frequent occurence among sheep; but health is only in a few instances
seriously affected. It is brought on by the exposure of the animal to
intense cold, or to sudden chills, after it has been heated. In slight
cases, the only annoyance to which the sheep is subjected, is from
matter accumulating in the nostril, and plugging up the orifice, so
that the poor creature is compelled to raise its head every three or
four minutes, and labour hard for breath.[31] When the inflammation
extends further down the air tubes, the symptoms assume a severer type,
and death soon occurs, in general from suffocation. If the inflammation
of the bronchial tubes becomes chronic, that is to say, if it goes on
in a mild form for a length of time, pulmonary consumption (rot) will
in all probability succeed, and destroy the sheep in a more lingering
manner.
[31] The sheep is more inconvenienced by Coryza than other
animals, owing to the naturally small calibre of the nostrils,
the inferior turbinated bone being of large dimensions, and
occupying the greater part of the nasal cavity. It is from this
peculiar formation of the nose, that sheep are so very easily
blown, when made to exert themselves in running.
(158.) _Treatment of Coryza._ Should this disease prevail in a lenient
form among your sheep, removal to a sheltered field, and a dose of
purgative medicine, are all that is required. If, however, the feverish
symptoms are severe, besides giving a purgative, bleed at the outset of
the disease, and administer ten grains of the following fever powder,
dissolved in a tea-cupful of warm water:--
Take of powdered Digitalis (Foxglove) half a drachm.
Tartarized Antimony fifteen grains
Nitre two drachms.
Rub them well together, and divide the mixture into fifteen parts or
powders. Half an hour after the powder is swallowed, give the sheep a
basin of warm gruel, and repeat the powder at the end of six hours, if
the symptoms are not considerably abated. When the sheep is recovering,
keep it on juicy food, and do not expose it to inclement weather, as it
will be very liable to another and more severe attack. Those sheep
which are subject to cough on slight changes of temperature, should
always be picked out, fattened for the market, and disposed of at the
earliest opportunity, as they will, in all probability, sooner or
later, fall victims to the following disease.
(159.) _Rot._ Every animal, from the serpent up to man, that is to say,
every animal possessed of lungs, is liable to _rot_. The inelegance of
the term might be overlooked, provided a precise meaning were attached
to it. Every one, however, seems to place some peculiar signification,
and to hang some favourite theory, upon it, so that little wonder need
be expressed either at the varying tenor of the treatment, or at the
unsatisfactory conclusions which have been drawn regarding it. The word
"_rot_," when employed in speaking of man, implies what, in popular
language, is called "_consumption_," and is applied to that disease
only when it affects the lungs. Thus the fork-grinders of Sheffield,
who, from the nature of their employment, are much exposed to the
exciting causes of consumption, and who, at an early age, fall victims
to it, are said, by the people of that town, to die of rot. The term,
however, so far as it has yet been used in relation to the sheep, has
figured as the representative of a host of diseases, and, in becoming
standard from frequent usage, has only rendered confusion worse
confounded. "_Rot_," says the late Professor Coventry, in his
_Introductory Discourses_, "is a word which has been employed to
express a variety of disorders affecting this animal, with no small
confusion and detriment. Indeed, in few instances has senseless
indiscrimination done more mischief; for means inapt and injurious have
been had recourse to, where skilful and timely interference would have
had the happiest effects. Sheep are sometimes said to have the rot,
when they labour under _phthisis pulmonalis_ (consumption of the
lungs), which they do but rarely; or under disorders of the liver, as
_hepatitis chronica_, and that state of the same organ produced, or
attended by the _fasciolae hepaticae_ (fluke worms), _hydatides_, &c.,
which affections of the liver are not unfrequent. But the most common
rot is still another and very distinct disorder, resembling, in many
points, and probably the very same in its nature with, _scorbutus_
(scurvy) in the human species, or that _miseranda lues_, that direful
ruin of the general health and constitution, which silently supervenes
from deficient or depraved aliment; and from which, as numerous
observations testify, every flock, every sufferer, may be recovered by
simple means seasonably used; but against which, in its advanced stage,
all remedies prove of no avail. Perhaps, as the last symptoms of
debility are very similar, and are most taken notice of by ordinary
observers, the different kinds of rot might conveniently enough pass
under the names of pulmonic, hepatic, and general rot."
Setting aside, for the moment, the inaccuracy of part of the above
observations, I shall only remark, that, though Dr Coventry, in thus
calling attention to the conflicting state of opinions on the subject,
has accomplished much in reconciling discrepancies, he has still left
something to be done in simplifying the matter; while he has, at the
same time, rendered that something difficult of execution, from his own
high authority being associated with the blunder. The only way,
therefore, to remedy the thing, is to quit for the present the views of
that learned gentleman, while I endeavour to give a plain account of
the disease, its causes, and effects.
(160.) _Symptoms of Rot._ The first thing which indicates the presence
of the disease, is the unwillingness of the affected animal to move
about. It lags behind the flock, ascends a slope with difficulty, and
has a listless, heavy, pithless appearance. Cough varying in frequency
and violence, but extremely harassing, is present at every period of
the disease, and is always increased on the slightest exertion.[32] At
first this is accompanied by expectoration of the mucus of the air
tubes; but in no long time purulent matter, indicative of more
extensive inroads on the constitution, begins to be coughed up, and
goes on increasing in quantity and becoming worse in quality till the
termination of the disease. The wool becomes fine, white, thin, and
brittle in the pile, and is easily brought away in masses by the
slightest pull. The appetite is, throughout the disease, voracious, and
though all the bad symptoms may be present, still the animal keeps up
an appearance of plumpness. This, however, is hollow and deceitful, and
the rapid loss of flesh which immediately succeeds, shows with what
insidious certainty the malady has been progressing. Owing to the
falling off in flesh and in fat, the neck appears to have acquired
additional length, and the eyes to have sunk within the head. Sooner or
later the skin beneath the neck becomes distended with serous fluid,
and from this the disease has acquired the name of _Poke_. The word,
however, is far from applicable, as it might, with equal propriety,
stand for any other disease attended with dropsical accumulations.
Violent purging soon terminates the disease, death being generally
preceded by the evacuation of a quantity of blackish matter.
[32] It is quite possible that a sheep may die of true
pulmonary consumption and yet have scarcely any cough.
(161.) _Appearances on Dissection._ The first thing which strikes a
person on viewing the carcass of a sheep which has died of rot, is its
leanness. In conducting the examination, the fell appears of a bluish
white, the muscles are pale and wasted, and fat hardly to be met with.
