Foot-rot in Sheep. 
713 
masters. I am glad to say I have now but very few lame sheep. 
I owe this to the constant attention of my shepherd, and to the 
ointment I have been fortunate enough to meet with. 
In the summer of 1889 I visited the farm of my friend 
Mr. Henry Page, of Walmer Court, Kent. I found he had but 
little, if any, foot-rot among his sheep, and in the course of 
discussion he told me he could cure it in one or two dressings 
at most with an ointment which his old foreman prepared. 
He sent me some to try, and both I and my shepherd were so 
struck with it after using it that I wrote to Mr. Page requesting 
him to induce the old man to part with the recipe by paying 
him the small sum he required. This is the ointment I refer 
to, of which the following is the recipe : — 
2 oz. verdigris, powdered. | oz. caustic, powdered. 
2 oz. armenic (Armenian Bole), i J pint turpentine. 
powdered. 4 oz. Stockholm tar. 
2 oz. blue stone (blue vitriol), 2 oz. hog's lard. 
powdered. I 2 oz. oil of vitriol. 
Pour the oil of vitriol on last, and very slowly, or it will boil over. 
Keep stirring with a stick until it leaves off boiling. 
Mr. Page's farm is on the chalk, and therefore less subject 
to foot-rot than many other soils, my own amongst the number. 
I have, during a rather long experience, tried all sorts of 
remedies for this troublesome and wasting disease, but I have 
never found any so effective and speedy in its cure as this. I 
shall be very glad indeed if, by the publication of this recipe in 
the Journal, it should prove the means of doing the same good 
to many other breeders as it has done in my flock. 
The course I pursue is to draw out all the lame sheep, take 
them to some dry hovel or shed, thoroughly well pare their feet 
so that the disease is bottomed, and then apply the ointment. 
The sheep remain in the shed, or in a dry gravelled yard, for at 
least one night. I am quite sure that, by the use of this oint- 
ment, and with proper attention, the disease can be kept under. 
I fear that, in many cases, the shepherd is not sufficiently 
relieved of his ordinary duties to attend adequately to the 
sheep's feet. When the disease is prevalent he should have 
all the assistance he requires. It is most desirable that the 
sheep's feet should be every few weeks properly pared, a practice 
that will tend very much to retard the disease. 
Foot-rot is one of the most subtle of diseases. I have known 
my sheep to be quite free from it upon one farm, but if taken 
to another, upon which there was pasture with abundance of 
trees, they would within a very few days begin to fall with it. 
Mr. Nutt'a theory is not always correct. I know many farms 
