AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 443 



formed, the wool must be pai-ted, and the maggots picked out 

 with a knife, without breaking the coat; and white lead scraped 

 from a lump among the wool. 



Foot rot, is another disease that frequently attacks sheep, and 

 shows itself by moisture oozing from between the claws, with a 

 disagreeable smell. It is infectious, and spreads rapidly if not 

 immediately eradicated. The part should be pared and cleaned 

 without touching the quick, and the gravel dislodged, if there be 

 any; a solution as follows may be dipped on the part, and the 

 foot kept dry and free from dirt. 



Two ounces of blue vitriol, same quantity of rock alrnn, one 

 ounce of verdigrease, and a quarter of an ounce of muriated 

 quicksilver, dissolved in a quart of good vinegar. The scab is a 

 cutaneous disease, like the itch ; if taken in time, washing with 

 tobacco-water will often remove it. If far advanced, a sulphur 

 ointment will, in most cases, be efifectual. The rot is a disease 

 that affects sheep on wet lands. . It is an affection of the liver 

 and lungs, attended with dropsy, and is almost incurable. The 

 chief thing to be depended upon in three cases, is that of 

 exchanging the sheep to a dry situation, and feed them upon 

 dry food. 



Tlie structure of the sheep closely resembles that of the ox, 

 like him, he experiences great variation in form, size and quality; 

 the vertebral column and ribs are strikingly alike; he has four 

 stomachs wiiich i^erform similar functions, and is a ruminating 

 animal; the skin differs from all other animals in some of its func- 

 tions, it is deficient in powers of excretion and absorption, and is 

 surrounded by a singular secretion, perfectly impenetrable to 

 moisture, which preserves the wool in a healthy state; they suffer 

 less than any other animal from being crowded together, and do 

 not communicate infectious diseases readily; a healthy sheep has 

 a fine color on the inside of the eyelids and gums; fast teeth, 

 sweet breath, dry nose, and cold feet. 



Immense flocks of sheep have, in every age of the world, been 

 kept by man, chiefly for their avooI and hides, their flesli has 

 never been particularly relished. The Cossacks prefer the horse 

 and the camel; the Spaniard rarely eats it; the American would 

 rather have beef. The English eat more mutton tlian any otlier 

 nation ; but the taste is said to be of modern origin. In England, 

 from the time a lamb is weaned, until he is shorn, he is called by 

 many names — such as a hog, a hogget, a hoggerel, a lamb hog, a 

 tup hog; and if castrated, a wether hog. 



