318 MODERN SHEEP: BREEDS AND MANAGEMENT. 



in other instances, where sheep have been pastured on -unlimited 

 range, they have been known to die by the hundred from their at- 

 tacks. It is noticeable that where sheep are highly fed and well 

 taken care of, especially where oil-cake and roots are a part of 

 their rations, that the lambs seem invulnerable to the attacks of 

 this pest, while those on an adjoining farm, that have not been 

 treated so generously succumb to its ravages, which is a palpable 

 proof that care or neglect, as the case may be, has much to do 

 with its presence or absence. A practical illustration from the 

 author's experience in which he had charge of a large flock of 

 Shropshires may not be out of place here. The farm on which 

 it was kept was situated in close proximity to other breeders whose 

 flocks were known to be badly affected with the stomach worm 

 and whose lambs were being fast reduced in number by 

 their attacks, while those in the writer's charge were robust and 

 healthy. The only reason or explanation for such a condition 

 of affairs seemed to lie in the fact that the former flock received 

 no supplementary rations, while the latter had a small allow- 

 ance of grain and oil-cake for the first ten months of their lives, 

 which is not only a profitable way of feeding so far as the preven- 

 tion of the attacks of the stomach worm is considered, but so far 

 as the extra growth of the lambs is considered, also. 



The seasons have, no doubt, much to do with the presence 

 of .worms in sheep. A hot, stormy season seems to be an ideal one 

 for the propagation and welfare of the stomach worm, since it 

 is noticeable that in dry seasons the prevalence of the pest is not 

 so marked. Lambs that manage to pull through until being put 

 en winter rations seem to recuperate and in many cases regain a 

 new lease of life. 



There are many supposed-to-be remedies advocated for the 

 destruction of this pest, but whether any of them are as effective 

 as their endorsers claim is a question. There are those who are 

 converts to the benzine and the turpentine treatments but the writer 

 has found these by actual experiment to be little better than 

 useless. 



A few years ago the writer secured four lambs that were suf- 

 fering from the ravages of this pest, to two of which he admin- 

 istered a dose of benzine, according to the directions of a believer 

 in the efficacy of the treatment, and after allowing a reasonable 

 time for the effective working of the medicine killed them. A 

 post-mortem examination dispelled the theory, to his mind, of the 

 effectiveness of this treatment so far as he was concerned. How- 

 ever to be fair and allow for any possible mistakes, extended ex- 

 periments and more severe and critical tests were r/iade, by treat- 

 ing the two remaining lambs with a double dose of the remedy 

 with the expectation, of course, that they would succumb to such 

 heroic treatment, which, however, they did not. They became 



