306 THE DOMESTIC SHEEP. 



There is no good reason why in the course of two years at 

 least every contagious and infectious disease of sheep might not be 

 put an end to, and safety for the future insured. This would put, 

 millions of dollars into the pockets of shepherds and sheep breed- 

 ers, and it is as easy to be done as that the yellow fever or the 

 deadly cholera may be prevented from gaining entrance through 

 our seaports. So far as may be required for this end, all con- 

 cerned in saving our flocks from decimation should waste no 

 time in calling for adequate legislation, and at the same time 

 themselves practice every necessary precaution in the management 

 of their own flocks. Next to this all concerned should study those 

 most effective rules by which diseases, due to neglects of manage- 

 ment and to parasites, may be avoided by the general destruction 

 of these deadly enemies of the flocks. One kind of intestinal 

 worms, for instance, is responsible for more than half the deaths 

 of sheep. The favtal fluke worm has at times destroyed one-tenth of 

 all the sheep in Australia, and thousands are lost here simply by the 

 neglect to avoid the use of infected water drank Jby the sheep 

 at ponds and sluggish streams, bordered by wet banks, on which 

 this parasite is bred in its common host, an abundant snail. So 

 with the equally injurious tape worms, which are taken into the 

 sheep in their embryo forms, as they are voided by dogs and other 

 carnivorous animals, as wolves and coyotes. There is no reason 

 why by a simple method every dog may not be freed from the 

 parasites, and rendered innoxious to the flocks. 



And so it goes with other diseases, which as Ave shall describe 

 them may be prevented by the drainage of low pasture lands, or 

 the avoiding of certain geologically derived soils, the effect of 

 which is injurious to the flocks, and others still Avhich are due to 

 faults of feeding, and the inadequate nutrition of the sheep. 

 Others too may be due to irregularities of feeding, or to exposure 

 to the severity of the weather, as to heat or cold, or to the want 

 of needed dryness or cleanliness in the housing of the flocks, or to 

 injurious plants which may easily be eradicated from the pas- 

 tures. All these remarks are intended to put the shepherds on 

 their guard, and by full information as to these common risks, lead 

 to the avoidance of them and insure the safety of the flocks. 



For the fuller information of the reader we shall give every 

 name by which the common diseases are known; the common 

 ones in 'use, as well as those best known to science; so that each 

 may be easily recognized, and treated with understanding. Atten- 

 tion is called to the list of symptoms which indicate the special 

 disease, so that every reader may as far as possible recognize the 

 ailment by which his sheep may be affected, and thus more mte h- 

 gently seek out the means of treatment. A list of remedies will also 

 be found which may be used in accordance with the prescriptions 

 given These will be rated for animals fully grown, and are to be 

 decreased in proportion to the age and weight of each one, halt 

 for a yearling, and a fourth for one six months old. As very 

 young 'lambs rarely call for treatment except through the dams, 

 in such cases the judgment of each reader must be exercised as to 



