216 DISEASES OF SHEEP. 



scribes two varipties of it. The first he curiously calls red-wafer, an 

 improper term, and more especially as the same name is given lo 

 anuther disease to which sheep are subject. lie says, "This disease 

 commonly makes its appearance about the beginninjj or end of winter, 

 and first appears about the breast and belly, although at times it 

 spreads itself over other parts of the body. It consists in an inflam- 

 mation of the skin that raises it into blisters, which contain a thin, 

 reddish, and watery fluid : these continue for a short time, break, and 

 discharge their matter, and are followed by a blackish scab. 



" When the sheep are exposed to cold or w^elness, the skin beinor 

 fretted, makes the blisters rise ; or they often arise from cold affecting 

 (he animal internally, thus producing a slight fever, which throws 

 out these vesicles on the body." 



The diseased sheep should be put into a fold by himself. A little 

 blood should be taken, and the blisters slit up, and a few drops of the 

 infusion of tobacco put into them ; a quarter of an ounce of sulphur 

 should also be given on six successive mornings. A dose of physic 

 should follow. The parts affected should also be daily washed with 

 lime-water. 



A more violent eruption is called the wildfire, probably from the 

 rapidity with which it spreads. It is more infectious than the scab, 

 or, probably, it is one of the worst species of scab. The nitre and 

 sulphur should here also be given internally, and the lime-water ap- 

 plied externally. 



[The frequency of this loathsome and higlily contagious disease induces us to add 

 the following from the Cultivator: — 



Among sheep, there is no disease so common, or productive of so much injury, 

 tertainly not in the United Stales, as the scab, or as it is called by some, the itch. 

 A sheep affected by this disease is restless, rubbing itself violently against posts, 

 fences, or whatever is in its way; biting and tearing out the wool with its teeth, 

 and exhibiting every sign of intense irritation. On examining the sheep, the skin 

 will be found red and rough, with usually an extensive cutaneous eruption, or an 

 accumulation of small pimples or pustules, some of wiiich have broken, and the 

 matter discharged has formed patches of crust or scab, from which the common 

 name of the disease is derived. The fleece on a sheep diseased with the scab will be 

 irregular in its growth, and the quality inferior; and if the complaint is severe, or 

 long-continued, the health is impaired, and tlie animal pines away rapidly, till re- 

 leased by death. The rot may be more immediately fatal, and produce greater losses 

 in Europe, but here the scab is more injurious, perhaps, than all other diseases put 

 ♦osrether. The scab is one of the most infectious of diseases, and if i'ltroduced into 

 A flock, unless the diseased animals are immediately removed, the farmer may de- 

 pend on the whole flock being infected, and both sheep and woo) ^really lessened in 

 value. The shoulders and back are the places first usually aflTocted ; but unless chock- 

 ed, it will spread until the whole surface is diseased, or the anini.'il perishes; or such 

 is the usual course of the disease. The infection seems to spreai in two ways; by 

 actual contact with diseased animals, or by means of the places where infected sheep 

 have rubbed themselves or lain. As pay for sheep infected with scab and sold for 

 «ound cannot be collected in Europe, or may be recovered, much ultention is paid to 



