290 SHEEt> FARMING IN AMERICA. 



very little if any of the disease in America, 

 thank God. We have our own peculiar troubles 

 and need no "rot." 



NODULAE DISEASE. 



This is the disease commonly called by butch- 

 ers "knotty guts." It is characterized by 

 small tumors on the intestines, the tumors 

 filled with a greenish cheesy suId stance. The 

 disease is caused by a small worm, about an 

 inch long, called oesophagostoma columbianum. 

 The worm thrives in spite of his name. This 

 worm seems a distinctly American species, in- 

 habiting deer, goats and sheep, possibly rabbits. 

 What it does to the sheep is tO' interfere with 

 the digestion and assimilation of food. It 

 works its way gradually into a flock and brings 

 ruin to it. There is no cure. Fortunately its 

 progress is usually slow and it takes years to 

 kill a sheep, as a rule. The way of spreading 

 is by infecting the soil and grass through the 

 excrements of the afflicted sheep. Therefore 

 when sheep are so managed that lambs do not 

 graze much behind their mothers they will not 

 become affected. Presumably the contamina- 

 tion of the soil will not last longer than one 

 year. This point we hope will be demonstrated 

 by our national or state experiment stations 

 before long. It is a vital necessity to know that 

 of both the nodular disease and the stomach 

 worm. Thus it is evident that a healthy flock 

 can be produced by not intermixing the infec- 

 tion free young sheep with the infected older 

 ones, and fattening and marketing the older 



