32 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK 



tained in the albumen. "When the horse or the beef is in 

 sound health and fine plight generally, the color of the flesh 

 is a light red, bordering on yellow. This appearance is in 

 consequence of the albumen being largely diluted with water, 

 80 largely, indeed, that it is now of about the consistency of 

 cream. But let the same animal be much reduced by disease 

 or hunger, and his flesh will become dark red in color, verg- 

 ing on brown, and the albumen thick and sticky, like tar. 

 A very fat horse has ten times as much albumen as a very 

 poor one. 



K any one wishes to test the difference which these two 

 conditions present, let him hold in one hand a piece of lean 

 meat from a very fat beef, and in the other a piece from a 

 very poor one. He will readily perceive all that we wish to 

 illustrate. The soldiers often speak of blue beef and sticky 

 beef, declaring tbat if a piece of their poor, army meat be 

 thrown against the side of a house it will stick there. This 

 shows the eft'ects of extreme poverty upon the albumen of 

 the flesh. Disease produces similar results. The flesh of 

 cattle, it may be interesting to know, does not possess so 

 much of this element as that of horses, but generally much 

 more of the adipose, or fatty matter. 



It is the accumulation of albumen that gives the full, 

 rounded muscle, and its thin, mucous consistency is the index 

 of health and good condition. It loosens and lubricates the 

 fibers of the muscles, renders them elastic and flexible, and 

 gives power and tone to their action. It also affords nutri- 

 tion to the fibrine, and supports its growth. The fact that 

 muscle is composed of these two elements — fibrine and albu- 

 men — ^is an important hint to the farmer in regard to the 

 diet best adapted to keep up or increase the strength of his 

 team. Such articles as contain these substances in greatest 

 proportion, and in such condition as to be most readily as- 

 similated in the formation of muscle, are those with which he 

 should feed his horses. The subject of diet will be discussed 

 in a future chapter. 