Where it once existed, a tough yellow substance alone remains, which is
so destitute of all pretentions to the name of suet, that it cannot,
even when thrown upon a fire, be made to blaze. Dropsical accumulations
are found in the legs, chest, neck, and belly. On opening the chest,
the lungs are often seen adhering at intervals to the lining membrane
of the ribs, and have always a shrunk, diminutive appearance. These
adhesions are frequently seen where there are no tubercles, and are in
that case simply the result of exposure to cold; but where they are
coincident with tubercles, they may be ascribed either to the animal
having been exposed to cold, or to the inflammatory action set up by
the tubercles themselves. The lungs are always the principal, and I may
also, from my own experience, add, the primary seat of the affection.
When examined in the early stage of rot, they have a hard lumpy feel,
especially at the upper part or lobe, and at this time a great number
of irregular yellowish white, patchy-looking bodies (_Plate_ VI. _fig.
2._), will be seen shining through the membrane, _pleura_, which
surrounds the organ. These _tubercles_, as the hard white bodies are
called, vary in size from that of a mustard seed to that of a pea. They
are sprinkled through all parts of the lung, and will in every
dissection, be found in a variety of stages, from the firm condition in
which they were deposited, to the softened state which denotes their
speedy expectoration. Each tubercle, however small, usually holds a
particle of calcareous matter in its centre. The lungs, in the advanced
stage of rot, will be full of cells or caverns, owing to the
destruction of its texture by suppuration in those parts where
tubercles existed. The cells or sacs are of all sizes, from that of a
bean to that of a goose egg; but if the animal has been taken care of
during the progress of the complaint, and lingered long, the abscesses
will be so numerous, and so closely situated, as to give the remains of
the lung the appearance of a large bag. Extreme cases of this nature
are, however, rare; as the sheep, in general, either falls before the
knife, or is killed from exposure to cold long ere the disease has
reached its farthest limit. These sacs contain purulent matter, of all
shades and odours, and identical with that which the animal coughed up.
Tubercles, and all their concomitants as above detailed, are also met
with in the liver, though not so frequently as in the lungs. They
constantly occur in the _clyars_ (mesenteric or lacteal glands) which
on this account are much above their usual size, and are occasionally
found in other parts; but I need not proceed in their description, as
sufficient has been said about them to enable the unprofessional reader
to understand their relation to the complaints.
Fluke worms and hydatids are almost constant attendants on rot, and
seemingly most important ones, especially the former, which have, I may
say, kept a great bulk of the learned and unlearned for many years in a
perpetual bustle, and have so effectually hoodwinked writers on this
subject, as to prevent them seeing the truly important points in the
disease. For this reason, I hold them worthy of particular description;
as it is only by becoming acquainted with their history and habits that
we can form correct ideas either of their mode of origin or of their
supposed ability to cause rot.
(162.) _The Liver Fluke_ (_fasciola hepatica_ or _distoma hepaticum_,
_Fig. 6._ _Plate_ I.) derives its name from the resemblance it bears to
the plaice or flounder, though its shape has been more aptly compared
to that of a melon seed. It is flat and oval, of a brownish-yellow
colour, and varies in size from that of a pin-head to one inch in
length, and half an inch in breadth. Each worm is bisexual or
hermaphrodite, on which account they multiply with great rapidity. The
generic name--_distoma_--signifies having two pores, _a.b. Fig. 6,
Plate_ I., and is for this reason applied to it. The nipple-like body
at the extremity _a._ contains the orifice of the pore or opening
leading to the female division of the generative apparatus, situated
between _a._ and _b._ In this cavity are formed the eggs, which are at
intervals protruded, to be hatched when floating in the sheep's bile.
The male organ is situated in front of the ventral pore. The anterior
opening _b._ is equivalent to a mouth, and leads inwards and backwards,
communicating with the intestinal canals _c._, which are easily made
out in the recent animal, from their containing dark bile, and which,
as in other creatures low in the scale of being, serve the double
purpose of a digestive and circulatory apparatus; that is to say, the
stomach first prepares a fluid which is equivalent to blood, and then
distributes it throughout the body.[33]
[33] The examination of fluke worms is much facilitated by
placing several of various sizes flat upon a slip of glass, and
allowing them to dry in this position. On holding the glass
between a bright light and a lens, and looking through the
latter, the distribution of the vessels, and the position and
form of the eggs, are beautifully displayed.
Flukes are never found in the _arteries_ of the liver, as has been
erroneously stated by some writers, their abode being limited to the
gall bladder and its ducts. In these they are often present in such
numbers as to cause great distention of the sac and tubes, and in some
instances the irritation produced by them leads to the thickening of
the walls of the gall bladder, and to a deposition of calcareous matter
between its coats; frequently also to complete obliteration of portions
of the ducts. Hence the crackling sound sometimes perceived when
handling the liver of a rotten sheep.
(163.) _The Hydatid or Blob_ (_Cysticercus tumicollis_, _Fig. 1._
_Plate_ VII.) so frequently found in sheep, is in form one of the
simplest of the entozoa (literally dwellers within), being little more
than a bag containing a quantity of fluid. As relates to outline, this
hydatid bears no small resemblance to a Florence flask. It is said to
have a head, _h._--a neck, _n._--a body, _b._-- and a posterior or
caudal vesicle, _c.v._ Its claims to the title of an animal have been
much disputed, but as it has been seen to move spontaneously, and as
the contained fluid is always essentially different from that by which
the hydatid is surrounded, the question may be looked upon as set at
rest.[34]
[34] The property of acting on organized matter, so as to
convert it into substances similar to those which constitute
the agent, is characteristic of a vital power.
The method of their reproduction is in unison with their structure,
simple in the extreme. Nothing, however, very precise is known about
the process. The vesicle which acts as heart and stomach serves also as
the reproductive cavity, but how or by what means it is fecundated
would be difficult to determine. The young hydatids are found adhering
to the inner surface of the parent cavity. When they have attained
maturity, the parent dies and shrivels, and the young ones begin to
eliminate their nourishment from the juices of the quadruped which they
infest.
These entozoa are found in general on the surface of the intestines,
between them and their outer membrane (_peritoneum_), and on the
exterior of the lungs and liver. They are always included in a cyst, to
the inner surface of which they adhere by means of two hook-shaped
processes projecting from the head. These cysts are always on the
surface of the different viscera of the sheep, and in this way may be
distinguished from another sacular animal, or rather supposed animal,
termed acephalocyst or headless bag, which is sometimes found in
clusters in the substance of the lungs, liver, &c. and is often
confounded with the true hydatid.
