DISEASES OF DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 37 



horse ? No, he has a body shaped more Hke a sunfish. He looks 

 as though he had swallowed a feather bed with a straw tick 

 thrown in. Is his hair smooth and sleek? Xo, it sticks out all 

 ways. Does he have a good bright countenance ? Xo ; he has a 

 neck a good deal like a crooked elbow. He did not look that 

 way when he was a colt. It was because he was not fed upon a 

 milk-producing food. After he was old enough to digest and 

 make milk for himself, the food for the colt should have been 

 upon the same line, a milk-producing food. His digestion was 

 overtaxed, was weakened, and in five cases out of six he grew up 

 a dyspeptic. When he got to be a horse he had a weakened 

 digestion, so that when he was overfed a little, or his food was 

 a little warmer or a little colder than usual, what was given 

 created pains in the digestive organs. He had cramps, or what 

 we call the colic. 



Again, take a little calf. Do they always look just right? I 

 do not always see them looking that w^ay where they eat whey, 

 down in X'ew York. Sometimes a farmer will come to me and 

 tell me that his cows are giving stringy milk. That indicates 

 a gargety condition. A weak digestion means trouble with the 

 udder. It is not the whole cause of garget, but a large per cent 

 of it. The cow with a weak digestion is a dyspeptic and she is 

 not a good dairy cow. The all important point in the raising of 

 animals is to raise them strong, and then they will not have much 

 trouble from disease; they will be better able to withstand the 

 germs of contagious diseases. A man with a strong digestion 

 can stand microbes. The doctor does not protect himself by 

 drugs. He studies on the line of clothing himself, feeding him- 

 self, and surrounding his home with good sanitary conditions. 

 He raises the curtains in his home and lets God's sunlight in, the 

 best germicide in the world. 



I want to speak of just one more disease, — a disease of good 

 feeding. It will be strange indeed if there is not some one within 

 the hearing of my voice who, between now and the first of next 

 May. will be caught in just the condition that I am about to 

 describe. It comes on in this way. When the farmer has com- 

 menced his spring's work, perhaps after he has pfowed a few 

 days, there comes a little period of rainy weather, it may be only 

 two or three days. The horses are in good condition, have been 

 well fed. The man starts off and thinks he will drive to town. 



