38 NOTES ON FIELDS AND CATTLE. 



as it is a discredit to the farmer, now that the 

 tedding machine is so reasonably available. Cows 

 are said to prefer it ; but it overstrains the kidneys, 

 producing diabetes in the horse. If you decide 

 yourself that a horse requires physic from some 

 cause, be careful that he is regularly prepared for it ; 

 that is, that he have, for a couple of days before, only 

 bran mashes and a very little hay, so as to clear his 

 bowels as much as possible. It is very dangerous 

 giving a ball to a horse that has not been prepared. 

 " This preparation is necessary, because if the drugs 

 are bad " (Clater's Every Man his Own Farmer, a 

 most useful book to have), " the consequences may 

 be fatal, from the powerful irritations, excessive 

 gripings, and cold sweats, which may probably chafe 

 the mucus or lining of the guts, and end in mortifi- 

 cation and death. Bran mashes will so open the 

 horse's bowels that the purge will not meet with 

 any obstruction ; but if a strong purge be given to 

 a horse of a costive habit, it will probably cause a 

 violent inflammation. This may be imputed to the 

 large tract of bowels it has to pass through, which is 

 upwards of thirty yards ; and the time the physic 

 lies in the bowels is seldom less than twenty-four 

 hours. If these directions for preparing a horse be 

 cautiously observed there will seldom any danger 

 ensue. The purge should be given early in the 

 morning on an empty stomach : in three or four 

 hours after give your horse a feed of scalded bran 

 when it is warm, and a little good hay after, but not 

 much at a time; also two more mashes the same 

 day. Take care the water you give be milk-warm," 



