that their appearance is beginning to tell tales 

 abont them, and they are too far gone to be disposed of in the market or consumed at home, 

 are they to be abandoned to thek fate ? No : far from it. " 



Conceding to Mr. Youatt the whole benefit of that saving clause about 

 " consumption at home," the above sentence is one which I cotild well 

 wish stricken from his valuable work. The sale of the meat of diseased 

 animals, for human consumption, is abhorrent to decency and propriety, 

 and there is not a respectable American family which would not revolt at 

 the idea of either selling or consuming such meat. 



Of the treatment of rot, Mr. Youatt continues : 



" If it is suited to the convenience of the fai'mer, and such ground were at all within hi.i 

 reach, the sheep should be sent to a salt-marsh in preference to the best pasture on the best 

 farm. There it will feed on the salt incrusted on the herbage, and ])ervading the pores of 

 every blade of grass. A healthy salt-marsh permits not the sheep tf) become rotten wliich 

 graze upon it ; and if the disease is not considerably advanced, it cures those vvliich are sent 

 upon it with the rot. . . . Are there any indications of fever — heated mouth, heaving 

 flanks, or failing appetite ? Is the general inflammation beginning to have a determination 

 to that part on which the disease usually expends its chicfest virulence ? Is there yellovv- 



* Youatt, p. ArtX 



t So sav both Sj[)ooner and Youatt. 

 (949) 



