PRESENT METHOD OF TURNIP CULTURE, 
467 
responding degree with these so-called improvements in 
turnip culture. Thousands upon thousands of lambs fall 
victims to parasitic and other diseases in the autumn. These 
worm diseases are caused by the sheep taking into their 
system the eggs or germs of worms from the turnips, the 
necessary products of an organic seed-bed before the weather 
has been severe enough to deprive these germs of life. These 
germs quickly propagate at a time when the vital action of 
the system of the lambs is at its lowest ebb, from the un¬ 
kindly way in which they take to their new food. They shrink 
rapidly, although generally unperceived, from the wool-cover¬ 
ing. They should either have a little artificial food or some 
kale when first put on, so that they may be brought to eat this 
new food without losing much condition, and thereby be ren¬ 
dered proof against parasitic or w ? orm diseases. In fact, 
lambs should be well cared for from the time they are weaned 
until they get well hold of the turnips. 
In the northern part of Lincolnshire, soon after the com¬ 
mencement of the present year and up to the full term of preg¬ 
nancy, thousands of ewes have aborted or slipped their lambs 
in a state of decay, and hundreds of them have died. Here a 
combination of causes have produced the results; the ex¬ 
treme cold in the first week of January, the altitude of the 
Wold Hills, and the rotten condition of the turnips, acted de¬ 
structively upon the breedling, especially of twins. In fact, 
the action of the extreme cold in high bleak situations has been 
too much for the heavily taxed breeding ewe to stand while 
feeding upon badly organized food. The greatest losses have 
been experienced where the turnips were nearly all in a state 
of decay, and where artificial food was not early resorted to. 
Some people think, because sheep will eat this fermenting food, 
that it cannot be injurious; but I would ask, how can it be 
otherwise, when all the organic principles, such as the sugar, 
starch, &c., are being resolved into the gaseous or unorgan¬ 
ized form? We may as well expect the living frame to elaborate 
its own structures from earthy or gaseous elements. Patho¬ 
logical investigation shows that slow and gradual changes 
have been secretly and slowly working out their fatal ends— 
the heart, lungs, liver, and kidneys of these ewes having lost 
their natural firmness of structure, and one or all assumed 
more or less a soft, pulpy, broken-down character; besides 
which, a general decay or decomposition had to all appear¬ 
ance set in even before death, so as to make you at times 
doubt the statements of the shepherds, that such and such 
animals had only been dead some two or three hours. 
There has been another disease amongst breeding ewes, 
