162 



THE NEW GENESEE FARMER, 



Vol 2I 



For ths New Genesee Farmer. 

 Foot nil in Sheeji. 



Messrs. Ediiors :— Noticing an niticle in tlie last 

 Genesee Farmer 011 the eubjoct o(foot rot in slieep, 

 in which the writer eays he has prevenlod the disease 

 by paring off' the nniier side of the hocf, 1 am induced 

 to trouble you with a word on that subject. 



I do not know but pnring the hoof in the manner he 

 suggests may be beneficial, but I doubt altogether that 

 it produces the effect the writer supposes. 1 think he 

 mistakes the nature of the disease ; I do not consider 

 it to originate in the ball uf the foot — the part covered 

 by the envelop which the writer would pare off, and 

 of course do not believe, as he supposes, that the dis- 

 ease is generated by the filth collected in the foot, and 

 pro ec'.eJ and retained there, by that part of the hoof 

 which grows over the solo of the foot. 



The disease commences between the claws of the 

 foot, atthe8|)0t where tlie horn of the hoof unites with 

 the flesh. At its commencement it exhibits the ap- 

 pearance of a slight inflammation as if chafed or scal- 

 ded. The animal at this stage is slightly lame. It 

 soon becomes a sore, with slight maturation, which is 

 aomewhat fetid. It i<ow attracts the mnggot-fly and 

 is soon tilled with mnggots — unless destroyed, they 

 consume shortly the entire ba 1 of the foot. II the 

 fore foot is diseased, being brought into coniact with 

 the side of the animal when in a lying posture, it de- 

 posits on the side some portion of the fetid discharge. 

 This attracts the fl -jind the side is soon alive with ma- 

 gots, which eat through the body in a few days, thus 

 causing the death of the animal. 



Now 1 have no idea that the theory ot the writer 

 alluded to above is at all correct, nor that his remedy 

 of paring the hoof is a preventive of the disease. 



I suppose the disease originates in naiuioi causes — 

 that it 18 immcdia'.ely induced by an acrid ttate of the 

 fluids of the animal — that in certain seasons and loca- 

 tions it will prevail, an'l at other times will not ; that 

 the discharge from the lnrgc pore or issue which ex- 

 ists in the leg just above the parting of the claws be- 

 ing diseased and acrid, scalds the flesh between llie 

 claws — which is always tender — the part becomes in- 

 ■flamed — a fetid maturation ensues — the fly is ihuj in- 

 vited to his work, and soon completes the mischief — 

 What may be ilio remote cause of the disease, is not 

 certainly known ; whether the wetness or dryness ol 

 the season, or the food of the animal, o: some no.xious 

 or poisonous herbage may or may not be concerned in 

 it, I cannot say any more than I can tell why the in- 

 fluenza or other epidemics should prevail at certain 

 times and not in others, or why all the meinbersof a 

 family circumstanced alike, should not iie alike affect- 

 ed by it. 



The disease seems to bo, v.ith ua, one of modern 

 introduction. We havu known it only a few years. — 

 It is a calamity, and the part of wisd.im is to discover 

 Its cause, if possible, sj as to know how to apply pre- 

 ventives — in failure of this, to learn the nature of the 

 disorder, eo as to apply suitable and efficient reme- 

 dies. 



An opinion prevails, that it is infectioua. I do not 

 yet believe it is either contagious or infectious — cither 

 communicable by the presence of a diseased animal, 

 or by matter deposited on the ground and received by 

 a sound foot by treading (hereon. I have no idea from 

 observations hitherto made, that the disease is thus 

 communicable. It is possible, I allow, a: d thcrepDre 

 I have for experiment, separated the diseased from the 

 sound. But I have ibund no unexpected increase of 

 new cases, when they have been all together, nor has 

 there appeared to be any diminution of new cases 

 when they have been aepai ated. When the animal 

 has been long confined to low rnoist ground, and the 

 season has been wet, I have imagined this might be 

 iha originating caii»?. Again, when the seo»5n has 



been uncommonly dry, ns during the past summer, 

 and the disease has prevailed, conclusive evidence is 

 furnished that the character of the season in this re- 

 spect is not the cause. Al one lime I hnve imagined 

 that poverty of condition might bring it on, and at an- 

 other time this opinion has bean met by the fact that 

 sheep fit for the butcher's stall have been equally af- 

 fected with those that were poor and thin. 



