SHEEP diseases: causes, nature and prevention. 317 
which is a dry layer, and have as much of the above food as they 
can eat; I may say they are pushed, and are very fat,” and well 
they might be, and no wonder that on making the post-mortem 
examination my correspondent found “ the bladder distended 
with urine and inflamed, and containing calcareous matter in its 
interior ; the lungs congested and the kidneys flabby and degen¬ 
erated.” 
The deductions I would draw from the foregoing observations 
for the guidance of the stockowner are—1st, That he cannot 
over-force sheep without suffering the penalty in the shape of a 
large percentage of deaths, and in great waste of material; 2d, 
That all sudden changes of management are injurious in the ex¬ 
treme. Judicious changing of food and pasturage should always 
be practised and, where it can be done, the resources of his own 
holding should be supplemented by the farmer from the super¬ 
abundance of his neighbors; sheep require change more frequently 
than do other animals. I have already referred to my father’s 
management of his sheep. No man prepared more sheep for the 
butcher, in proportion to the size of his farm, than he; but they 
were scattered in lots all over the country side and frequently 
changed, and when put on to fresh turnips they were limited as 
to quantity, particularly at the outset, and here 1 may remark 
that in turnip feeding there is often more food wasted and fouled 
than is made use of ; 3d, I would say to the stockowner, let your 
feeding be as natural as possible ; don't waste your substance in 
buying everybody’s celebrated 'compositions , but purchase the raw 
materials and make your own mixtures ; then you know what you 
are giving to your sheep , and you are not “paying through the 
nosef by purchasing stuff which in many instances is not worth 
the price paid for it by 20 or 30 per cent. 
In-breeding is a predisposing cause to disease, at least in a 
relative point of view or 3 outside certain limits, and those limits 
are regulated by the vigor or otherwise of the animals engaged. 
Where the male and female are alike vigorous and structurally 
perfect the evil effects of in-breeding may be postponed ; but 
even here, if it is carried too far, defects will crop up and they will 
increase rather than diminish in each succeeding generation. A 
