204 Report on an Outbreak of Abortion, S^c, in the 
Here the soil was worked up into a veritable puddle, or, what 
is worse, an impassable slough, rendering the recumbent posture 
all but impossible ; and the poor beasts, with their heavy burden 
of young, stood in mud over their hocks and knees for many 
successive days, and some are stated to have " got down in the 
dirt and were obliged to be killed," in the last stage of exhaustion. 
Of the many interesting features of this investigation, that 
which deals with the relations of manurial dressings to the 
disease under consideration is certainly not the least important 
and instructive. For many years past there has been a growing 
feeling of uncertainty among farmers as to the wholesomeness 
of roots grown under the forcing influence of large quantities of 
artificial manure, and in many sheep-breeding districts this has 
led to a more rational and better system of feeding in the judi- 
cious apportionment of turnips, and the allowance of a fair 
daily ration of corn, cake, and other nutritive aliment. 
Having regard to the importance of the subject, I availed 
myself of the opportunity afforded by this enquiry for obtaining 
precise and reliable data, and so far as the evidence of an 
isolated experience can be relied upon, the prevailing suspicion 
concerning the use of artificial manure in connection with the 
health of sheep, would seem to be in some respects justified. 
From an analysis of the information received on this head, it 
results that : — 
Under the use of mineral superphosphate .. I85 per cent, aborted. 
„ ,, bone superphosphate ..18 ,, ,, 
„ ,, farmyard-manure .... 11 „ ,, 
„ „ bones 8 „ „ 
It will thus be seen that bone and mineral superphosphate, 
which form the basis of most of our best fertilising compounds, 
are here identified with the greater losses. It must not, how- 
ever, be concluded that this result is necessarily due to the 
direct action of the superphosphates themselves on the organism 
of the sheep. It may be that such is not the case, and indeed it 
seems to me that the evil effects of the roots will be found to 
refer to want of maturity, and consequent inferior nutritive 
value, the result of forced growth, rather than to any actual 
deleterious principle elaborated within them. 
The high-pressure system of forcing the growth of roots by 
the free application of artificial manure, and the growing prac- 
tice of sowing late and stocking early, in pursuance of a rota- 
tion of close and continuous cropping, and to meet the exigencies 
of seasonal conditions, are inconsistent with full maturation and 
ripening, and consequently with the development of those high 
nutritive qualities on which the salubrity and value of roots 
