170 
Report on Liver-Rot. 
his home-bred flock, which he believes to be free from disease. 
3Ir. L. W. Stephenson, Normanton Hill, on thoroughly drained 
land, keeps 400 sheep ; although there has been much mortality 
on the farms around he has escaped liver-rot ; but unfortunately, 
in February 1881, his sheep and beasts were suffering from foot 
and mouth disease. 
The Vale of Belvoir, beginning at Old Dalby, near Melton 
Mowbray, runs fifteen miles west, is four to five miles wide, 
contains much rich feeding-land, but in olden times had an 
unenviable reputation for rotting sheep. The property chiefly 
belongs to the Duke of Rutland, lies mostly on the blue lias ; 
a great deal of it is imperfectly drained ; some of it is liable to 
flood. The farms are small ; the manufacture of Stilton cheese 
is the chief industry. The older inhabitants informed me that 
losses from rot occurred in 1829 and 1830 ; on several farms 
every sheep was then cleared off. Equally evil fortune has 
befallen many during the present visitation. Some of the farms 
which formerly had an evil repute have not, however, now 
suffered. The Stathern farm, which used to rot sheep badly, 
has been thoroughly drained, and the flock still continues 
sound. Mr. Rowbottom's farm, of Goadly, at Marwood, was 
wont to rot sheep even in dry seasons. Five years ago it was 
thoroughly drained, and, notwithstanding the provocation of 
the last two years, the flock remains healthy. Whilst the 
disease has been general on the wet heavy clays in the valleys, 
the adjacent higher ironstone lands, through which the water 
quickly percolates, have furnished very few cases. A still more 
notable exemption occurs in the midst of the vale. On a 
gently elevated eminence at Hose, Mr. Joseph Stevenson has 
kept his 80 sheep perfectly sound, whilst his neighbours all 
round have been heavy losers. Another rather interesting case 
of immunity is the North Field Farm, held by Mr. John Pacey. 
The farm rises a little out of the level plain, and, although 
rather more porous than some of the adjacent land, was long 
notorious for rot ; but since it has been thoroughly drained no 
cases have occurred, and it even now presents a clean bill of 
health. In the Vale of Belvoir the cattle for two years have 
done badly, and now there are frequent losses amongst them 
from rot. Few hares and rabbits are met with in the district, 
and I am unable to obtain any evidence as to their health. 
I am told that they were infested with flukes in 1829, and 
I learn that the bares this winter have run badly, which is a 
suspicious circumstance. 
Mr. Robert Littler, M.R.C.V.S., at Long Clawson, ascribes 
the prevalence of rot in his own and other districts to the per- 
sistent effects of several wet seasons. The rainy year of 1860, 
