32 AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



his life, because he was not properly nourished. We find, again, 

 that fifteen per cent of the diseases that exist among horses and 

 cattle occur practically because the breeders do not understand 

 as much about the animal conformation as they should. They 

 are breeding promiscuously, and have reared animals that are 

 so constituted that they are compelled to have diseases. The 

 larger per cent of the ring bones, spavins and heaves among 

 horses are simply because they were bred that way, and yet the 

 owners are seeking the veterinary profession and asking. What 

 is the remedy ? What can I do for the heaves ? What can I do 

 to cure a spavin? A\'hat can I do to cure a ring bone? If a 

 ring bone came purely from accident, then there would be some 

 show for the horse. Hence it is only when we are called upon 

 in the early stages, and personally see the animal and know the 

 conformation, that we can know whether there is a reasonable 

 prospect for a cure. 



Let us consider the subject of food for the animal. All food 

 nutrients might be said to have started from milk. If it had not 

 been for a little milk, at some period in your existence or mine, 

 we would not have been here. Milk was what we were started 

 on life's journey with, and a little later on what we had was 

 something that approximated milk. The little child, the little 

 pig, the little calf, or the little lamb, had to have milk the first day 

 of its life. If it had not had milk, or something which approx- 

 imated milk, it would have perished. When that boy before me 

 was little he had milk, and when he got a little older he wanted 

 bread and milk. If he has a healthy, normal digestion he will 

 eat bread and milk and craves it, but if his digestion has been 

 ruined in some way, he will not crave it. W^hen we get as old 

 as Mr. Oilman and myself, we want a little Johnny-cake thrown 

 in, and then we have a balanced ration. Milk has a nutritive 

 ratio of one to four, the flour or bread of one to eight. When 

 we get a little older and need something more to keep us warm, 

 w^e add a little Johnny-cake, and we have a balanced ration for 

 man. How is it with the animal? When the little colt or calf 

 or lamb has grown a little older and begins to exercise, it needs 

 then not the bread, but the same elements. It needs a balanced 

 ration all the time. Let us be a little more specific. All over 

 the land farmers, as a rule, if they know nothing about protein, 

 carbohydrates or anything of that character, have learned by 



