Run along
and get your broad-brimmed hat. It's very hot."
Miss Laura danced out into the hall and back again, and soon we were
walking up, back of the house, along a path that led us through the
fields to the pasture. "What are you going to do, uncle?" she said; "and
what are those funny things in your hands?"
"Toe-clippers," he replied, "and I am going to examine the sheeps'
hoofs. You know we've had warm, moist weather all through July, and I'm
afraid of foot-rot. Then they're sometimes troubled with overgrown
hoofs."
"What do you do if they get foot-rot?" asked Miss Laura.
"I've various cures," he said. "Paring and clipping, and dipping the
hoof in blue vitriol and vinegar, or rubbing it on, as the English
shepherds do. It destroys the diseased part, but doesn't affect the
sound."
"Do sheep have many diseases?" asked Miss Laura. "I know one of them
myself--that is the scab."
"A nasty thing that," said Mr. Wood, vigorously; "and a man that builds
up a flock from a stockyard often finds it out to his cost."
"What is it like?" asked Miss Laura.
"The sheep get scabby from a microbe under the skin, which causes them
to itch fearfully, and they lose their wool.
Pages:
279
280
281
282
283
284
285
286
287
288
289
290
291
292
293
294
295
296
297
298
299
300
301
302
303