366 HOOF - EOT. 



remedies, and in the process of its removal the blood is very 

 frequently set flowing again, and this sometimes several 

 times follows the application of the caustic. * Cutting down 

 to the crack between the homy and fleshy sole, is not enough. 

 The operator must ascertain whether there is any ulceration 

 between the outside horny walls and the fleshy part of the foot 

 — or at the toe — or whether there is even a rudiment of an 

 unreached sinus or cavity in any part of the foot where the 

 ulceration has penetrated or is beginning to penetrate. The 

 practiced eye decides these questions rapidly from the 

 characteristic appearances, without the removal of unneces- 

 sary horn : but the new beginner must feel his way along 

 cautiously, removing more horn where there is doubt, 

 but so removing it that he will not unnecessarily cause an 

 effusion of blood, or uncover the healthy quick, or dis- 

 arrange the proper bearing of the foot. If the foot is in 

 the third state, the removal of the maggots, the cleaning of 

 the ulcers, the proper excision of the dead tissues, etc., 

 require much time — sometimes more than half an hour to 

 eacli foot. The most experienced operator cannot perform 

 such processes in a hurry — the inexperienced one must 

 perform them slowly, or all the time saved will be lost, twenty 

 times over, in having to repeat them for an indefinite number 

 of times. 



English and Continental modes of treatment — the constant 

 separation of the infected — daily dressings — ^poultices changed 

 every twelve hours, with intermediate washings, probings, 

 etc., as recommended by Mr. Smith — bandages — cloth boots 

 — cloth boots with leather soles,f &c., &c., would cost more 

 than the sheep would be worth after they were cured, in 

 this country of high and scarce labor ; and, in point of fact, 

 in most regions, in the busy period of haying and harvesting 

 when hoof-rot is at its height, the necessary labor could not 

 be commanded at any cost. And yet if that labor could be 

 obtained, the cost of it would not much exceed, in the long 

 run, the aggregate cost of the labor actually devoted 

 to the same end. The foreign practitioner promptly cures 

 the malady. The American farmer, who has from one to two 

 hundred infected sheep, during the first year when the disease 

 ia violent, drives them into a stable — a small one so they can 

 be caught easily — once in ten days or a fortnight. An unoccu- 



* 1 remember to have Been these recommended by some Continental Veteri- 

 narian whose name I can not now recall. 



t The toe vein bleeds very freely, and it often reqaires some time and tronble 

 to staunch it. 



