502 ^^^ Forage 0)-ops. [November, 



as soon as tliey have teetli to masticate it. The result is, for fast driv- 

 ing, they are comparatively useless forever, though at slow work they 

 do very well. When I first came here, I was struck with the multi- 

 tude of diseases that horses are afflicted with here, that are seldom or 

 never known in Yermont ; and although some of them may be attrib- 

 uted to the climate, I am convinced that most of them are caused by 

 giving them too much corn. These diseases are, in part, the follow- 

 ing : Stiff complaint, (something like a horse foundered all over,) 

 fistula, Sweeney, (perishing of the scapular muscles,) poll evil, gen- 

 eral lameness without any apparent cause, and blindness, which is 

 very common. Now, are not all these diseases nearly allied to the 

 gouty inflammations that follow high living in the genus homo? 



A fine colt, that perhaps never had a halter on him, will be attack- 

 ed with inflammation of the eyes — one or both — generally scleroti- 

 tis or conjunctivis, and in spite of knocking out the 'blind teeth,' 

 ' cutting for the hock,' if the corn diet is continued the eyes are lost. 



I find that if I keep a horse on corn instead of oats, he will surely 

 ' fail up ' sooner or later. He will endure through the winter, but it 

 will tell the following summer, though corn be discontinued in the 

 spring. I happened, accidentally, to find a mare five years old, who 

 was so vicious that her master could not use her, and he said he did 

 not care a fig if she starved to death, and treated her accordingly. I 

 bought her, tamed her down, and she is the first sound and hardy 

 horse I have ever had since. I would like to give some of your 

 Long Island boys a chase with her. Therefore, my directions for 

 feeding a Western horse, would be, to give him five ears of corn twice 

 a-day, and all the good oats and hay he will eat ; for a horse raised on 

 corn, will grow poor on oats and hay alone ; but if he has been prop- 

 erly raised, do not poison him with corn.' 



Now we will not assume to determine the question started by Dr. 

 Bigelow, whether corn will ' poison ' horses, — at least, not until the 

 scientific world has settled that other grave question — ^ will salt-peter 

 exjylodef' 



It seems to be conceded that the cutting, steaming, and in any 

 way softening the woody portion of our forage plants, serve to pre- 

 pare them more effectually for the functional process of digestion and 

 assimilation. By this means, we, to some extent, assist nature, and 

 economize the labor of the animal machine, in so far as that labor is 

 merely mechanical, and thus enable it to retain a greater vigor to be 

 expended in the vital function of digestion ; by so doing we render a 



