133 



This rale is advisable wherever the sheep may pasture. Sheep on 

 over-stocked pastures do not get enough grass, and become more in- 

 fested with worms from having to eat close to the dirt. 



(7.) When sheep are allowed to graze on dangerous ground they should have a daily 

 allowance of salt and a little dry food. 



Exigencies can be conceived in which sheep may be allowed to pas- 

 ture on infected ground, but, in view of the fatality attending the 

 malady, it would seem more profitable to sell the animals while they are 

 still in good condition tlaan to expose them farther to these parasites. 



Lime and salt are the two cheap preventives against this parasite. 

 The former, mixed with manure, increases its value as a fertilizer. A 

 solution of three fourths of 1 per cent, of salt in water has been found 

 by experiments in the laboratory to kill fluke embryos. This weak so- 

 lution might prove too weak in the field, when the salt would be still 

 further diluted by dew or rain. Perroncito has shown that the encysted 

 cercariae and the larvae encysted in Limncea palustris die in 2 per cent, 

 salt solutions in five minutes; in 1 per cent, solutions they die after 

 twenty or thirty-five minutes; 0.65 per cent, solutions kill in about the 

 same time; in 0,25 per cent, solutions the worms live after twenty 

 hours' immersion. 



The weakness of the brine necessary to kill the parasites in the labo- 

 ratory points out that a small proportion of salt mixed with the lime 

 would be very advisable. Salt was first advised from a knowledge of 

 the fact that sheep never became infected with flukes on salt marshes. 

 Stronger solutions of salt also kill the snails, which are the hosts of the 

 embryonic fluke. 



The time of year for scattering the lime or salt on the fields is the 

 first part of Jane, July, and August. 



Neumann advises mixing two teaspoonfuls of salt for each sheep 

 with the ground grain they eat. Perroncito advises the addition of 

 one-half of 1 per cent, salt to the water they drink (about a heaping 

 tablespoonful to each gallon of water). 



Although the flockmaster can never completely cure his sheep, he 

 may, by judicious medicatiou, so improve the condition of the con- 

 valescent animals that they will take on considerable flesh. Many 

 vegetable astringents and tonics have been tried, with more or less 

 profit, but it is to the mineral astringents that we look for the best re- 

 sults. Sulphate of iron and common salt, dissolved in the drink or 

 mixed with the food, are among the best and cheapest. 



Medicinal treatment.-^Some experimenters have endeavored to kill 

 the flukes, and have met with varying success. The remedies tried 

 have been extract ofnaale-fern, given with turpentine or benzine, castor 

 oil, etc. For proportions of these remedies see remedies for Tcenia ex- 

 pansa. Mojkowski, according to Neumann, has obtained encouraging 

 results against the distomatosis (the fluke disease) of sheep with naph- 