(164.) _Causes of Rot._ If any one had been asked, thirty years ago,
the cause or rather causes of the appearances which pass under the name
of rot, he could not have enumerated them even in a day, for at that
time each symptom was a disease, and as such was reckoned worthy of a
separate and proximate cause. Nor could any person have had the courage
to promulgate a common-sense opinion on the subject; for simple views
regarding the diseases of domestic animals were then either not deemed
worthy of a moment's notice, or, if considered, were swept at once, by
the strong current of prejudice, into the foul ocean of predetermined
disapproval. Opinions in cattle medicine were at that time valued
according to the prolixity of their detail; and the more improbable the
dependence of the effects upon the cause assigned, so much more was its
discoverer lauded, and in like proportion was the chimerical fabric he
had raised admired. Times are, however, now happily changed; that
potent oculist, the march of intellect, has cleared the film from the
public eye, and no one need, at present, be afraid to state the
unaspiring fact, that _tubercles_ are the sole and proximate cause of
the disease called rot.
The observations of the late Dr Coventry, already quoted, would lead us
to suppose that tubercles are of rare occurrence in the lungs of sheep,
but in refutation of this assertion, I need only request the reader to
take a ramble through a butcher-market, and he will perceive, even on
cursory inspection, the fallacy of this conclusion. What the state of
the liver is which is attended with flukes and hydatids, he has left us
to make out. Chronic hepatitis, which accompanies tubercles in the
liver, goes for nothing as a disease of sheep, and therefore does not
require a notice; besides, it is not rot, and is quite incompetent of
itself to cause it. As for the scurvy of which he speaks, he evidently
means the disease now generally known by the name of _Pining_, but
which, as it has no connexion with rot, and has only become prevalent
within the last sixteen years, could not be very well known to him.
The following questions will naturally occur to many of my readers.
What gives rise to these tubercles? what are the predisposing causes
which lead to their formation? and, when formed, how do these
apparently unirritating bodies produce effects so baneful? Queries like
these, however, cannot shortly be replied to, leading, as they do, to
discussions which embrace many curious theories; but as the negative
mode of teaching is often of avail where the positive or more direct
would fail to bring conviction, I shall, before proceeding to allude to
what the causes are, endeavour to state what they are not.
_Imaginary Causes of Rot._ The liver-fluke has long been looked upon as
the origin of rot, and this opinion has now become so deeply rooted,
and taken so fast a hold of the public mind, that if I were to
contradict it by plain assertion, I should only be striving to buffet
singly a tide of opposition. The best way, therefore, will be to
examine a few of the theories supposed to be confirmatory of the notion
that fluke worms are the beginning of the mischief, and then see
whether their supporters have managed to make good the point.
I. The fluke is supposed to get into the liver of the sheep by
being swallowed, and this, according to our theorists, may be
brought about in some of the following ways:--
1. The eggs may be floating in the air, and thus accidentally
reach their destination. This is the view taken by the celebrated
Clater; but if he had been, in this instance, a man of
experiment, rather than of idle conjecture, he would have found,
as any one readily may, that the eggs of the fluke worm sink in
water, and, consequently, that they cannot float in air.[35]
[35] To obtain the eggs of the fluke worm for examination, hold
a saucer under the gall bladder, make an opening in it with
scissors, and the bile containing the eggs will flow into the
dish. Pick out any fluke worms that may be in the fluid, then
dilute it with about twelve times its bulk of water, agitate
for a few minutes, and filter. The eggs will be found in the
corner of the filtering paper.
2. The Rev. Dr Singer, to whom Scotland at large, and
Dumfries-shire in particular, is much indebted for numerous and
valuable papers on agricultural subjects, states, in the third
volume of the _Highland Society's Transactions_, page 478, that
"The spawn or eggs of the liver fluke are most probably _conveyed
upon the grass_ by summer watering, and afterwards taken into the
stomach with it." A few lines further on, he speaks of the eggs
being "wafted thither by harvest waterings." Now, as the fluke is
only produced within the sheep, I need only put the unanswerable
questions--How are they conveyed to the grass? and from whence
are they wafted? to refute at once this hasty notion.
3. The eggs may be voided by the sheep, may fall upon the
herbage, and there remain till they are eaten. Such is the
supposition published by Mr King of Hammersmith, in the
_Quarterly Journal of Agriculture_, No. XXXI. p. 331, in which,
after showing the vast number of eggs which must fall upon the
grass, he says, "We must cease to wonder that so many sheep die
of rot; the miracle is, that every sheep does not die of it."! I
cannot, however, for my part, see a miracle in the matter, for
the simple reason, that the eggs of the entozoa are not capable
of retaining their vitality when absent even for a very short
time from the place of their nativity, and therefore may be eaten
with impunity.
II. Supposing the eggs to have reached the sheep's stomach in a
condition to allow of their being hatched, they, according to
popular voice, find their way into the gall bladder by one of two
routes.
1. Mr King, the gentleman above spoken of, conjectures, in the
same paper, that the fluke, after leaving the egg in the stomach
of the sheep, _makes its way up the gall vessels_. This is, I am
sorry to say, a very idle conjecture, as, from the valvular
nature of the opening of the gall duct into the duodenum, an
entrance from that intestine to the gall bladder is perfectly
impracticable to any of the entozoa.[36]
[36] The notion that rot is occasioned by animalcules getting
into the liver is not confined to this country. Leake, in his
travels in the Morea, alludes to an opinion prevalent there,
that the _vidhela_ (rot) is caused by the sheep feeding in
marshy places in August and September, when it is imagined that
an insect from the plants finds its way into the biliary
vessels.
2. The eggs are believed by a writer in the _Letters of the Bath
Society of Agriculture_, for 1781, to be taken into the blood
along with the chyle from the small intestines, and to be
arrested in the liver by the secretory ducts. This, it must be
clear to every one, is the most absurd of all the notions; for if
a globule of blood, which we must suppose to be the largest body
capable of being absorbed from the intestine, is only about
1/3000 of an inch in diameter, how can the egg of a fluke worm
pass through the same channel, when Mr King has, by careful
observation, shown it to be 1/300 an inch in its shortest
measurement. Again, allowing that they are taken into the blood,
would they not frequently be hatched there, and would they not
also be found in other quarters besides the liver. But do we ever
find them in the blood? Do we ever see them in other organs?
Certainly not.
Not one of these theories would ever have been broached had their
authors been aware of two important circumstances. 1. That M.
Schreiber, the director of the Museum at Vienna, has proved that
worms and their ova are not capable, under ordinary
circumstances, of resisting the action of the digestive organs,
and, therefore, that they cannot be introduced into the body by
this channel. "During six months, he fed a pole-cat almost
exclusively on various kinds of intestinal worms, and their eggs
mixed up with milk; and on killing and examining it, at the end
of this period, not a single worm of any kind was found in
it."[37] The reader may perhaps object to this illustration, on
the ground that there is so vast a difference between a sheep and
a pole-cat, that a comparison in regard to their digestive habits
cannot possibly hold good, but if he will turn to paragraph (96),
he will see that the stomach of a sheep is as well fitted as that
of a carnivorous quadruped for the digestion of animal matters.