I have been conversant with sheep husbandry for 

 many years, but have known nothing of this disease 

 until within lour or five years past. In reflecting on 

 the subject, I can realize no difference in the care and 

 management of my own fl.ick between the last five 

 years and any former period, except that formerly it 

 was my practice to keep in their pasture, troughs al- 

 ways supplied icitk salt, protected by a rail over the 

 top, supported by stakes, so that the animal could have 

 access with the head to the salt, but could not get into 

 it with I'.e feet to soil and injure it. This practice 

 has been neglected for a few seasons paf t, and salt has 

 been fed out occas'onally to the flock during the sea 

 son. Whether this change has had any influence in 

 causing or aiding the dissase, I know not. lean 

 however, realizj no difference in their circumstances 

 for many years, except in this respect. Although we 

 consider salt necessary for the health and cmiifort of 

 the animril, and that nature will dictate just the a- 

 mount needed when a supply is always at hand, still 

 it is by no means certain that the want of such supply 

 will cause or aid the disease — we can only say it is 

 possible. If the theory is correct and reasonable that 

 the local disease commences in an acrid discharge 

 from the pore or issue above the foot, and if an unre- 

 stricted iisenf salt would have a favornble influence on 

 the fluids and sccrelimis of the animal, then perhaps 

 its free use daring the summer might prevent the ap- 

 pearance of the disorder. 



This disease is not necessarily incurable or fatal but 

 it is an inconvenient and troublesome malady and re- 

 quires some labor and attention to subdue it. 



As to the rented, es. Lime — being a powerful an- 

 tiseptic should be employed as a prereniiee and 

 remedy in the first stages of the disease. Let the flock 

 be made to pass through a small bed of lime once a 

 week from the last of June until the first of .Septem- 

 ber. Coiled them into a stable or pen, and make it 

 necessary in going out of it fjr them to pass througi. 

 n passage some three or four feet wide, and twelve or 

 fifteen feet long, the flioror bottom of which being 

 covered with finely slnek lime, about four inches deep. 

 It will enter between the claws, give healthy action to 

 any tmjll sore and correct any irritated discharge, 

 thus preventing the invitation of the fly. In place of 

 this, a little Blue Vitriol, finely powdered, and appli- 

 ed to the diseased part, will immediately dry up and 

 heal the sore. If the foot is badly diseased, and mag- 

 gota are present, pare the hoof 30 as to expose them 

 and apply spirits of Turpentine which will instantly 

 dislodge and soon destroy them — use a probe to be 

 certain that they are all removed, and tl tn apply the 

 blue vitriol to the diseased [lart. As the foot in this 

 case will be sore and tender for some days it will be 

 necessary, in order to prevent a return of the fly until 

 it becomes sound, to apply tar freely to the foot, ex- 

 tending the tar an inch or two on the leg above the 

 hoof to prevent the fly efi'ectually from approaching 

 it. It will also be necessary to examine the hoof care- 

 fully once in three or four days until it becomes per 

 fectly sound. I think much of the use of lime, as 

 above suggested, both on account of its efficiency and 

 the faciltiy of its employment. I use for this purpose 

 the common portable sheep tack in which hay is fed in 

 winter, about twelve or fourteen feet long and two 

 and a half wide. I nail to it a temporary bottom and 

 put in the lime four inches deep, placing it before the 



[.I 



gate or door of the stable or pen in which the ehee j 

 are enclosed, and leaving the stable they pass in a fci* 

 moments through this passage of liinr. I recon>|' 

 mend this practice urgently to larmers who either httVlf''^ 

 the disease in their flocks, or who fear and dread itH', 

 approach. I have made these suggestions, Mr. EditofP' 

 in the hope of drawing the attention of farmers to thtr., 

 subject, that flocks hitherto sound, may, if pojsiblel 

 be so preserved, and that those which arc disease!* 

 may be restored and a recurrence of the disorder bf*" 

 prevented. A FARMER. V 



Brighton, October 11, 1841. 



