The Rut ill Sheep. 
87 
" 2. The QiiaUly of the UerhMjc. — We are infornifd the land was sown witli 
grass-seeds in the spring after tlie turnip croj), and tliat it was irn,c;ated in the 
same year the seeds were sown, Init the varieties of those seeds are not men- 
tioned. If they were annuals or biennials, sueh as arc commonly used in 
afi;viculturo, they would of course soon die off, and all the tender and most 
nutritious of the natural grasses would be extirpated by the aration processes; 
while the roots of coarse grasses and other pernicious plants, so far from being 
eradicated, would in fact be renovated by the short course of arable culture. 
Indeed, it is purposely acknowledged, ' rushes again made their appearance in 
the second year after the seeds were sown,' and probably many otlier still 
more objectionable plants made their appearance at tlie same time. But even 
supposing the land had been sown with a proper selection of iierennial grasses, 
these would have been weak in the second year. The narrator coni]ilains of his 
grass looking '■starved after mowing in the second year, and that it did not come 
a second time to the scythe.' Also in the third year after sowing, he says, 
'.E.\cept in those parts which were dry and steep, it produced little for the 
scythe ;' the more valuable plants raised from seeds sown upon the low 
laud being gone, and supplanted , by pernicious plants as before stated. The 
sound pasturage on the meadow would be confined to a very narrow compass, 
and lience not without any reference whatever to draining. 
" 3. Tlie Manner of Pasturing. — We are told tliat before the meadow was- 
improved otherwise than by irrigation it did not rot ewes and lambs pastured 
upon it in spring. But it is not said it was at that time sound pasturage for 
sheep in u;et summers or in autumn. Neither is it said that after draining it 
rotted ewes and lambs in spring. It is however stated that after the third 
draining in the spring of 1834 ' the meadow was equally fatal to every sheeji 
put upon it.' There is no mention of the time of year when the sheep were 
so jiut, nov is it stated whether the land was fLtil stocked with sheep in that 
fatal pasturage. I, however, think that calamity took place last autumn ; at 
least it is fair to infer so, because, as the third draining was effected in the 
spring of last year, the irrigation could not be carried on while the draining 
was in hand, consequently too late to produce early spring food ; and if the 
meadow was mown for hay last summer, the fatal result will have arisen from 
the sheep eating the autumnal lattermath or fog, and not from the land having 
been more perfectly drained. 
" Much more matter of a similar purport might be stated in support of my 
argument, but I trust I have already said sufficient to show that the querist 
has come to a hasty conclusion in supposing, as he states bis case, ' that land 
when less well drained may be fed by sheep with impunity and rot them when 
much better drained.' " 
In closing this section of our subject we would remark that 
neither water — pure or impure — innutritious herbage, nor noxious 
plants partaken of bv an animal, nor exposure to rainy weather, 
location on damp and ill-drained pasturage, nor on water- 
meadows, in the abstract, can be regarded as the cause of rot. 
Singly or combined, if long enough continued, these influences 
exert their baneful effects upon the vital force, and by diminish- 
ing it render animals more susceptible to diseases in general, 
especially those of an asthenic nature. They fail, however, to 
produce rot, because, even if united with numerous other causes 
of a similar kind, they are incapable of producing the entozoa 
which are found in the biliary ducts of affected sheep. 
