G6 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



pose that the amyloids are wanting we will be obliged to account for a change 

 or derangement of the system. When the amyloids are wanting we find that 

 a requisition is at once made upon the store of fat, which will be honored to 

 the full extent of the stock on liand, and the animal is losing in weight, or 

 as is commonly said, is getting thin ; when the fat is gone the matter becomes 

 serious; the albuminoids, if not consumed in producing heat, are gradually 

 used up by the animal in masticating his food and in moving about in search 

 of food. We will now find that thin has reached the su])er]ative degree, 

 and if spring is not near, we may expect to see the already smoldering fire of 

 life go out. If we begin at the other end of the scale we will find the same 

 end brought about, though by somewhat different steps, as we will find most 

 usually in practice, to be the case ; let us suppose the albuminoids wanting in 

 quantity in the food supplied, but the amyloids and fats in abundance. In 

 such cases we are almost sure to find that the amyloids and fats are in a rough 

 condition ; being stored up in corn fodder or coarse straw, and these substances 

 have to be thoroughly masticated before the intestinal juices can ace upon 

 the digestible portions ; but we find that mastication can be performed only 

 by muscular force, and consequent use of albuminoids, and these substances 

 will be in high demand with a limited supply, the fats will be used in order 

 to keep up the heat of the animal, and aside from his getting thin, he is get- 

 ting weak ; and mastication is imperfectly performed, and as a consequence 

 digestion is incomplete. In this instance we often find that the process of starva- 

 tion is cut short by acute diseases ; large quantities of imperfectly masticated 

 matters taken into the system, cause irritation of the intestines, and acute 

 indigestion sets in ; the horse dies of colic or of imflamation of the bowels, 

 and cattle and sheep of impaction of the rumen or of the third stomach. If 

 brood animals, kept in this way, have carried their young to the full term, 

 metritis is very liable to follow parturition ; and in some cases in which ani- 

 mals are poorly kept, we find that lurking germs of hereditary diseases spring 

 up and the animals are carried out of their misery, while if they had been well 

 fed the disease might have lain dormant for generations. If we examine the 

 air as it is expelled from the nostril of an ox or a horse we will find, that du- 

 ring the time it has been in the lungs it has lost a portion of its oxygen, and 

 has acquired an increased quantity of carbonic acid ; and more, that by these 

 changes the air is rendered incapable of supporting the higher forms of ani- 

 mal life. It is estimated by different experimenters that the horse vitiates, 

 by breathing, about 400 cubic yards of air during twenty-four hours ; the ox 

 over 300 cubic yards in the same time. We can readily see from these facts 

 that when we confine several animals in a stable we must make provision for 

 a constant supply of fresh air and free escape of the heated and vitiated air 

 that has been breathed by the animals, if we would have them thrive. 



The best means of ventilation consists of a series of shafts, or hoods, pass- 

 ing from the stable through the roof, through which passes the heated and 

 vitiated air from the upper part of the stable where it accumulates, and a 

 number of openings near the floor of the stable ; by means of these openings 

 the stable is supplied with fresh air to take the place of that which has passed 

 out through the shafts. These openings should be so arranged as to avoid 

 drafts of cold air in the stable ; this may be done by connecting the openings 

 with bent tubes in which are placed slides or dampers. Thorough drainage is 

 quite as important for our animals' as for our own welfare ; and we find many low 

 forms of diseases in our domestic animals which are due to the same causes 

 that produce them in men. All sources of water for animals should be guarded 



