BLANKETS FOR SHEEP. 
411 
land.’ Now the gent was a very tender-hearted man, and 
believed all that Coper told him, and kept the hoss; but what 
he did with him, I can’t think, for he was the wiciousest screw 
as ever put his nose in a manger.” 
American Veterinary Journal, April 1852. 
BLANKETS FOR SHEEP. 
The following article may contain valuable hints for some of 
our wool-growing friends :— 
A writer in a late number of the London Agricultural Gazette 
says, “ We find on examining our mortality tables for the last 
twelve months, that out of six hundred Cheviot and black-faced 
Evehogs, the number of deaths has been but sixteen. Be it re¬ 
membered also, that, with the exception of about a score, none 
of these ever tasted a turnip, but fared with the ewes on the hill. 
Since we commenced the use of jackets (small blankets), we 
have especially noticed an extraordinary diminution of the cases 
of “ sturdy,” or water in the head. Hydatids in the brain are 
generally understood to be induced by long-continued heavy 
rains, cold winds, and general privation. Any one conversant 
with sheep must have observed the wool along the back parts in 
such a way as fully to expose the skin. The connexion be¬ 
tween the spine and the brain is obvious, and it cannot be 
wondered that hydatids (little sacs filled with water) should be 
formed in the brains of sheep much exposed to severe storms, 
without due shelter. Hence the advantage of covering their 
backs with some material which will protect them, in a great 
measure, from the chilling effects of wind and rain. The material 
used is woollen, the size being 23 inches by 15. We lately pur¬ 
chased some coarse blankets that made excellent covers, each 
jacket costing four-pence. The rams were put with the ewes on 
the 22d of November, and we allow forty-five to each male.” 
The above remarks, from a flock-master of large experience, 
in reference to the cause of hydatids, or what we should call 
water in the brains of sheep, are interesting in a medical and 
physiological point of view. We know one breeder, in Vermont, 
who covers the back of each sheep with half a yard of common 
sheeting, painted, to shed rain. The practice is founded in reason, 
and is likely to extend, literally making cotton tributary to the 
production of wool. The growers of the former staple will not 
object if every sheep in the United States and Europe has a 
cotton “jacketfor one that will answer every intention, can be 
made cheaper of cotton than of wool. The comfort of domestic 
animals at the South is sadly and most expensively neglected. 
Southern Cultivator. 
