100 HORSE, SWINE 'AND POULTRY DISEASES 



ter mornings. Water, even though it be thus cold, seldom produces 

 serious trouble if the horse has not been deprived for a too great 

 length of time. 



In reference to the purity of water, Smith, in his "Veterinary 

 Hygiene," classes spring water, deep-well water, and upland surface 

 water as wholesome; stored rain water and surface water from cul- 

 tivated land, as suspicious ; river water to which sewage gains access 

 and shallow-well water, as dangerous. The water that is used for 

 drinking purposes for stock so largely throughout some States can 

 not but be impure. Reference is made to those sections where there 

 is an impervious clay subsoil. It is the custom to scoop, or hollow 

 out, a large basin in the pastures. During rains these basins become 

 filled with water. The clay subsoil, being almost impervious, acts 

 as a jug, and there is no escape for the water except by evaporation. 

 Such water is stagnant, but would be kept comparatively fresh by 

 subsequent rains were it not for the fact that much organic matter 

 is carried into it by surface drainage during each succeeding storm. 

 This organic matter soon undergoes decomposition, and, as the re- 

 sult, we find diseases of different kinds much more prevalent where 

 this water is drunk than where the water supply is wholesome. 

 Again, it must not be lost sight of that stagnant surface water is 

 much more certainly contaminated than is running water by one 

 diseased animal of the herd, thus endangering the remainder. 



The chief impurities of water may be classified as organic and 

 inorganic. The organic impurities are either animal or vegetable 

 substances. The salts of the metals are the inorganic impurities. 

 Lime causes hardness of water, and occasion will be taken to speak 

 of this when describing intestinal concretions. Salts of lead, iron, 

 and copper are also frequently found in water, and will be referred to 

 hereafter. About the only examination of water that can be made by 

 the average stock raiser is to observe its taste, color, smell, and clear- 

 ness. Pure water is clear and is without taste or smell. 



KINDS OF FOOD. 



In this country horses are fed chiefly upon hay, grass, corn fod- 

 der, roots, oats, corn, wheat and rye. Many think that they could 

 be fed on nothing else. Stewart, in "The Stable Book," gives the 

 following extract from London's Encyclopedia of Agriculture, which 

 is of interest at this point: 



In some sterile countries they (horses) are forced to subsist on 

 dried fish, and even on vegetable mold; in Arabia, on milk, flesh 

 balls, eggs, broth. In India horses are variously fed. The native 

 grasses are judged very nutritious. Few, perhaps no, oats are grown ; 

 barley is rare, and not commonly given to horses. In Bengal a 

 vetch, something like the tare, is used. On the western side of India 

 a sort of pigeon pea, called gram, forms the ordinary food, with 

 gjrass while in season, and hay all the year round. Indian corn or 

 rice is seldom given. In the West Indies maize, guinea corn, sugar- 

 corn tops, and sometimes molasses are given. In the Mahratta coun- 

 try, salt, pepper, and other spices are made into balls, with flour and 

 butter, and these are supposed to produce animation and to fine the 



