Correspondence.

Feilding Star, Volume XV, Issue 232, 6 February 1894, Page 2

Correspondence.

- « MORTALITY AMONGST HOGGETS. TO THE EDITOR OF THE STAH. Sir,— ln reference to No. 4 internal parasites, any book on sheep will give the names of the worms that play such havoc among young sheep. The pamphlet issued by the Agriculural Department says : " The worms which are most injurious to sheep are the stomach worm, tape worm, and lung worm. Every authority I have consulted seems to point to the conclusion that nothing but fumigation will cure lung worm, and as I have never practically tested this matter I prefer to pass it by for the present. There are, however, other internal parasites that effect sheep besides those mentioned in the Government pamphlet. In the Histological Demonstrations, by Dr Harvey, published in 1876, there is an account of the taenia niarginata, (atnia echinococcw, taem'a caenurns, and bothriocephalttt \ all these are kinds of worms that attack hoggets. Dr Harvey says in reference to cysticercu.i tenuicoilis, that "In one remarkable instance a fine healthy lamb, three months old, was slaughtered by the butcher, and was found to contain countless numbers of cysts attached to every portion of the abdominal cavity and its viscera. Several dogs were fed upon the infested organs, and in every case their intestines became filled with faenia marginata." I read the moral of this statement thus: Don't let dogs eat die offal of any sheep that are killed or die. Bury the offal or the carcases under fruit trees, or, perhaps, better still, burn the dead bodies. Three years ago I lost a number of hoggets, literally eaten alive by stomach and intestinal worms : and I determined to get at the bottom of the matter if possible. All kinds of nostrums were recommended me — principally turpentine, which, however, I rejected, as 1 considered it a remedy almost as bad as the disease. After a long search for a cheap as well as efficacious medicine, I decided to consult Dr Gardner. He says, on page 392, " Peach leaves are used on the Continent of Europe, and deserve attention as a domestic remedy. Half an ounce infused in a pint of boiling water, a tablespoonful three times a day, relieves hooping cough, irritable bladder, and expels worms ; and again on page 382 he says : Lime is a constituent element of the body, and hence must exist in wholesome food, and may be given as limewater. Sprinkle a lump of lime with water, and allow it to slake ; put it in a stone bottle, fill up with water and keep it corked. As it is used fill it with fresh water. Lime-water one part, milk three parts, forms a digestible and wholesome aliment for weakly children, especially if rickety, for adults with weak digestion or acidity in the stomach or bowels." I said to myself here is just what I want. Two substances that will together kill worms, relieve coughs, benefit the kidneys, help digestion, and strengthen the bones of my hoggets. I mixed the two in equal parts and gave about an ounce to every hogget last autumn and winter that seemed at all rickety. Some I dosed only once, the worst thrice, at intervals of about a week, and with the result that I did not lose a single hogget, and this on old grass on which a predecessor lost one winter 300 or 400 hundred hoggets out of about 800. I have continued my experiments tins season with my lambs, and as yet with like beneficial results. I may state that peach leaves contain prussic acid which doubtless proves too much for the parasites. The common laurel also contains prussic acid, but greater care would have to be exercised if laurel leaves were used, as I believe they contain a large percentage of poison. I am, etc., Gkorgk Wilks. Clare Lea Farm, Feilding.