FACTS FOR FARMERS.

Waikato Times, Volume VI, Issue 318, 28 May 1874, Page 2

FACTS FOR FARMERS.

PLAIN WORDS ABOUT BOTTLE IN SHEEP. The following is fromacorrespondentot Townand Country: «* I suppose that everybody knows what bottle in sheep is ; the univeroal answer is, a swelling under the lower jaw, not unlike a whisky bottle ; hence the title — bottle in sheep ; but this crude kind of knowledge answered very well 50 years ago, but a mtn possessed of no better definition would be oinpletely outwitted by the duncu scholar of No. 3 class in Fort street. I havo heard a good many men say that they could cure bottle. lam perleetly confident that if any of "them were asked to define the nature and cause of the disease a scene would ensue pre-enunently lit for the pantomime. To euy that bottle in sheep 'is a swelling under the jaw," ia very much like affirming that Mrs Heemes's lolly h >rses nre all of pure blood ; that the protuxions of the «pcx of the heart out between the ribs is simply an enlargement ; and that gout n a lore foot. Real bottle in itieep is the dropsical sequel of nearly 100 diseases common to the poor sheep ; it is m fact generally the last stages of every known internal disease ; but the barbarous state of society respecting •heep diseases will binder and utterly prevont men from accepting such a truth. It would hardly be possible to get one hundred squatters to believe that sheep were liable to any other diseases but fluke, eatnrrab, worma, bottle, and foot rot, and je* those are m fact but the volcanoes. Sheep nre as liable to disease as any other animal, and require at much judgment and humanity displayed in their preservation as man himself. When this journal wan first started, every owner of sheep believed I hut there was but one medicine for sheep (sulphate of uron), and it was administered lor r\ery fonecivable iorm of disease, and for t>\cry st»ge of cur) known disease. E\en medical men, who ought to hiive known bettor, followed on their runs the «iuiic inhuman i>v>tem; and even now the tnnie barbaioui eourneof pruclicu i* still pursued, and jet this smiio medicament bus been I almost tlisiuidrd from liuinmi and leicrinurj pnictice. K\cn I now it i« discovered it o mm stiirts lor tlit oalt bunli with 1 10,030 diseased sheep, wlicn he ilu-re he finds', on I count ing, unlj 7 300, nud jit men will wntiuue to t»lk ; about tlie a.»lt bush, n-« if it "as an infallible- cure Like t urv other clumsily used thing, it destroys the weak, und j htengUiens the strong. But the lo*s of one-third oi your t-hrep, in tht- course of tix week", is mther a tight job; it would purchnsp more pirvcntm* tonic lood than could possibly bo cunsuun-d b\ 10 OUO nheep in 10 jp»v-. Somehow ]nopl<* liave followed the most loose form of ideas, :md I llui's a nuld win of putting it However, 1 gucs thattlio rit termination c iuic to in the l'uiurilunl Win Id will wake I fume ol tin- outsiders up. li I spoke llio whole tuitli, moat of \n\ reader* would join the Ktnndmg army or t-top eating mutton, but 1 won't cull jou to lace tins hill now. All 1 at-k to recollect is llie fact that there is. not a single chyomr ■ form ot uisea.-e common to the poor sheep but wlnit '.nds in ' bottle ; and 1 asevrt that li all \ou &lu'r)> ptoplc gtt the hold | ol this truth il will put you on a level with Aristotle: but 1 don't calculate on siuJi an :iwultiiu>i! ior a generut ion jet ; tbeve ar© 100 main jncVuls »t la»g». Hut some odd people j hero mid t'>i i ro \ull sec that if there is a xmgle living man can uflirm that he hus an infallible cure for bottle, his aim Hi life is accomplished. Ho has s«r\ed his generation, und if he dont bank dL'oOOO a he ought. And I would assure am such gentleman that henceforth he is bound to hecouie member for the blowhole. Bottle in sheep is a dropsical form of diseane ; in bottle the blood gets as thin us Tidman's sweet milk ; one would think the whole business of the fhe^p system was to manufacture water. The blood is three-quarters water; every available space in the tissues is filled with water It hangs in bags from the throat, and under the belly. The grass they out is converted into water ; even hay, corn, and oate go the same road — it's a perfect flood. Sometimes in opening one of those creature* jou get as much as the Bedouin Arab gets out of his camel ; these bottled sheep ought to be available for sandy deserts ; and in time of drought you may open the bottle and fill your pannikin every day ; they're as bad as Johanna Southcote. Many a man has bought n flock of dropsical ewes, behevmg them to be far gone in lamb ; such specs don't stand m.my repeatale. Now if I was to begin and name half the diseases common to sheep which produce bottle, let us try to realise the fact that there is living n single human being who is in possession of a secret which will stay the ravage of over 100 diseases offer they have entered into the last stage of their existence. The very thought is sublime, and I recommend the poetry of thp feat to gentlemen with a good banker's account. We expect a millenium sooner or • later, but never dreamt that the imperial crown was near Carcnar, nor yet that the sheep would first snjoy the sweets. "Do I mean to say that bottle cannot be cured? No ; I dont ; for I know that if & man get cancer of the toe and the doctor cut off his leg, thmt is said to be a cure, and if a man take pneumonia and get up out of hid bed with a solitary lung, he is said to be cured. This kind of language suits the faculty, but not- veterinary parlance. In our business it must be perfect restoration, or the pots ; but although I believe sheop may be cured of simple bottle I should certainl} gne 2s 6d lo ccc a man that could euro nny form of it ; and lam no way short of faith, for I believe almost in all miracles, front those of the Witch of Endor down to , Betsy Bet tie's last turn of the tea-cup, but if s single man . or combination of men can mako the squatter behove lie or , tlioy can cure all forms of bottle, I say again it would pay Spencer to make a wax naoaol of the group.