i8o THE CONDITION OF HUNTERS 



he set to and ate voraciously. This was a receipt of 

 the late Lord Stawell's for horses that were delicate 

 feeders. 



The use of tonics is not sufficiently applied in the 

 progress of a hunter's condition. At certain periods, 

 particularly in the month of October, horses are subject 

 to considerable debility, which tonic medicines alone 

 will remove. There are mineral tonics which are 

 well known to every one ; but for valuable horses 

 there is nothing like the best Peruvian bark, from 

 which I have experienced the best possible effects. 

 Mr Manning, Lord Jersey's head groom, recommended 

 it to a very delicate, but a very brilliant, horse of 

 mine some years since, and his general health was 

 wonderfully improved by it. He had a weeping at 

 his eyes from the lachrymal glands, a laxity of body, 

 an indisposition to carry flesh, and general debility 

 about him, which a steady perseverance in the bark 

 entirely removed. 



It has been a standing apophthegm with the doctors 

 of old times that nature never purges herself unless 

 she wants purging. Of the human subject I do not 

 treat ; but with cattle this certainly is the case. If 

 a cow or an ox at grass purge, or " shoot," as it is 

 called, a dose of physic, about the same as you would 

 give to a horse, will invariably cure it. Some horses, 

 however, have always relaxed bowels, but still keep 

 themselves in condition. Mr Warde has a chestnut 

 mare — one of the finest animals of her sort that I 

 ever saw — who is always in that state, but nevertheless 

 she is always equal to her work. The best treatment 



