FOOT-ROT IN SHEEP. 405 



Causes of Foot- Rot. — Although it is ascertained that the tend- 

 ency to foot-rot may be hereditaiy, and the progeny of some sheep 

 of all breeds are more liable to it than others on the same farm, it 

 must be confessed that the great cause of foot-rot is wet. causinf^ 

 softening of the horn. Where the grass is long and insinuates itself 

 between the claws, the part of the upper and thin portion of the 

 inner walls of the digits is the first to give way, and the disease 

 may be said to be inter-digital, and is called the scald in some dis- 

 tricts ; but where the grasses are short, mossy, and the soil sandy, 

 the solar aspect of the foot is the first to suffer. Whichever 

 way it is first manifested it is entirely due to wet soil, and in 

 its prevention and cure this fact must be borne in mind. 



On hill farms it is found that this disease appears almost in- 

 variably about the end of July, and reaches its' height towards 

 the end of August and beginning of September. During this 

 period the dews are heavy, and the grasses consequently satu- 

 i-ated with moisture. 



Prevention. — " The prevention of foot-rot," says 3llr. Aiinatage, 

 " is a subject which should engage more attention than it has up 

 to the present time." 



Of course it will be understood that removal from a wet to 

 dry sound pasture is of pre-eminent importance, and from luxu- 

 riant to a shorter kind of grass. In highly cultivated farms the 

 removal of sheep from luxuriant pasturage is often a matter of im- 

 possibility; when such is the case, experiments have been tried to 

 harden the hoofs of the sheep, that they might resist the action of 

 moisture, and some of these have been to some extent successfuL 



The Messrs. Archibald of Overshiels, Glengelt, Duddingstone, 

 &C., the celebrated breeders of blackface and Cheviots, inform me 

 thattheyliave found the following process superiorto allothers: 



A wooden trough of the following dimensions is to be made. 

 Length nine feet, breadth two feet, and depth one foot and a 

 half, with lid and lock, in order that it may be locked after it has 

 been used. Into this trough a solution of arsenious acid of tlie 

 following ..trength is to be poured, sufficiently deep to cover 

 the feet of sheep as they are driven through it, namely, one 

 pound of the arsenic to five gallons of water. 



Arsenic of itself is but slightly soluble in water, and in order to 

 dissolve it readily, it is necessary to combine it with an equal quan- 

 tity of an alkali, such as the common washing soda. The arsenic 



