LECTURE ON THE DISEASES OF CATTLE. 
653 
which has latterly been introduced, be extended, the sprinkling of 
gypsum upon the floors will be found highly valuable, and as be- 
neficial as under the circumstances stated. The great difficulty 
connected with the bringing of sheep under cover to fatten, which, 
under such circumstances, they do much more rapidly and upon 
less food than when running about exposed to all kinds of weather — 
the great difficulty, I say, is to keep them clean when they are 
thus brought into a confined space. When collected together, 
their coats send forth a great quantity of effluvia. Every one who 
has been to a fair must have noticed a peculiar effluvium arising 
from sheep which are penned together. There is much effluvia 
given off from the hides of sheep under ordinary circumstances ; 
but under the circumstances mentioned, there is a great deal of 
noxious matter, which they are liable to breathe. This is of more 
importance than is generally supposed. 
Independent of effluvia arising from bad air, in a stable or other 
building, another fertile source of impurity and disease is to be 
found in marshy, damp situations. I cannot but observe that, al- 
though in districts where there are running streams of water, the 
meadows are very serviceable, as enabling the grazier to feed off 
his stock at an early period; yet the injury arising from the na- 
ture of the situation is sometimes qiute equivalent to the advan- 
tage gained. The air which is saturated with too much moisture 
is, of course, inhaled by the animal, whose feet, legs, and whole 
body suffer from the same cause. If an animal be fed in a low 
situation, it is desirable that it should not be left entirely to such a 
situation ; except, perhaps, during the heat of summer : it will 
actually get fatter in better situations, though fed upon an inferior 
kind of food, than if fed upon rich food when exposed to the dele- 
terious influence of cold and damp. 
Another point connected with feeding has reference to chaff or 
hulls. The use of this must be considered in relation to the 
animal to which it is given. To cattle and sheep you may give this 
chaff with great advantage, because there is a double mastication. 
It consists of the husks of wheat, barley, oats, clover, &c.; in fact, 
the refuse of the threshing barn. In proportion as the hull coop is 
large, you find two maladies prevalent; one, broken wind, the 
other, gripes. Do away with the hull coop, and you find those 
diseases subsiding. It may be asked, “ What is to be done with 
this refuse 1 Is it to be thrown away !” Certainly not. It may 
be given to sheep and to cattle without any bad effect. That 
which you give to the horse passes out of him totally undigested ; 
but if you give it to sheep or cattle there is no bad result, because 
the food is completely ground in mastication. If you take hay 
from sheep and cattle to give it to horses, and if you take from 
