FARMERS' REGISTER— BOTS— BLASTING ROCKS. 



251 



air from the intestine: (Judge Peters' remedy.) 

 If a tube is used, such as a large reed or small 

 elder, it is proper to liisteri a strong string secureh" 

 round the outer end, by which it should be held to 

 prevent its slipping into the chest oi' the horse, 

 which may be done by any other convenient 

 means. A large quill cut half Avay through at the 

 upper part of the barrel, and the lower end cut ofi 

 malces a tube that will answer the purpose, to be 

 held by the fratlier end. I have stabbed a number 

 of horses with invariable success, and apparently 

 no mjury. Atier a horse has been attacked with 

 colic, particiJarly if relaxing medicines have been 

 used, and especially if the decociion'of tobacco 

 has been injected," he Rhould be put into a dry 

 house large enorgh for him to 'wallow without 

 injury, and a plenty of soft dry litter should be 

 spread on the floor. He should not be jermitted 

 to get wet or run out of nights tor several days. 

 It is not improbable, I should think it certain, that 

 grubs do great injury to horses, by impairing their 

 general health, and increasing their liability to 

 severe attacks of colic, &c. — wherefore if any 

 means can safely be used to prevent their propa- 

 gation or to expel them it might be well. Frequent 

 rubbing the horse with a greasy cloth in nit season 

 on the parts where the nits are fastened is strongly 

 recommended, as well as scraping oft" the nits, and 

 killing the nit flies. A free use of dry pounded 

 rosin two or three times a week, well mixed with 

 the food, has been recommended by a person who 

 kept horses in very fine order. 



CHARLES WOODSON. 



[The views above respecting bots, are sustained b}' 

 the following article from one of the latest English 

 publications on the diseases of horses.] 



BOTS IN HORSES. 



From the Farmer's Series of tlie Library- of Useful Knowledge. 



In the spring and early part of the summer, 

 horses are much troubled by a grub or caterpillar, 

 which crawls out of the anus, lastens itself under 

 the tail, and seems to cause a great deal of itching 

 or uneasiness. Grooms are sometimes alarmed at 

 the appearance of these insects. Their history 

 is curious, and will dispel every tear with regard 

 to them. We are indebted to Mr. Bracy Clark 

 for almost all we know of the hot. 



A species of gad-ily the astrus equi, is in the 

 latter part of the sunmicr exceedingly busy about 

 the horse. They are observed to be darting with 

 great rapidity towards the knees and sides of the 

 animal. The I'emales are depositing their eggs on 

 the hair, and which adhere to it by means of a 

 glutinous fluid Avith which they are surrounded. 

 In a lew days the eggs are ready to be hatched, 

 and tlie slightest application of warmth and mois- 

 ture will liberate the little animals which they con- 

 tain. The horse in licking himselt" touches the 

 egg, it bursts, and a small worm escapes, which 

 adheres to the tongue, and is conveyed wath the 

 food into the stomach; there it clings, by means of 

 a hook on either side of its mouth, to the cuticular 

 portion of the stomach, and its hold is so firm and 

 Bo obstinate, that it v\all be broken betbre it will be 

 detached. It remains feeding there on the mucus 

 of the stomach during the whole of the winter, 

 and to the end of the ensuing spring; when, hav- 



ing attained a considerable size, and being destined 

 to undergo a certain transformation, it disengages 

 itself from the cuticular coat, is carried into the 

 sillous portion of the stomach with the food, pass- 

 es out of it with chyme, and is at length evacuated 

 with the dung. 



The larva or m.aggot being thus thrown out 

 seeks shelter in the ground,, contracts in size, and 

 Iiecomes a chrysalis or grub; in which state it lies 

 inactive for a few weeks, and then, bursting from 

 its confinement, assumes the form of a fly. The 

 female, becoming impregnated, quickly deposites 

 her egirs on those parts of the horse which he is 

 most hkely to lick, and so the species is perpetua- 

 ted. 



There are several plain conclusions from this his- 

 tory. The bots cannot, Avhile they inhabit the 

 stomach of the horse, give the animal any pain, 

 tor they are fiistened on the cuticular and insensi- 

 ble coat. They cannot stimulate the stomach 

 and increase its digestive power, for they are not 

 on the digestive portion of the stomach. They 

 cannot, by their roughness, assist the trituration 

 or rubbing down of the food, for no such office is 

 performed in that part of the stomach — the food 

 is softened, not rubbed down. They cannot be 

 injurious to the horse, for he enjoys the most per- 

 fect health when the cuticular part of his stomach 

 is filled with them, and their presence is not even 

 suspected until they appear at the anus. They 

 cannot be removed by medicine, because they are 

 not in that part of the stomach to which medicine 

 is usually conveyed; and if they were, their mouths 

 are too deeply buried in the mucus for any medi- 

 cine, that can safely be administered, to affect 

 them; and, last of all, in due course of time they 

 detach themselves, and come away. Therefore, 

 the wise man will leave them to themselves, or 

 content himself with picking them off when they 

 collect under the tail and annoy the animal. 



BLASTING ROCKS. 



From GoodscIFs Genesee Fanner. 



As many lives are yearly lost by the untimely 

 explosion of the powder used for blasting rocks, 

 humanity prompts us to give a process as we heard 

 it described a few days since, by a person who had 

 been injured in a mine where many accidents of 

 the kind had happened which led them to try 

 other methods of charging the rocks than those 

 commonly practiced and which he said ended in 

 the discovery of a safe and expeditious manner of 

 blasting. As these accidents had uniformly hap- 

 pened, in what he denominated the "tampino''' or 

 driving down the brick and other substance used 

 in filling above the powder, they for an experi- 

 ment, substituted plaster of Paris, which had been 

 heated, as lor pre])aring cement, which they 

 mixed with water in the same manner, and poured, 

 the cement into the hole upon the powder, hav- 

 ing first introduced the quill or fuze; the cement 

 immediately set or hardened when the blast was 

 ready for firing. He said that he never knew a 

 blast managed in this way to fail of doing well, 

 and never knew an accident happen; that it was 

 quicker done and was more economical m every 

 respect. If this should prove correct it should be 

 generally introduced. 