Early and Siate Fruit"— Village of Aurora. Li 



Lovers of fruits and flowers, and the early things ill' 

 the garden, were you ever at Aurora, on the eastci Us 

 shore of Cayuga Lake 7 It is a quiet, unobtrusi u 

 village, where the rich live in great simplicity — t! 

 poor, with decent comfort. Here are green peas! 

 1st June, ripe potatoes and apples in July ; the mn 

 delicious plums and peaches in August; and. at tl 

 time, such high flavored clingstone peaches, Erap|it, 

 and apples, as few other places can boost. 



'Tis said that when D. T. coines down from 1 

 sparkling Eden niGreal Field tn miles east; he cai 

 his eye a: the prccoc.ous vegetation of this lake-wan 

 cd spot with a sigh, not from envy, for his omnipr* m 

 cut chriftianity ejects ike Iteling, 'lis only on em 

 tion of regret, that Flora and Ponioua could not 

 thus propitiated nt his more elev.ued location. 



I have often heard it said that peaches did ijitii 

 thrive on a clay soil, but here are the best peaches 

 the world, growing in great variety, on a hard cab 

 reous clay relieved by slnhlo nianure alone. T 

 trees are never pruned, the soil around them is ki 

 loose and entirely clear from grata and weeds. 



Reader, if you never saw a village where fences »■ 

 locks were unnecessary to prole, t the fruits and flu 

 crsfrom biped depredati.m go to Aurora : Here 1 

 Full Pippins, Pound Sweets, and Brush's Nuuesui 

 lying in heaps— ail who run may eat with impuni 

 the balance is fed to the cattle. 



It has been said that a poor mar cannot live in I 

 rora, but thi following anecdote will show that a pi 

 man's widow is of quite a different opinion. A. i 

 years since, a laboring man of this village rcmo' 

 with his family to Iiidmna, where ho afterwards d 

 of a congestive fever, leaving his wife and children 

 destitution. The shrewd widow immediately wr 

 to her former neigburs at Aurora, soliciting tl 

 charity ; the result was that a purse was made up 

 her relief, which was remitted to her by mail ; w' 

 the widow opnued the letter, she held up the sHj 

 fund bills to the astonished gaze 01 the long 

 Hoosiers, saying there was more where that co. 

 from, and that every dollar of this, should he expe 

 eJ in paying her passage, and that of her child 

 back to Aurora. She did come back in the cheeil 

 month of November, but so far from finding a celd 

 ception, the reeital of one half her sufferings, siiffi' 

 to unlock every female heart in the village; a gent 

 contribution to„k place, one furnished a bed, anot 

 chairs, a third a table, knives, fjrke, &c. &c. 7' 

 widow and her little ones are now the comforta 

 tidy, industrious poor ones of Aurora, who are 0; 

 poor in comparison with the general thrift which s 

 rounds them. 



Here is an Academy well endowed, and wha 

 better, cheaply and thoroughly conducted. A stra- 

 er W'luid almost imagine himself at ti.nies in a flee' 

 steam boats, or en beard of a man of war ; eo ofi 

 boih late and early, docs the bell strike, summoni 

 the classes to recitation. 'Tis said that the only pv 

 ishment the principal inflicts on a dull 'die pupil, ii 

 recomn.end him to go where he will be requirec 

 study let'. 



