REARING AND FEEDING OF ANIMALS. 385 



affected. A moist and even luxuriant autumn is dreaded above all things by 

 the owner of sheep; for the seeds of infection are then often spread to appear 

 in the following spring, or after the lapse of a longer period. 



The signs of rottenness in sheep are familiar to all shepherds. The animal 

 becomes emaciated, its eye becomes dull and glassy, a black purging generally 

 takes place, the wool, on being pulled, comes readily away from the skin, the 

 breath becomes fetid, and the urine is small in quantity and high coloured. 

 As the disease proceeds, the skin is marked with spots, and the emaciation in- 

 creases continually, until the sheep dies. In short, the term rot expresses truly 

 the state of the animal. The disease proceeds with various degrees of rapidity; 

 sometimes it attacks the entire flock suddenly, and sometimes its progress is 

 gradual, and it affects only a given number of individuals. Graziers often 

 avail themselves of the period of the animals beginning to decline to rid them- 

 selves of an infected stock. During the first period of being tainted, the sheep 

 have frequently a strong: tendency to feed, and if killed in time the flesh may 

 not be perceptibly affected. 



In all cases of rot the disease is accompanied by a morbid state of the liver. 

 During the progress of it, the fluke, a small animal, Fasciola hcpatica, appears 

 on the parts connected with the liver and the gall-bladder. At first the num- 

 ber of these creatures is small, but as the disease advances they increase, and 

 before death are generally very numerous. In the last stage of the disease they 

 have extended to the stomach and other parts. 



Frequently the disease terminates favourably, the inflammatory action going 

 off without destroying the parts. But even m this case the taint is rarely re- 

 moved, and years afterwards, when the animal has been fattened and killed, 

 the liver has been found to be diseased, the flukes being in great numbers. 



The best preventive of rot is to render the soil dry; hence on all sheen pas- 

 tures, the importance of draining. But should the disease, in spite of all pre- 

 cautions, appear, then we should, without loss of time, remove the sheep to a 

 drier pasture, and supply them liberally with proper food. It is only, how- 

 ever, mthe early stages of the disease, that a change of food will usually avail. 

 If the disease has proceeded to a considerable extent, even though it should not 

 have evinced itself by any great change in the external appearance of the flock, 

 the animals will often perish hourly amidst the most wholesome food with 

 which they can be supplied. 



Of all the medicines that have been proposed for this fatal disease, salt alone 

 is that whose virtue has been established by any satisfactory testimony. The 

 beneficial effect of salt in the prevention and even cure of rot, has been con- 

 firmed by the observation of farmers in this and other countries. 



Salt indeed will not in all cases prevent or cure the disease; for sometimes 

 the tendency to it from particular causes is too strong to be counteracted, and, 

 when it has once attacked the flock, too violent in its progress to be arrested. 

 But though salt is not a specific, it is the best means of remedy with which we 

 are acquainted. 



If salt be placed near the animals in troughs or on flat stones, they will 

 eagerly lick it, and when disease threatens them, it may be given to them in 

 any quantity in which they will consume it; for it is then seen that they are 

 obeying a natural instinct in having recourse to the remedy; and in a wet 

 season when disease may be apprehended, no one should grudge the trouble 

 of so cheap and simple a precaution. 



Much has been written upon the subject of this disease, but all that has been 

 written has nearly left us where we were with regard to the remedy. It had 

 been long known that wetness of the soil, however produced, gave rise to rot; 

 that the best preventive was pasturing on dry ground and giving sufficient 

 food, and that the best remedy where disease appeared was a change of pas- 

 ture. To these results of old experience is to be added, the using of salt. 



Another disease, arising from a different cause than the rot, but like it end- 

 ing in emaciation, and the death of the animal, is provincially termed pining. 

 This disease is accompanied by a costive state of the animal, whereas the rot 

 is never accompanied by costiveness; and in the rot the liver is always affect- 

 ed, while in the pining the liver is sound. 



This disease seems to arise from the want of exercise, and from the animals 



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