34 AGRICULTURE OF MAINE. 



udder; not a drop of milk will come. We look for that when 

 she is fed upon straw or timothy hay, non-milk-producing 

 rations. If that dry cow had been fed during that time only 

 about half as much of the same class of food that would produce 

 milk, the trouble would have been avoided. The horse that is 

 having a working ration, say oats and bran and mixed hay, needs 

 the same class of food when he is not at work, but he does not 

 need as much of it. Let us bring it down to a practical illustra- 

 tion. 1 am going to give away some of the secrets of the trade 

 in veterinary science. When I am out in institute work I get 

 home occasionally, perhaps once a month, and I usually find a 

 number of calls waiting for me. Here are men whom you would 

 not call bad caretakers of their animals, and until about the first 

 of December the animals are all right. Then they will all be in 

 winter quarters and the man will say to himself, I am through 

 with my fall work, through with my team, and I have an abun- 

 dance of straw, I will give the horses some straw and I will give 

 them some corn. He will feed along that line, and at last what 

 happens? The man notices that something is going wrong and 

 he comes to my door and says, ''Doctor, I am glad you are at 

 home. My horses are not doing first-class. Their hair looks 

 bad, they act a little off, do not seem to have much life." Some- 

 times the man thinks their teeth need attention, or he thinks they 

 have internal parasites. I am not here to say that animals do 

 not have worms. I am not here to say that occasionally a horse's 

 teeth do not need attention. Even a little colt's teeth need atten- 

 tion. But I want to tell you that a horse's teeth that are all right 

 the first of December do not get bad before the middle of Jan- 

 uary. Five times out of six I will ask this question, **What are 

 you doing?" ''Well, I am not doing much of anything with my 

 team ; I am feeding a little timothy hay, and so forth, and they 

 are looking bad." We will examine the horses, and occasion- 

 ally the teeth need filing. I want to tell you that every doctor in 

 this land does not depend upon his medicine altogether. He has 

 to know his man, and we have to know our men. If we know 

 that a man is very set and has got it into his head that the animal 

 must have his teeth filed, we will file them anyway. We have 

 to do a great many things in this world that are not necessary, 

 to keep the other fellow right. Another thing, — the whole 

 American people are wonderfully struck on medicine, so to 