2dly, the fluke worm has been found by Frommen in the foetus of
the sheep, into which it could not have been conveyed by
transmission from the mother, as there is no direct vascular
communication between the foetal and maternal side.
[37] Cyclopedia of Practical Medicine, Vol. iv. p. 524.
From a consideration of all these data, the conclusion must at
once be drawn, that as living flukes cannot reach the liver from
without, they must of a necessity be produced only in particular
states of the animal they inhabit. How they originate we cannot
of course determine, and this is not the place to hazard
physiological conjectures; but it will be found that their
appearance in the bile is always preceded by tuberculous deposits
in the lungs or liver. This I have proved by numerous
dissections, in which I have occasionally found tubercles without
flukes, but never met with flukes where I did not at the same
time discover tubercles. Fluke worms, therefore, can never be
regarded as a cause of rot, they must be looked upon merely as a
symptom. We cannot, however, say that tubercles give rise to the
liver-fluke, for tubercles are often present in cases where
flukes are absent; and if the latter were the effect of the
former, their presence under such circumstances would in all
probability be constant.
III. Particular plants have been said to cause rot, but the proofs
of their evil tendencies being in every instance about as logically
supported as the fluke theories already mentioned, I need not
trouble myself or the reader by proceeding to details.
_Real Causes of Rot._ Everything that has a tendency to weaken the
animal, will be more or less liable to lead to rot. Exposure to cold
and wet, mishaps at lambing time, food bad in quality or deficient in
quantity, and over-driving, will all predispose the constitution to the
deposition of tubercles. It is from the causes being in this way common
to the whole flock, that contagious properties have been ascribed to
rot, it having been observed, from the time of Virgil, to break out in
many animals at once.[38]
[38]
"Nor oftener are the floods disturb'd with wind
Than sheep with rots; nor doth the sickness find
One to destroy, but suddenly doth fall
On root and branch, stock and original."
_Virgil's Georgics_, Lib. III.
The reason of so many different things having, from first to last,
been reckoned capable of producing this disease, appears to lie in the
known fact, that if a sheep be exposed to any of the above depressing
agents, rot, if the animal be as yet untainted, will not, at the
moment, shew itself; but a chain of morbid actions will in all
probability then commence, and, being beyond the ken of ordinary
observers, will pass unheeded, till some slight mismanagement in food
or shelter, hastens their progress, and renders them apparent to the
plainest understanding. The final symptoms of rot may thus occur on any
kind of pasture, and the scene of the catastrophe will incur a stigma
which ought to be attached to herbage which the sheep have consumed at
some distant place or date.
Bad food is justly regarded as one of the most common causes of rot,
and ranks, in my estimation, next to cold and wet, in its power of
producing it. I shall only remark, on this point, that of all the
food on which sheep can possibly be kept, none is known to act so
deleteriously as grass which has sprouted quickly. Rot is well known to
occur most frequently on land which has been irrigated during summer,
for at this season any excess of moisture is peculiarly injurious to
the economy of a plant.
When plants by heat and moisture are stimulated to increased exertion
on a poor soil, they acquire bulk without having it in their power to
obtain at the same time those saline matters which constitute a healthy
plant, becoming in fact, to the eye of an inexperienced person,
thriving vegetables, while to the palate they prove wersh and watery.
The same result may follow from a different process. The saline matter
may not be taken up, even when the soil is rich in such ingredients,
from the functional derangement into which the roots or digestive
organs have been thrown by the unnatural circumstances in which it has
been placed. A plant is composed, like all organized bodies, of a
certain number of proximate principles, which are more or less numerous
in different kinds. These are combined with varying quantities of
potass, soda, lime, magnesia, and iron, which, though formerly supposed
to be too trifling in quantity materially to affect the quality of the
plant, have yet been recently and satisfactorily proved completely
to change the character of the compound, even when the excess or
deficiency amounts only to a 1/10000th part so that, supposing an
animal to thrive on plants which contain salts of any or all of the
above bodies, it will soon fall off if these plants are in any way
deprived of a single adjunct; for by the removal of that one salt,
their nature has been entirely altered.
The certainty and rapidity with which Bakewell could rot his sheep, by
pasturing them, in Autumn, on land over which water had been allowed
to flow during the previous summer, may seem to controvert what I
have above stated, as to time and frequent change of pasture often
intervening between the origin of the disease, and its termination; but
when it is recollected that he pursued the destructive system of
breeding _in_ and _in_, of itself sufficient to induce a tuberculous
predisposition, the reader will perceive that his sheep were, in all
likelihood, more or less tainted, and therefore, sure to fall victims
to the disease the moment they were subjected to the deleterious
influence of an unwholesome pasture.[39]
[39] When parcels of Mr Bakewell's best sheep became, from any
defect, unserviceable to him, he used to fatten them for the
butcher. But as there was a _probability_ of their becoming
valuable in other hands, he always gave them the rot before he
sold them! An example, which, I hope, for the sake both of man
and sheep, never to see followed.
Over-driving and hurrying of every kind, is, in my opinion, a fruitful
source of rot, not only from the fatigue it causes, or the risk it
leads to of taking cold, but also from the injury, which in many cases
results, to the delicate texture of the lungs. As shown in the note to
paragraph (157), no animal is more easily put out of breath by running,
than the sheep. Whenever the breathing is hurried, the circulation
through the lungs is quickened also. If the tissue of the lungs be in
any way delicate, the force with which the blood is propelled is sure
to make it yield, and in this manner the animal is often suffocated by
the large quantity of blood, which issues into the air tubes at once
from many points. Fig. 1, Plate VI. exhibits a good illustration of
this taken from a sheep. Numerous red points are seen sprinkled over
the surface of the section, indicating that blood has been effused from
many minute torn vessels. Now, if this animal had survived, each speck
of blood would have formed a centre, round which tuberculous matter, as
in Fig. 2, Plate VI. would have been secreted, and death from rot, at
some ulterior period, would, in all probability, have been the
result.[40]
[40] Pathologists differ as to whether tubercle is the cause or
consequence of _hemoptysis_, as this effusion of blood into the
tissue of the lungs is termed. Andral, however, is decidedly of
opinion that hemoptysis is one of the exciting causes, and, in
domestic animals, I believe it to precede tubercle more
frequently than is generally imagined.
