458 HANDY-BOOK OF HUSBANDRY. 



" fomentations, without any further or more difficult process, 

 "though ignorant persons make much of them, as if their cure 

 ''proved marvelous skill and required magnificent appliances. 



" Before proceeding to the consideration of simple accidents and 

 " their treatment, we shall devote a few words to an affection of 

 "the feet, or, to speak more correctly, heels, which, although not 

 " exactly an accident, is not a natural disease, but arises from filth, 

 " neglect, cold, wet, and the omission to clean and dry the feet 

 " and legs of the horse, after work and exposure to weather. It 

 " has been rightly called the disgrace, as it is the bane, of inferior 

 " stables both in the city and the country, but more commonly in 

 "the latter, where, to pay any attention to the legs and feet of a 

 " farm-horse, is an almost unheard-of act of chivalric Quixotism. 

 "This is the ailment known in England as the 'grease,' in the 

 " United States, generally, as the ' scratches.' It is perfectly easy 

 "to be prevented, and easy to be cured if taken in the first 

 " instance ; but if neglected and allowed to become virulent, is 

 " nearly incurable. 



" Grease. — The first appearance of ' grease,' which is caused 

 "by the feet and heels being left wet after work in muddy soil, 

 "and exposed to a draft of cold air, is a dry and scurfy state of 

 "the skin, with redness, heat, and itching. If neglected, the hair 

 "drops off, the heels swell, the skin assumes a glazed appearance, 

 " is covered with pustules, cracks open and emits a thin, glairy 

 " discharge, which soon becomes very offensive. In the last, 

 " worst, and incurable stage, the leg, half-way to the hock, is 

 "covered with thick, horny scabs, divided into lozenge-shaped 

 " lumps by deep cracks, whence issues an extremely offensive 

 "matter. In this stage the disease is called ' grapy heels,' and is 

 " scarcely curable. In the first stage all that is necessary is 

 " frequent washing with tepid water and Castile soap, and the ap- 

 " plication of a flannel bandage, evenly applied over the whole 

 "limb, moistened with warm water and allowed to dry on the 

 " part. An ointment of one dram of sugar of lead in an ounce 

 "of lard, will supple, soften, and relieve the parts. The cracks 

 "may be washed with a solution of four ounces of alum in a pint 



