30 PRINCIPLES OF BREEDING. 



liable to be overtasked or exposed to violent changes 

 of temperature, or otherwise put in jeopardy, their dis- 

 eases are not so numerous, and vi^hat they have are less 

 violent than in the horse, and generally of a chronic 

 character. 



Scrofula is not uncommon among sheep, and it pre- 

 sents itself in various forms. Sometimes it is con- 

 nected with consumption ; sometimes it affects the 

 viscera of the abdomen, and particularly the mesen- 

 teric glands in a manner similar to consumption in the 

 lungs. The scrofulous taint has been known to be so 

 strong as to affect the foetus, and lambs have occasion- 

 ally been born with it, but much oftener they show it 

 at an early age, and any affected in this way are liable 

 to fall an easy prey to any ordinary or prevailing disease 

 ■which develops in such with unusual severity. Sheep 

 are also liable to several diseases of the brain and of the 

 respiratory and digestive organs. Epilepsy, or "fits," 

 and rheumatism sometimes occur. 



Swine are subject to nearly the same hereditary dis- 

 eases as sheep. Epilepsy is more common with them 

 than with the latter, and they are more liable to scrofula 

 than any other domestic animals. 



When properly and carefully managed, swine are not 

 ordinarily very liable to disease, but when, as too often 

 kept in small, damp, filthy styes, and obliged constantly 