(165.) _Treatment of Rot._ As reason and experience have taught us that
tathy herbage is a common cause of this complaint, we should, when it
shows itself, at once remove the animals to a better pasture, where
they should be exempted from teazing of every kind.
Salt appears, after every trial, to be the best medicine, and to this
they should have, at all times, ready access. Should the disease be
rather far advanced, the breathing hurried, and the cough annoying,
occasional doses of the following infusion will be of service, in
enabling the farmer to keep down the disease, till such time as he can
conveniently dispose of the animal.
Take of Leaves of Foxglove two ounces,
Boiling water two English pints:
pour the water on the leaves, cover up the vessel, and keep it in a
warm place for six or eight hours, then strain.
Two tea-spoonfuls morning and evening may be given to a sheep, but as
the plant is an active poison, and the strength of its infusion liable
to vary, a couple of days should always intervene between every six
doses.
About the year 1800, a notion prevailed in this country, that an
effectual remedy for rot had been discovered by the Dutch, but this was
quite unfounded, no _cure_ ever having been hit upon for this sweeping
malady; indeed, a cure is fairly out of the question: its prevention
and palliation, but not its eradication, being all that we can hope
for. Sundry plausible plans of treatment have, however, at one time or
another been contrived, some of them, in all conscience, harmless
enough, but others again as well adapted for the destruction of the
animal, as the removal of the disease.
As fluke worms have usually been reckoned the cause of rot, so the
treatment has principally consisted in attempts to effect their
extermination. With this view, Sir George Steuart Mackenzie of Coule,
in defiance of all preconceived medical opinion, advocated, in his work
on _Sheep_, published in 1809, the employment of mercury to stay the
progress of rot, and in the same work, _or one very like it_, as lately
published anonymously by the Society for the Diffusion of Useful
Knowledge, under the title of the _Mountain Shepherd's Manual_, the
utility of this dangerous procedure is as firmly maintained. At the
same time Sir George, though rather in the dark as to the real nature
of the disease, admits, in both editions, that tubercles exist in rot,
especially in the lungs. Now, if he had inquired of any medical person
what drug ought, when tubercles are present, of all others to be
avoided, he would have found that medicine to be mercury. The
administration of it therefore in rot, no matter what may be the form
or mode in which it is exhibited, will to a certainty aggravate the
symptoms, and shorten life. If, for the sake of doing something, you
will _endeavour_ to remove the worms, Chabert's animal oil will be
found a safe and efficacious remedy; but, if my opinion can have any
weight, I would recommend the farmer to allow them to remain.
Sheep, when displaying symptoms of rot, should always be kept dry and
warm. If they must be retained throughout the winter, good sound solid
food, such as well made hay or oats, should be afforded them, and the
shelter of a straw yard should if possible be obtained. A liberal
supply of salt should be given with all their provender; and if they do
not seem to relish it, give them occasionally a small quantity in water
as a drench.
(166.) _Prevention of Rot._ On this head I need do little more than
remark that attention to the causes will go a great way to point out
the necessary means for its prevention. Admission of the sheep to rank
soft grass, heavy stocking, short allowance of food during winter,
every thing in fact which leads to the exposure of the animal should be
scrupulously avoided. The strongest constitution cannot with impunity
be tampered with, and the soundest habit will fall before the mining
attacks of want and weather. Keep your stock always in as high health
as possible, for such is the surest prevention of tuberculous disease.
As rot is hereditary,[41] the importance of weeding out ewes from the
flock on their first exhibiting appearances of unsoundness, is
acknowledged by all. Many ways have been pointed out for detecting the
incipient symptoms, but none plainer and better than those written by
the late Mr Beattie of Muckledale, and published in the 3d vol. of the
_Highland Society's Transactions_. "The first thing to be observed,"
says Mr Beattie, "is in the spring, when they are dropping their lambs.
A sound ewe, in good order, drops a lamb covered with a thick and
yellow slime, which the ewe licks off it, and the rule is, the sounder
and the higher the condition the ewe is in, the darker and thicker will
be the slime; but when they observe a ewe drop a lamb covered with thin
watery bubbles, and very white, they note her down as unsound."
[41] MM. Dupuy and Andral have seen tubercles in the foetus
of the sheep.
"About the month of September, when they intend to dispose of their
draught ewes, they put all their sheep into a fold, and draw them by
the hand, that is, they catch them all, viz. the ewes they design to
sell any of, and clapping their hand upon the small of the back, they
rub the flesh backwards and forwards between their fingers and thumb
and the ends of the short ribs: if the flesh be solid and firm, they
consider her as sound; if they find it soft and flabby, and if, when
they rub it against the short ribs, it ripples, as we term it, that is,
a sort of crackling is perceived, as if there were water or blubber in
it, they are certain she is unsound. This is the most certain of all
symptoms, but is not to be discerned with any degree of certainty but
by an experienced hand; for although, as I have here related it, it
seems a very simple affair, and easily acquired, yet it is well known
that many shepherds, who have followed sheep all their lives, never
arrived at any thing like certainty in judging by the hand, whilst men
of superior skill will seldom be mistaken, and will draw by no other
rule. Yet still it must be acknowledged that the seeds of this disease
will sometimes lie so occult, as to baffle all skill, and that no man
can with absolute certainty draw a stock tainted with the rot. There is
another method, to which men of inferior skill resort, which is more
easily acquired. They take a sheep's head between their hands, and
press down the eyelids, they thereby make the sheep turn its eyeball so
that they get a view of the vessels in which the eyeball rolls: if
these are thin, red, and free of matter, they consider the sheep as
sound; but if they are thick, of a dead white colour, and seem as if
there was some white matter in them, they are confident she is rotten.
This is a pretty general rule, and easily discerned; but I think it is
not so certain as when they are judged by the back; for in firm healthy
lands the eye of a sheep is far redder than it is in sheep upon grassy
lands. And in some boggy lands the eye is never very red, be the sheep
ever so sound, so that there you cannot so well judge by the eye; but
when you see the eye of a sheep a good deal whiter and thicker, and
more matter in it (I mean the vessels in which the eyeball rolls) than
the run of the flock amongst which it feeds, you have reason to suspect
it is not sound.
"There is another method by which I have seen some men attempt to judge
of the soundness of sheep. It is a well known fact, that when sheep are
rotten the lungs swell to a greater size; they therefore lay the sheep
down upon its broad side, and pressing the skin in at the flank, up
below the ribs, _pretend_ to feel the lungs. But if there is anything
to be learned by this I could never perceive it, and have seen some
men, who pretended to know most by it, very often mistaken.
"These are the principal rules by which the Highland farmers draw their
stocks; and they relate all to ewe stocks; for as to wedders, they are
generally all sold off when they are three years old, and those that
buy them for feeding mostly buy them by the condition they appear
outwardly to be in at the time, and the character of the ground upon
which they were bred."
