166 
Report on Liver- Not. 
drier pervious soils has been exempt. On low grounds, subject 
to floods, where ditches and drains have been unable to clear 
themselves, and water has stood persistently, flock-masters have 
suffered. Butchers at Kettering, like many of those elsewhere, 
aver that few cattle and sheep these two years are as ripe and 
full of fat as formerly. Not many flukes are found in the beasts. 
The ewes and older sheep are more affected than the younger. 
Cross-bred sheep which are becoming more general are said to 
be scarcely so much affected as the Leicesters and longwools. 
On some farms never before producing a rotten sheep the flocks 
have been swept away ; bad-doers have suffered most ; very heavy 
losses have been sustained by those who delayed clearing out 
their infected flocks. Sheep which might have realised 60s. have 
often melted away at the rate of 16s. to 20s. in a fortnight, the 
lean meat becoming pale, soft, and shrunk. Around Kettering 
and Market Harborough it is, however, gratifying to learn that 
in February 1881 there was less disease than twelve months pre- 
viously. Mr. John J. Sha?'p, Broughton, wrote that in November 
and December 1879 he bought 300 suspicious sheep at very low 
prices, kept them as well as possible with a full allowance of dry 
food and access to rock-salt ; they did very well indeed and 
paid money. Repeating the experiment in 1880, he bought 
another lot of risky sheep ; Avith some difficulty managed to clear 
them off without loss ; longer kept, they would certainly have 
wasted and died. 
Leicestershire has an unenviable notoriety for flooded 
meadows : for three months during recent years many hun- 
dred acres have been under water. With rivers and streams 
obstructed by dams and weirs, with broken down banks, and 
silted up beds, surface and drainage water is slowly removed, 
and much even of the lighter land dries tardily. In the neigh- 
bourhood of Leicester, on the lias and marl land, many flocks 
were affected in the autumn of 1879, and still more are now 
unsound ; some have been entirely cleared out. The valleys of 
the Wreak and Welland have always been regarded especially 
liable to rot sheep in a wet time, and evidently have lost none of 
their unenviable character. The valley of the Soar, on more 
porous soil, is generally drier and healthier ; but even here, as 
on the higher lands, and where no rot has been known lor half 
a century, this visitation has extended. Cattle, as well as sheep, 
are infested. Butchers in Leicester declare that more than half 
the sheep reared within twenty miles have flukes, and the only 
sheep within reasonable distance which they can depend upon 
being sound are brought from the Grantham country. During 
February and March, 1881, the Leicester fellmongers reported 
that there are received every week 2000 casualty skins, mostly 
