SHEEP HUSBANDRY. 573 



alimentary cause, I am induced to infer from the fact that its attacks are 

 rarely isolated. When there are any instances of it in a flock, there are 

 usually a nuinber of them. I have lost lambs by it two seasons — 

 from six to ten per cent, of the whole number. Francis Rotch, Esq. of 

 Louisville, Otsego county, lost a much heavier per centagc than this (my 

 impression would now be nearly^/?// per cent.) of his choice South-Down 

 lambs, a few years since. I am acquainted with various other instances 

 where the loss has ranged from ten to twenty per centum. 



When congenital goitre has thus appeared among my Iambs, the ewes 

 Tiave been in unusuallrj high condition. The same was true of Mr. Rotch's 

 ewes, as he wrote me at the time. Whether this coexistence implies caus- 

 ality, I do not pretend to decide. High condition in the ewe may be one 

 of the inducing causes. 



Treatment. — I know of no treatment which will reach the case. Indeed, 

 the lamb is dying, almost, when born — and remedies are out of the ques- 

 tion. Should one having the disease chance to live, it would scarcely be 

 worth while to attempt reducing the enlargements of the glands. Perhaps 

 keeping the breeding ewes uniformly in fair, plump, but not high condi- 

 tion, would be as effectual a preventive as any. 



MISCELLANEOUS DISEASES. 



PoisoiN FROM Eating Laurel. — I often hear of this from our drovers, 

 who take sheep in the spring to the Philadelphia and New- Jersey mar- 

 kets, through Northern Pennsylvania, on the Old Red Sandstone formation 

 of which the beautiful Kalmia angustifolia is abundant. The following 

 description of the effects on the sheep of eating this plant, and the proper 

 remedial treatment, though, I confess, not very satisfactorij to mc, I ex- 

 tract entire from the " American Shepherd," * as I have no experience 

 whatever in the premises, and no better account within my reach : 



" Sheep and calves will often, in the winter or spring of the year, eat greedily of the 

 low Laurel (Kalmia angustifolia). The animal appears to be dull and stupid, swells a 

 little, and is constantly gulping up a greenish fluid which it swallows down ; a part of it 

 will trickle out of its mouth, and discolor its lips. The plant probably brings on a fennenla- 

 tion in the stomach, and Nature endeavors to throw off the poison herb by retelling or 

 vomiting. 



Treatment. — In the early stages, if the greenish fluid be suffered to escape from the 

 stomach, the animal most generally recovers. To effect this, gag the sheep, which may be 

 done in this manner : Take a stick of the size of your wrist and six inches long — place it in 

 the animal's mouth — tie a string to one end of it, pass it over the head and down to the other 

 end, and there make it fast. The fluid will then riui from the mouth as fast as thrown up 

 from the stomach. In addition to this, give roasted onions and sweetened milk freely." 



I have somewhere, I think, seen drenches of milk and castor-oil pre- 

 scribed for sheep poisoned with laurel ; and I should, without farther 

 knowledge of the subject, consider it treatment promising better results 

 than the preceding. 



Sore Face. — Sheep feeding on pastures infested with John's wort 

 (Hypericum perforatum) not unfrequently exhibit an irritation of the skin 

 about the nose and face, which causes the hair to drop off from the parts. 

 The irritation sometimes extends over the whole body, though no such 

 case has fallen under my observation. Mr. Morrcl says : f " If eaten in 

 too large quantities, it produces violent inflammation of the bowels, and is 

 frequently fatal to lambs, and sometimes to adults. " 



Treatment. — Rub a little sulphur and lard on the irritated surface. If 

 there are symptoms of inflammation of the bowels, Mr. Morrell prescxibes 



* American Shepherd, p. 3G1. f lb. 374. 



(1053) 