(167.) _Jaundice._ I have never seen this disease in the sheep, and
have heard almost nothing of it; indeed it is very rare, few having
ever witnessed cases of it. It is consequently very imperfectly
understood, every one who has written about it assigning for its
occurrence a different cause. The principal symptoms to be depended on,
according to those who have treated it, are a yellowness of the eyes,
and an obstinate sluggishness of the animal, almost amounting to sleep.
Copious bleeding and two ounce doses of Glauber salts have been
recommended for the treatment, which must be gone about promptly, as
the disease is said to be quickly fatal. Reasoning from what is known
about jaundice in man, I would, were a case to occur to me in the
sheep, give a good dose of calomel, say 15 grains, in conjunction with
the salts, unless the disease had supervened on rot, when I would
substitute ten grains of ipecacuanha for the mercury.
(168.) _Dropsy._ When it is the concluding symptom of a disease, it may
be reckoned part of the complaint itself, and treated accordingly.
Often, however, it is the first thing which attracts the attention of
the shepherd, and when such is the case it will usually be traced to
long exposure to cold and wet. In this event the best plan is to bleed
largely, and give two or three smart doses of Epsom salts. When it
occurs in young lambs, sweet spirit of nitre, given in the quantity of
a tea-spoonful twice a-day, is found to be attended with the happiest
effects. Tapping, or, as it is popularly termed, _stabbing_, or
_sticking_, to permit the escape of the water, is the cure resorted to
in South Africa, when it appears in old sheep, after exposure to rain;
but this ought never to be resorted to unless under the guidance of a
medical person. It would be much better at once to kill the sheep.
(169.) _Sturdy._ As shown in the tabular view of the diseases, in
foot-note to paragraph (121), this affection may be the result either
of pressure on the brain from an animal growth, or from the
accumulation of a fluid. Serum is in both cases the mechanical cause of
the symptoms, but in the former it is eliminated from neighbouring
parts by a hydatid, while in the latter it is merely deposited in some
of the natural cavities (the ventricles) of the brain, owing to a
congested state of the spinal marrow, the result of continued cold upon
the back.
Figure 2, Plate VII., taken from Rudolphi, exhibits a view of the
animal which gives rise to the first variety of sturdy. It is the
many-headed hydatid of the brain, _Coenurus Cerebralis_ of naturalists.
Like the _Cysticercus tenuicollis_, already described under the head of
Rot, it consists of a thin membranous cyst, full or otherwise of serous
fluid; but, unlike the aforementioned animal is studded over with
groups of little velvety appendages or heads, each of which has a
series of barbs projecting round the mouth. Figure 2, _a_, Plate VII.,
is a highly magnified representation of two of these heads.
A good idea of the hydatid, as it exists in the sheep, may be derived
from an inspection of Fig 1. Pl. VIII., which has been engraved from a
sketch kindly furnished to me by my friend Dr Kirk of Deal. Fig. 1
represents the brain of a sheep two years old, which has been affected
with sturdy. The right lobe, _a_, of the cerebellum or lesser brain, is
much distended with fluid, which is enclosed in a membraneous bag, as
shown at _b_, where an incision has been made to expose it, and at _c_,
where it is shining through one of the coverings of the brain, the pia
mater.
The hydatid is found of all sizes, from that of a pea to that of Fig.
2, Plate VII. Large ones are far from rare, and the ventricle is
frequently enormously distended. The hydatid in the brain from which
Fig. 2, Plate VIII. was taken, though not filled to repletion,
contained ten drachms of serum. The ventricle was consequently much
dilated, as shown at _a_ in that figure, and the usual course and size
of the convolutions completely altered. Instead of being folded, like
the intestines, upon themselves, they proceeded, as seen at _b b_, from
back to front of the brain; while the furrows between them, which are,
in the healthy animal, usually too shallow to be measured, were in
several places as deep as the length of the lines at _c d_.
This excessive accumulation of fluid within the brain leads, as might
be expected, to the dilatation of the skull, and to the absorption of
its walls, when the bones, young though the animal be when affected
with sturdy, can no longer be made to yield. For this reason the skull,
towards the termination of the disease, generally becomes thin and soft
in front of the root of the horn, and in this way offers a spot which,
from its being easily pierced, is frequently made the seat of surgical
operations. Other parts of the skull also undergo considerable
thinning, more so indeed than in front of the horn. The attention of
the farmer has hardly, if ever, been called to this fact, though I
believe that, for one instance in which perforation occurs in the
frontal bone, it will be noticed a score of times on the sides of the
head. In a head with which I was favoured by Mr Grieve, Branxholm
braes, each temple, exactly beneath the superior extremity of the
upright branch of the lower jaw, displayed a circular opening entirely
through the bone, wide enough to permit the passage of an ounce bullet.
Whatever may produce pressure on the brain, the symptoms which indicate
it are nearly always the same. The sheep has a dull, stupid look, turns
very often round and round, and will, when water is in its way, stand
staring at it till at last, giddy and confused, it plumps fairly in.
If, when the symptoms are very unpromising, convulsive movements should
occur, they may be taken as a favourable sign, as they indicate a
diminution of the pressure on the brain. A minute description of the
morbid appearances in hydrocephalus could serve no good purpose, I
therefore pass on to the prevention of sturdy.
(170.) _Treatment and Prevention of Sturdy._ The variety caused by
hydatids can only be prevented by the use of dry, well grown, wholesome
food. Dr Jenner found that he could cause hydatids to form in rabbits
at will, by feeding them on green succulent provision; and it is well
known that this form of sturdy prevails among sheep chiefly in marshy
places, as the fens of Lincolnshire.
Water in the head is generally induced, as first pointed out by the
Ettrick Shepherd, in the _Farmer's Magazine_ for 1812, by the back of
the animal being chilled, as is evident from the following facts:--
"1. It is always most general after a windy and sleety winter.
"2. It is always most destructive on farms that are ill-sheltered,
and on which the sheep are most exposed to those blasts and
showers.
"3. It preys only on sheep rising their first year, the wool of
which separates above, leaving the back quite exposed to the wet
and cold.
"4. If a piece of cloth or hide is sewed to the wool, so as to
cover the back, such a sheep will not be affected with the
disease."
Bratting is therefore the best preventive, and it is as cheap as it is
effectual. One pair of old blankets, worth only some four or five
shillings, will furnish coverings for forty hogs, and if laid carefully
aside in spring, they will continue serviceable for two or three years.
An operation can avail nothing--slaughtering the sheep is therefore the
only expedient.
