166 FARMER'S ASSISTANT. 



Mr, Peters says that this disease of Horses prevailed in 

 Pennsylvania, before the introduction of gypsum as a ma- 

 nure in that State; and thinks that the true cause ot the 

 disorder has not yet been truly ascertained, as hay made 

 ot the second growth of grass frequently produces it. He 

 finds also, that soiling Horses on red-clover, when this 

 grass has become rather too much ripened, frequently has 

 the same effect. 



Mr. Perlee contends, however, from the result of exper- 

 iments he has made, that the plant called Euphorbia Macu- 

 latci) growing among red-clover, produces the complaint; 

 and that this plant will also produce a similar effect, when 

 eaten by other animals. It is of an acrid and poisonous 

 nature. 



Dr. Mease makes mention of a mill used in Pennsylvania, 

 for grinding Indian corn together with the cob, which is 

 much approved, where it is in practice, for making a more 

 valuable food for Horses, than grain ground in any other 

 way ; as the cobs of themselves possess considerable nutri- 

 ment; while, at the same time, as Dr. Mease observes, this 

 increase of bulk serves to afford the stimulus of distension, 

 which is as necessary, for either Man or beast, as the nutri- 

 mental parts of food. 



No doubt the same method of managing this grain would 

 be found equally advantageous for fating other cattle. 



It is also found that meal, of all sorts, when fermented 

 and baked, will go twice as far in feeding Horses, or other 

 cattle, as that which has not undergone these operations. 



Lord Dundonald recommends malting of grain, bclore 

 feeding to Horses, in order to fix its sacharine quality. 



When the teeth of an old Horse meet together they pro- 

 ject outward, so as nearly to form a right angle ; those of a 

 young Horse meet almost perpendicularly ; those of a mid- 

 dle-age are a medium between the former and latter; so 

 that the age of a Horse can be very nearly ascertained by 

 attention to these circumstances. The lips also of a young 

 Horse are firm and hard, and his mouth is very fleshy with- 

 in the palate. The lips of an old Horse are soft and flabby, 

 and easy to turn up, and his mouth is lean above and below 

 the palate, and seems only to have the skin over the bones. 

 The teeth of the young Horse are usually short; of those 

 that are old, usually long; though these signs are not 

 always certain. 



The eye of an old Horse usually appears sunken ; that 

 of the young more full. The ends of the teeth of a two- 

 year-old Horse have no black spots ; at three, they have 

 two of these in the two middle under teeth; at four, they 

 have four such spots ; at five, they have six, each front 

 tooth then having one ; and at six these spots disappear in 



