378 THE EOT. 



quently recommended ; and to these means let a change of 

 diet be immediately added — good hay in the field, and hay, 

 straw, or chaff, in the straw-yard. 



"The physic having operated, or an additional dose, 

 perchance, having been administered in order to quicken the 

 action of the first, the farmer will look out for further means 

 and appliances. * * * Two or three grains of 

 calomel may be given daily, but mixed with half the 

 quantity of opium, in order to secure its beneficial and ward 

 off its injurious effects on the ruminant. To this should be 

 added — a simple and cheap medicine, but that which is the 

 sheet anchor of the practitioner here — common salt. * * 

 In the first place, it is a purgative inferior to few, when given 

 in a full dose ; and it is a tonic as well as a purgative. * * 

 A mild tonic, as well as an aperient, is plainly indicated soon 

 after the commencement of rot. The dose should be from 

 two to three drachms, repeated morning and night. When 

 the inflammatory stage is clearly passed, stronger tonics may 

 be added to the salt, and there are none superior to the 

 gentian and ginger roots ; from one to two drachms of each, 

 finely powdered, may be added to each dose of the salt. * 

 * * The sheep having a little recovered fi'om the 

 disease, should still continue on the best and driest pasture 

 on the farm, and should always have salt within their reach. 

 * * * The rot is not infectious." 



Scrofula. — I have never witnessed an instance of this 

 malady in our country. Mr. Spooner says of it : — " Sheep are 

 liable to a scrofalous disease which is almost uniformly fatal. 

 It is called the evil in some places, and elsewhere receives 

 other denominations. A hard swelling of the glands under the 

 jaws is first observed; after a time small pustules appear about 

 the head and neck, which break, discharging a white matter, 

 then heal, and are followed by others more numerous. This 

 gradually robs the animal of flesh, and slowly pining away, 

 it becomes at length quite useless, and in this state is 

 destroyed. It seldom attacks great numbers at a time, but 

 selects generally a few individuals from a flock. 



" The writer, though he cannot say that he has perfectly 

 succeeded in effecting a cure, has done so to a certain extent, 

 so that the tumors disappeared and the animals improved in 

 flesh and health, but afterwards relapsed. This he has 

 accomplished by administering four or five grains of hydrio- 

 date of potash daily in gruel, and rubbing the parts likewise 



