PL,OCK HUSBANDRY IN WESTERN STATES. 187 



they will go out to graze. The shepherd, or 

 "sheep herder" as he is often called, directs 

 them to the one way or the other according to 

 the condition of the range, and swallowing his 

 rather hastily prepared breakfast sets out 

 after them to see that they do not scatter too 

 wide or go too far. At noon he may return to 

 his tent and prepare his midday meal and per- 

 haps the flock will lie quiescent for some hours 

 if feed is fairly abundant and there is shade 

 of trees or rocks. 



As evening approaches he gathers them to- 

 gether and follows them to his bed ground 

 again and thus has closed the labor of the day. 

 The work is not usually laborious but it calls 

 for faithfulness and considerable patience and 

 to be a really first-class shepherd requires a 

 deep insight into the ways of sheep and of all 

 wild Nature as well. 



DISEASES OP THE RANGE. 



Sheep in this region are healthy except for 

 two principal troubles, scab, which was once 

 almost universal, and stomach worms or "lom- 

 briz" which are occasionally destructive to 

 lambs. Scab is very difficult to eradicate on 

 ranches where corrals are used continuously 

 and where flocks stray about and cross each 

 other's paths and especially if they alternately 

 use certain corrals. Of recent years, however, 

 many herds have been made completely clean 

 of scab and there is hope that all may be rid 

 of it in the near future. 



That scab is not a necessary adjunct of 



