138 SHEEP FARMING IN AMERICA. 



will give explicit directions for administering 

 these remedies further on. 



Besides the stomach worm there is the worm 

 that makes the nodular disease of the intes- 

 tines. Any observant man who has dissected 

 a mature sheep has often noticed on the small 

 intestines little nodules or "knots." These 

 are really small tumors, filled with a greenish, 

 cheesy substance. They do not do much harm 

 when they are few in number but the trouble 

 is a cumulative one and the numbers of the 

 nodules increase until after a time digestion 

 and absorption are much interfered with. 

 Sometimes parts of the intestines become cal- 

 cified, that is, so impregnated with lime salts 

 that they are almost like stone. Death en- 

 sues in a longer or shorter time from the 

 nodular disease. It does not work quickly as 

 does the disease caused by the stomach worm. 

 The worm causing these tumors is called oeso- 

 phagostoma columbianum. 



This nodular disease is a hard one to cure, 

 if indeed it is possible to cure it at all after 

 it is established. Prevention is about all that 

 we can do. Dr. W. H. Dalrymple of the Louis- 

 iana Experiment Station has shown, however, 

 that it is readily communicable from affected 

 ewes to their lambs through the medium of the 

 pasture. He has also demonstrated that where 

 diseased ewes are kept confined to the barn 

 and their lambs allowed to run On clean pas- 

 ture not contaminated by the presence of any 

 old sheep the lambs remain healthy and thus 

 a new and healthful stock can be had even 



