EFFECT OF GIN AND CIDEE. 155 



in a well-ventilated stable, and she has not had the disease, 

 while my neighbors' horses have had it. 



Mr. Allis, of Conway. The fact that there is no certain ex- 

 emption from this disease can be certified to. You may know, 

 perhaps, that a horse that had been at work in the Hoosac 

 Tunnel for months, a thousand feet below the surfiice, has 

 had the disease. I saw a horse last Monday, in Greenfield, 

 that after he had begun to improve, as it was thought, was 

 taken Avith very severe swelling on his forelegs, and they 

 actually swelled so that the skin burst. I saw it myself, and 

 the owner said that it had been so for three or four days. In 

 fact, it was announced in the Springfield papers that the gen- 

 tleman had lost that horse ; but the horse was then alive, and 

 he said, " I am giving that horse two quarts of gin a day, and 

 have been for four days, and he is actually improving." 



Mr. Root. This is an " experience meeting," I suppose. I 

 have not had any experience with gin, but I used to give good 

 old-fashioned cider. One of m^' horses was taken with cough- 

 ing in the morning, and I gave it the usual remedy for a cough 

 which I keep in my stable. During the forenoon I considered 

 what I should do. Conceiving it to be an unfortunate condi- 

 tion of the mucus membrane, I thought that anything I could 

 give it that would act upon the blood as a stimulant and a 

 diuretic would be useful, and I came to the conclusion I would 

 give it some cider that was about three weeks old ; and accord- 

 ingly I poured a quart of cider into the meal for the horse, and 

 put it into his manger, and he went for it with a relish. I gave 

 him a quart of cider three times a day, with his meal, and he ate 

 it with great avidity. The other horse was taken, and I gave her 

 the same treatment. She took it with equal relish. One day I 

 told my little boy to give the horses their usual cider, and when 

 I came home he said, " Father, Major will drink cider like — " 

 I won't say what. I said, "How do you know?" "Why," 

 said he, "I put it up to his mouth to see if he would drink it, 

 and he took it all down ! " The result was that those horses 

 did not fail a single day to take their meal. Their appetite 

 kept good, and in two weeks from that time they had appar- 

 ently lost any unfortunate efl'ect from the disease, and were 

 put to work moderately during the time. They were used a 

 little, and l)ut a little, in pleasant weather. One of the horses 



