CHAPTER XXXII 



THE SIMPLE LIFE 



A WARM, rainless summer has a good effect on the 

 health of almost all animals, whether wild or part of 

 the live-stock of the farm ; and in spite of a frequent 

 scarcity of grass, cattle and sheep thrive far better at 

 such times than in a dripping season when the herbage 

 grows green and rank all the summer through. This 

 is due partly to the absence of wet and damp, which 

 domesticated animals have often not the same means 

 of avoiding as they would enjoy in natural freedom, 

 and still more to the fact that sunshine and drought 

 are destructive to those low parasitical forms of life 

 which wet seasons always engender. 



As a rule cattle are far healthier in the fresh air 

 than under cover. It was noted in the South African 

 war that the constant life in the open air led by our 

 soldiers did more than anything else to promote 

 health. Sleeping every night on the veldt, often in 

 the rain, constantly in frosts which whitened every 

 blanket in the morning, and with absolutely no com- 

 forts, they actually improved in health and physique 

 when the food supply was at all adequate. On the 

 other hand, like the animals, they suffered incredibly 

 from water-borne disease when the supply was tainted. 



But the " open-air treatment " incidental to the con- 



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