The Rot in Sheep. 



remained at least for fifteen years, and during the whole of the time it was 

 constantly fed by ewes and lambs in the spring, and no instance was ever 

 known of any of these sheep ever showing the slightest symptom of the rot. 



" As, however, the herbage was not good, and it was supposed that by ob- 

 taining a better outfall and a more effectual mode of drainage the meadow 

 might be much improved, it was broken up in 1829, drained more perfectly, 

 better levelled, and was again laid down to grass after a turnip-fallow. The 

 land then appeared to be perfectly drained. The turnips were excellent, and 

 the grass which was sown in 1831 was beautiful. It was mown that autumn, 

 after having been irrigated, and produced abundantly. It carried great flocks of 

 sheep the ensuing spring, and produced a very great crop of grass early in the 

 summer ; but afterwards in that year the land appeared starved, and the grass 

 did not come a second time to the scythe. In the spring of 1883 the meadow 

 yielded a good pasture to the sheep, but, except in those parts which were dry 

 and steep, it produced little for the scythe. Rushes made their appearance ; 

 and as it was probable that the land was not sufficiently drained, more drains 

 were made, which produced a great deal of water. Then for the first time 

 suspicions were raised that the sheep fed on the land were tainted by the rot, 

 and it has been ascertained that since Christmas 1833 sheep fed upon it have 

 taken the rot in five days. In the spring of 1834 more drains were made in 

 it ; the consequence of which has been a great improvement in the quality and 

 quantity of the herbage, but, as far as the rot is concerned, it has been equally 

 fatal to every sheep put upon it. It is necessary to add, that, although the whole 

 of this meadow is now so well drained that after a fortnight's irrigation it will 

 become so dry in a week as to admit of horses galloping over it without 

 scarcely leaving the print of their shoe, yet, as some parts of it are much 

 lower, and consequently nearer the water by some feet than others, it might 

 be supposed that they would be more likely to produce the rot than those 

 parts which are higher. But this is not the case. It has been ascertained 

 that they are equally infectious. Other meadows in this neighbourhood, 

 irrigated partly by the same stream, have equally rotted the sheep though 

 perfectly well drained. As those other meadows are entirely new, it cannot 

 be said of them that there was a time when, though less well drained, they 

 did not rot the sheep. They do not affect the question, What can be the 

 reason why land which when less welL drained was fed by sheep with impunity 

 rots them now when it is much better drained? 



" It cannot be attributed wholly to the seasons, because other water-mea- 

 dows in the same county but on a different stream did not rot the sheep in 

 the spring or even in the autumn of 1834 ; some few out of very many have 

 been supposed to take the rot ; and that in the autumn of 1834,* even on 

 these meadows, scarce one has escaped the infection. But where they have 

 taken it some parts of the land have not been effectually drained. 



" These occurrences naturally excited attention, and recourse to every 

 known means supposed to be capable of preventing this infection was resorted 

 to. It has been said that sheep folded on fallows and not allowed to go on 

 to their pastures till the dew was off the ground have escaped the rot, when 

 others which were allowed to remain constantly on them have taken it ; that 

 dry food given to them on dry ground during the night, and that salt and 

 oil-cake have acted as preservatives. The evidence of the good effects of all 

 these antidotes has been such as it was impossible to doubt. But each and 

 every one of them has been tried here with the greatest attention, and it is 

 painful to add that they have all failed in every instance. The mode in which 

 these experiments were made was this: Out of a large lot of fat wethers 



* In the autumn of 1833, 200 ewes were fed on these mead iWS| and, wh □ 

 killed, were all found to be (pate sound. 



