SHEEP HUSBANDR. IN THE SOUTH. '-371 



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

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

 usually a number 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 centage 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 instancea 

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



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

 have been in unusunlly high conditiov. The same was true of Mr. Rotch'a 

 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. 

 Poison from Eating Laurel. — T often hear of this from our drovers, 

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

 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 propei 

 remedial treatment, though, I confess, not very satisfactory to me, 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 anrl calves will often, in the winter or spring of the year, eat greedily of the 

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

 kittle, and is constantly gulping up a greenisk 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 retching or 

 vomiting. 



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

 stomach, the animal most genej^ally 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 — plHce it in 

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

 end, iiid there make it fast. The fluid will then run from the mouth as fust 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 oetter results 

 than the preceding. 



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

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

 about tjie 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. Morrel says : t " 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 in-itated surface. If 

 there are symptoms of inflammal ion of the bowels, Mr. Morrell prescribea 



• Anerican Shepherd, p 361. t lb. 374. 