When the existence of a hydatid near the surface of the brain is
denoted by the skull yielding, at some particular spot, to the firm
pressure of the thumb, its extraction must be set about in the manner
described in paragraph (118), where I have also given my objections to
the common modes of operating.
(171.) _Trembling._ Several affections are included under the name of
_trembling_ or _leaping-ill_, all having, in common, more or less of
the symptoms which these names denote. They may be considered as
arising from exposure to cold and damp, especially on long fatiguing
journies, as in bringing sheep from the Highlands to the south of
Scotland, when it frequently prevails to so great an extent, on
reaching the low country, as to oblige the shepherd to leave eight or
ten behind him at every stage. Injuries of the loins, either inflicted
by themselves in jumping and running, or by others from rough usage in
the fold, are common causes of the disease; but in this variety the
hind quarters only are powerless. Another species is owing to
oppression of the brain from congestion, in this way resembling
incipient sturdy, and occurring only in very fat sheep.
(172.) _Treatment of Trembling._ The first variety is best met by rest,
shelter, and a supply of nutritious food; but as the animal is
incapable, in many cases, of collecting it, the shepherd must lift it
from one rich part of the field to another, so soon as it has cleared
away the grass within its reach. In the second kind, as caused by
accident, the sheep must be slaughtered, as, should a cure be
attempted, the treatment will be too tedious and complicated to succeed
in ordinary hands. Copious blood-letting, and doses of Epsom salts,
will be found of most advantage in the third species; but if the sheep
can be disposed of so much the better, as this kind of _trembling_ is
almost certain, unless combated by energetic depletion, to end in
sturdy.
(173.) _Wood Evil_ is nothing more than a cramp of the hind legs, owing
to water dripping upon them from trees after a shower of rain, and is
best treated by enveloping them in flannel, wrung out of hot water; but
if the sheep is at the time very chill, gentle friction must first be
used, else dangerous consequences will ensue. Rubbing with warm
turpentine has been recommended, and is apparently worthy of a trial.
(174.) _Inflamed Eyes._ The pollen of flowers getting into the eyes
while feeding, is a common cause of this annoyance, which need not be
described, as, from being visible, it is known to all. Examine the
eyes, and remove any irritating body. Then, if the disease be of recent
date, bleed the animal largely from the jugular vein, and give it
several doses of Epsom, or Glauber's salt. After the inflammation is
subdued, or should it be in the suppurating stage when first noticed,
hold the lids asunder, and drop upon the eye, three or four times a
day, a solution of white vitriol, five grains to the ounce of water.
Where this cannot be had, pure _cold_ water dashed against the eyes and
head several times a day will serve as a substitute.
Though sheep are not so much incommoded by blindness as other animals,
from the instinctive care usually taken of the sufferer by the rest of
the flock, still such a mishap should always be prevented by energetic
treatment at the commencement of the symptoms.
(175.) _Soft Cancer of the Eye_, or, as it is also called by medical
men, _Fungus Hematodes_, is of very rare occurrence among sheep, and
indeed would not have deserved a notice here, were it not that, from
being a malignant disease, it might be looked upon as quite incurable.
I can only describe it as a soft, spongy tumour, rising from the bottom
of the eye, involving all the textures of that organ, so as to render
them scarcely recognizable, and bleeding on the slightest touch. It is
readily removed by passing a stout thread through the front of the eye
with a needle, so as to afford the operator a hold by which to pull it
outwards with the left hand, while, with the right, he cuts round it
with a narrow-bladed knife. The operation is attended only with slight
pain, but must not be considered the sole curative means; the sheep
must have, at the same time, a frequent change of pasture, to prevent a
recurrence of the tumour.
There is a very large tumour of this description at present in the
museum of Guy's Hospital, taken from a sheep which recovered perfectly.
APPENDIX
REMARKS ON THE MANAGEMENT OF SHEEP IN AUSTRALIA.
As the preceding pages were not written so much for the well-educated
farmer, as for those who practise sheep-husbandry without previous
training, it may not be considered amiss, consistently with the plan
of the work, to sum up the chief points to be attended to in the
management of sheep in Australia. This I shall do from the best
authorities, and guided by the direct advice of extensive sheep
proprietors who have long resided there, and had every experience in
the subject.
Though it was for some time, according to Dr Lang,[42] a matter of
controversy in the colony, whether the Merino or the Saxon Merino
produced the finer wool or was more profitable for the sheep-farmer;
the preference is now given to the Saxon breed, as they not only yield
an excellent fleece, but are much superior in carcass to the pure
Merino. The fact, however, of Australia having been considered, from
its earliest colonization, as unrivalled by any country in the quality
of its wool, goes far to prove that, with ordinary care, almost any
variety may be brought to yield a very superior produce. The mildness
of the climate, the extensive range of pasture, the steady supply of
food, and the consequent unvarying health of the animal, give the
poorest breeds a superiority which could hardly be attained in any
other quarter of the world. Indeed, as noticed at paragraph (70.),
Australia appears by nature intended to produce fine wool, and fine
animals, even from the worst beginnings.
[42] History of New South Wales, Vol. i. p. 309.
Great, however, as the capabilities of the colony are for the growth of
the finest wools, the intending emigrant must not suppose that he will
obtain them without devoting to the subject a particular portion of his
regard. Mild warm air, and abundant diet, will go far towards putting
him in possession of a superior flock; but without earnest attention to
the minor details required in the management of his sheep, the most
favourable locality will avail him little.
Let Australia be ever so much praised, as being peculiarly adapted for
the rearing of sheep, they have there, in common with every kind of
animal in every part of the world, a certain liability to disease.
With all its boasted steadiness of climate, bad seasons occasionally
occur, and lead to sickness among the flocks, and in addition to the
usual chances of loss arising from this cause in other countries,
there is, in some parts of it, a still more dreaded mischief resulting
almost unavoidably from the moral constitution of its society. A
convict-servant who has a pique at his master, has it often entirely in
his own power to subject the flocks under his charge to some one or
other of the serious diseases to which sheep in all countries are
peculiarly liable. He may pasture them on an improper spot, and thus
induce diarrhoea, or even rot; or he may drive them a few miles from
their usual feeding ground, as Dr Lang remarks, when there is nobody
present to take cognizance of the fact, and thereby bring them into
contact with a scabbed flock. "The chief source of the wealth and
prosperity of the colony," says Dr Lang, "is thus, in great measure, at
the mercy of the most worthless of men; and so much is this the case,
that a highly respectable and intelligent magistrate, observed in the
course of a short conversation I had with him before embarking for
England, that if there should not be a large annual importation of free
emigrant shepherds from the mother country into the colony, the owners
of sheep throughout the territory will in future be under the necessity
of reducing, or rather of preventing the increase of, their flocks."
