Gathering sheep into confined places is always bad, nothing will tend more to ward off dysentery than an open frequently-changed easy-lying pasture, combined with gentle usage on the part of the shepherd. DISEASES OF THE SKIN. (139.) _Scab, or Itch._--_Symptoms and Causes._ These are so well known that they hardly merit a description. Little white specks appear upon the wool, and are soon followed by a small pustule at the root. The pustules are produced by a minute insect burrowing in the skin, which accounts for one external application of any active substance being sufficient to eradicate the malady. The infected sheep is restless, tearing off the wool with its teeth, and rubbing itself against every resisting body. The skin is red and fretted, discharging an ichor which hardens into crusts. These gradually extend, inducing a premature failure of the wool. If the sheep be not relieved, it sinks under its accumulated miseries. Scab was little known any where, but in the Highlands, and the south of England, till the good old custom of smearing with tar and butter gave way before the elegant modern innovations. Into flocks anointed in the old manner it may be carried by infection, but will seldom or never arise spontaneously among them. It usually commences in spring among hogs, making its first appearance among the rams, especially those of the fine-woolled breeds, and is supposed to be induced by overheating, want, or even excess of nutriment, or pasturing on wet lands in rainy seasons. (140.) _Treatment of Itch._ Subject the flock to a minute examination whenever the movements of any animal excite suspicion, and remove every one that is in the least affected. Place them in a separate enclosure, and apply either of the following recipes. Take of Mercurial Ointment four pounds, Venice Turpentine half a pound, Oil of Turpentine one pint: mix thoroughly. Separate the wool from the head to the tail and draw the fore finger loaded with a portion of the ointment, along the bottom of the groove. Then make lines from the middle of the back down each leg and score them in the same manner, thus concluding the operation. Some farmers prefer rubbing the size of a walnut of the ointment into the delicate skin inside the thigh. The former plan is, however, the better of the two, and is the one recommended by Sir Joseph Banks, who communicated the recipe to the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce, in the 7th volume of whose transactions it was published.