Thus circumstanced, the Australian settler has surely sufficient
reasons for inducing him to make himself familiar with the management
and diseases of the animal, on which he is placing his principal
dependence.
When the country is destitute of timber, the sheep are very easily
managed, and so many as a thousand may be trusted to a single shepherd;
but in general, they are divided into flocks of about three hundred
breeding ewes, or four hundred wethers. "Every flock," says Mr
Cunningham, "has a shepherd, who takes his sheep out to graze before
sunrise in the morning, and brings them in after sunset at night. He
keeps always before the flock to check the forward among them from
running onwards, and wearing out the old, sick, and lame; making all
thus feed quietly, so as to keep them in good condition. In summer, he
sees too that they have water during the heat of the day; and in
drawing up under a tree for shade, when it is too hot for feeding, he
passes occasionally gently among them, spreads them out and makes them
take a fresh position in as small groups as possible, under another
tree; because when they remain too long together in one place, they are
apt to become broken winded. It is a rule that sheep should never
remain in one spot so long as to paddle the ground much with their
feet; and hence, in riding round your sheep stations, you have
something whereby to judge whether or not your instructions are
attended to. The shepherd takes out his victuals with him, and is
required to be on the alert all day long, to prevent the sheep from
being lost in the woods, or the native dogs from pouncing in among
them. They must always be driven slowly to pasture, and if you perceive
that the shepherd can walk quietly among them, without disturbing them,
you may set him down as a gentle and careful man; for if he uses his
flock harshly, they will be naturally terrified by him. Three flocks
are always penned together under the charge of a watchman, who counts
each regularly _in_ at night, and the shepherds again count them _out_
in the morning; so that they form a regular check upon each other, and
prevent losses from carelessness or depredation. The watchman has a
small weather-proof watch-box to sleep in, and is assisted by a
watch-dog; he keeps up a good fire, which generally deters all native
dogs from approaching the fold. The hurdles are made of light swamp
oak, iron bark, or gum, measuring seven feet long, with five bars, so
close together that a young lamb cannot creep through, and usually cost
about 1s. 6d. a-piece. They are shifted to fresh ground daily, being
sloped outwards, and propped together by means of forked sticks,
driving a stake through between the bars here and there to keep the
hurdles firm, and prevent the wind from blowing them over, little
support being derived from their feet, which are pressed but slightly
into the ground. All branches of trees are carefully removed from the
hurdled grounds before the sheep are driven in, to prevent any of the
latter being staked; the hurdles too are never pitched where ant hills
are, or under a tree with rotten boughs upon it, while the trees with
black bark are carefully denuded thereof, to prevent discolouration of
the wool." Bells are attached to the necks of the stoutest leaders, to
keep the flock together, and give warning of any thing going wrong
within the fold.
The breeding season is, in some instances, at the commencement of
summer, in others, at the commencement of winter, but in general it is
in March or April, the rams having been put to the ewes in October.
This deviation from our practice of spring lambing, is owing, according
to Mr Cunningham, to the breeders finding that the pasture is
particularly good in the autumn, from a sort of second spring taking
place, while the lambs stand the cold better than the heat, and are
less annoyed by the gad-flies. The sheep usually double their number
every four years.
Sheep-shearing takes place at the beginning of summer. The usual plan
of washing is previously had recourse to (see paragraph 99.), but of
late it has become customary, with some proprietors, to wash them with
a spout. This is done by bringing them one by one under a stream of
water, falling from a moderate height; but it is not likely that it
will ever be generally adopted, as it requires very peculiar facilities
in regard to water, and is besides a plan fraught with danger to the
sheep. It ought to be kept in mind, that a stream of water playing on
the body, produces a very stunning effect, which may destroy life in
an inconsiderable time, and has, in this way, been often employed
for putting criminals to death. Be this as it may, the Australian
sheep-farmers have doubtless been led to resort to the spout, owing to
the fleeces being so full of filth as to be cleaned with difficulty in
the common way. The finer the wool, the more abundant is the yolk or
viscid secretion on the skin, and the greater, consequently, is the
quantity of filth which sticks to it. The dirtiness of the wool
becomes, in this way, no mean test of the value of the sheep. Some of
the fleeces lose fully three-fifths of their weight by washing. The
average weight of the fleeces from the improved breeds, is from two to
two-and-a-half pounds. The ewe fleece seldom exceeds one pound and a
half. "The wool is packed in bales, wrapped in canvass, and forwarded
for exportation to Sydney, on drays drawn by oxen. Some of the more
extensive sheep-farmers send home their wool direct to their agents in
London, where it is sold according to its quality, at from one to three
shillings, (the freight to London being only three-halfpence) a
pound."[43]
[43] Historical Account of New South Wales, by John Dunmore
Lang, D.D., Vol. i. p. 350.
The highest prices yet obtained for some of the picked parts of the
finest fleeces, are 10s. 6d. per pound. This, however, has been given
only once.
The quantity of wool shipped in 1835, was 3,776,191 lbs., and was
valued at L380,000 sterling.
Three acres are required on an average for the support of each sheep,
but on account of the mildness of the climate, there is no necessity
for providing winter food.
The range of pasture is so extensive that the sheep are liable to
comparatively few diseases. The great dryness of the climate, keeps the
fleece always in so comfortable a state, that they are almost never
struck by the fly which, as explained at (147.), always deposits its
eggs on the moistest part of the skin. Mr Cunningham once observed
summer-dropt lambs with milk blotches, become fly blown, but this was
in wet weather. Scab, or itch, is the most common disease, but of it I
need not say any thing here. It never presents much variety, and is a
disease better understood than almost any other. Ample directions for
its treatment are given at (140.). It is easily checked if the job is
gone about with determination. The great points are to take it in
hand the moment it appears--for when it gains ground, all chances
of a wool-crop are at an end for that year at least--and to use
tobacco-juice most liberally, as it not only leads to the immediate
death of the itch insect, but appears to have a specific effect in
leading to the restoration of the wool. The balm of Columbia, which is
at present so lauded for accelerating the growth of hair, is supposed,
on good grounds, to be an incognito preparation of tobacco-juice. Rot
is the only other important sheep-disease in the colony. It was unknown
till 1827, when it broke out in a wet lying part of the Bathurst
district, and succeeded, as Cunningham says, in that part of the
country scourged by it, to a long fall of heavy rains, which
supersaturated the blades of grass. For the method of treating this
disease, fortunately rare in Australia, I must, in conclusion, refer to
the body of the work.
End of Project Gutenberg's A Treatise on Sheep:, by Ambrose Blacklock